Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band is a blast live!

[Voltron]

Just got back from the show in Concord, California at the now stupidly-named Sleep Train Pavilion. As Bruce said early on "Where the screw are we again?" But that didn't stop Bruce and the 16-piece band behind him from tearin' it up for 2.5 hours. The show is like an American songbook from the Seeger folk stuff, to New Orleans Dixieland, to old-school country, to Devils and Dust, to boogie-woogie, then back to anti-war anthems and a swing into tex-mex. Really fun stuff and a great band with horns, fiddles, banjo, guitars, dobro, lap steel, piano bass and drums, and backup singers. Joan Baez came out for one number along with Bruce's nephew Nicky (?).

My wife and I took the kids and had some fun times, even though our younger one slept much of the show which started an hour late. Get out and see this show if you like American music or just Bruce or just want to have a hell of a good time!

 

[Wmcmanus]

Thanks for the report, Al. Nice to hear that you got the whole family out to this one! I'll see if I can put him on my map this summer. I've always been a Bruce fan, from the mid 70's when I "discovered" him (or rather when Time and Newsweek did) and then I saw him and the E-Street Band live for the first time in '76 at Notre Dame (I was in the 8th grade). Unreal. It changed my life forever.

I was disappointed in what I thought was a "sell out" in the 80's as he went more commercial and mainstream. Or at least I felt that his material became over produced, less interesting, and far from his grass roots as he attempted to place himself into the "Americana" light. He suddenly seemed less authentic, as though he was pretending to be someone his promoters wanted him to be.

But he's back! He's "new and improved" and has done a lot of interesting things in recent years. It's time I go back to see another one of his shows. Been quite a while now.

 

[agile_one]

Glad to hear the show rocks, Al. I can't keep that cd out of the player since I got it a week ago - good, honest, high energy stuff.

 

[SAP7]

I don't know why, but I have always hated him....

The best thing about his band was Steve Van Zandt in the Sopranos. Thankfully nothing to do with music.

I can see why he's admired though. he grates on me.