The E Street Band Live in New York City video was blasting in HD this afternoon while I struggled with some web programming and then a song came on which is the perfect example of why Bruce and his band are for my money the greatest rock act to ever play the big stage.
Light of Day (Youtube Part 1, Youtube Part 2) isn’t one of his hits or even well-known–heck the original release was a version done by Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox in their obscure 1987 film of the same name. But the way the guys worked it up for this tour simply has everything a great rock performance needs.
- Bouncy, fast-paced basic chords with plenty of room for all the guitars, keyboards and Clarence’s sax to add color and style
- Lyrics that are fun and still actually make sense
- Improvisations that break from the expected (like counting up the miles, breaking into a dizzying, poetic listing of all the tour stops that ends with New York and moving on to the kind of teasing a Jersey guy will do to a crowd of New Yorkers)
- Bruce dancing around the mic stand, waving his arms to incite the crowd to even greater abandon, throwing in a gospel-inspired chant that ends with him fountaining water over his head like a rock and roll baptism
“I’ve seen people lost! In envy over the New Jersey Devils winning the Stanley Cup!” he sings, and then holds his hands up in surprise as the audience hisses. “…But that’s alright because I’m here tonight on an ambassadorial mission to unite these two great civilizations,” he finishes, and then the band jumps back in to rock out the house.
I can’t explain this better but this is what I love about rock and why, despite my recent misgivings over his, er, business judgment, I can always get a thrill listening to Springsteen and the E Street Band.
The iconic image is Bruce, hands over his head and the Telecaster hanging low down his back:
BillSaysThis 