FREE MUSIC THIS WEEK

JOE RUSSO’S ALMOST DEAD – RED ROCKS – MORRISON, CO – 08/16/18

This special show from the JRAD crew features an insane cover of “The Bends” by Radiohead plus a number of your favorite Grateful Dead songs. Crack one open and enjoy.

TWIDDLE – PARADISE ROCK CLUB – BOSTON, MA – 12/30/18

 Everything we love about Twiddle appears in this show: long instrumental-improvs, smooth vocals from lead singer Mihali, and plenty of funky rhythms. Have fun head-bopping to this one, we sure did. Make sure you add to your “My Stash” soon because this free offer ends on February 12, 2019.

ASSEMBLY OF DUST – TERRAPIN CROSSROADS – SAN RAFAEL, CA – 04/23/16

Assembly Of Dust is led by former Strangefolk frontman Reid Genauer. This particular show has a smooth, laidback vibe that showcases the group’s rich melodies and meaningful lyrics.

THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT – TRAVELOGUE – BEST OF 2018

The String Cheese Incident decided to offer fans this free show because it features the best live tracks of 2018. Highlights include special guests Jennifer Hartswick, John Kadlecik, and members of the Motet. Make sure you add to your “My Stash” soon because this free offer ends on February 17, 2019.

THE DISCO BISCUITS – CAMP BISCO – SCRANTON, PA – 07/14/18

In a headlining performance at their own festival, Camp Bisco, this show was picked by the band as one of their favorites from 2018 and it truly showcases their diverse range, melding electronic and jam as only they can. Among a monstrous 3 sets this show features songs done in their unique ‘perfume’ and ‘tractorbeam‘ styles along with a fan favorite ‘wheel set’.

REID GENAUER & FOLKS – NEW ALBUM – CONSPIRE TO SMILE

Reid Genauer, the frontman of Strangefolk and Assembly of Dust, worked with two dozen acclaimed musicians including Jennifer HartswickLEBO, Scott Metzger, and more to create his latest album, Conspire to Smile. A collection of covers and originals, this album contains songs about compassion and positivity, universal messages of love and strength.

AQUEOUS – TWO SHOWS FROM 2018

From Jam Cruise to Summer Camp, 2018 was an epic year for Aqueous and we have two of the bands favorite shows for you.

Crowbar – Tampa, FL – 11/10/18

Mile High Music Hall – Frisco, CO – 12/06/18

Both of these shows truly highlight their unique groove-rock stylings and exploratory jams. Check out the Frisco show then dig into their catalog to explore Tampa and more.

LETTUCE – THE ANTHEM -WASHINGTON D.C. – 11/03/2018

Lettuce brings a new vitality to classic funk, matching their smooth and soulful grooves with a hip-hop inspired urgency and hard-hitting rhythm. This recent show features the extraordinary talents of guest guitarist Marcus King along with a host of special guests from the DC area flexing their unique ‘go-go’ style of funk.

FREE MUSIC THIS WEEK

THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT – TRAVELOGUE – BEST OF 2018

The String Cheese Incident decided to offer fans this free show because it features the best live tracks of 2018. Highlights include special guests Jennifer Hartswick, John Kadlecik, and members of the Motet. Make sure you add to your “My Stash” soon because this free offer ends on February 17, 2019.

LOTUS – MISHAWAKA AMPHITHEATRE – BELLVUE, CO – 9/21/18

This show is the first night of an epic two night run at Colorado’s beautiful Mishawaka Amphitheatre, featuring in the pocket beats, constant teases, and non-stop grooves to keep the party going. Make sure you add to your “My Stash” soon because this free show offer ends on January 29, 2019.

LEFTOVER SALMON – FARMSTEAD AT LONG MEADOW RANCH – ST. HELENA, CA – 1/15/17

Leftover Salmon hand-picked this special acoustic show to give out to their fans. The 13-minute rendition of “Whispering Water’s” is a highlight of the show, along with an amazing cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue.” Make sure you add to your “My Stash” soon because this free show offer ends on January 29, 2019.

THE DISCO BISCUITS – CAMP BISCO – SCRANTON, PA – 07/14/18

In a headlining performance at their own festival, Camp Bisco, this show was picked by the band as one of their favorites from 2018 and it truly showcases their diverse range, melding electronic and jam as only they can. Among a monstrous 3 sets this show features songs done in their unique ‘perfume’ and ‘tractorbeam‘ styles along with a fan favorite ‘wheel set’.

REID GENAUER & FOLKS – NEW ALBUM – CONSPIRE TO SMILE

Reid Genauer, the frontman of Strangefolk and Assembly of Dust, worked with two dozen acclaimed musicians including Jennifer HartswickLEBO, Scott Metzger, and more to create his latest album, Conspire to Smile. A collection of covers and originals, this album contains songs about compassion and positivity, universal messages of love and strength.

AQUEOUS – TWO SHOWS FROM 2018

From Jam Cruise to Summer Camp, 2018 was an epic year for Aqueous and we have two of the bands favorite shows for you.

Crowbar – Tampa, FL – 11/10/18

Mile High Music Hall – Frisco, CO – 12/06/18

Both of these shows truly highlight their unique groove-rock stylings and exploratory jams. Check out the Frisco show then dig into their catalog to explore Tampa and more.

LETTUCE – THE ANTHEM -WASHINGTON D.C. – 11/03/2018

Lettuce brings a new vitality to classic funk, matching their smooth and soulful grooves with a hip-hop inspired urgency and hard-hitting rhythm. This recent show features the extraordinary talents of guest guitarist Marcus King along with a host of special guests from the DC area flexing their unique ‘go-go’ style of funk.

I’m Gonna Fight My Way Through All This Goddamn Darkness

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, May 23, 1988

By Erik Flannigan

Thirty years after it rolled across America and Europe, we continue to view the Tunnel of Love Express Tour as a career inflection point, a period marked by heart-heavy shifts in Springsteen’s life even as the concerts were taking place. Professionally, key relationships were evolving, too, as it is well established that the decision to tour with the E Street Band in support of what was really a solo album was not a foregone conclusion.

Even as Bruce and the band took to the road in February ’88, conscious decisions were made to alter established E Street archetypes. Band members switched their usual spots on stage, swapping sides to presumably shake things up. There was a subtle yet telling change to the billing, too, as the long-standing “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” moniker was altered to “Bruce Springsteen featuring the E Street Band.” The core setlist for the tour served as another point of departure from the familiar (more on that to come).

Why making those moves seemed so meaningful at the time we can only infer, but Springsteen’s desire to do things differently was undeniable.

Today, the personal and professional changes surrounding Springsteen at the time (and what was to follow on both fronts) are inextricably tied to the Tunnel era and remain something of a filter through which we view the tour. Less considered is what powerful fuel both provided to 1988 performances.

Whatever switching stage positions or altering the billing effected, make no mistake: this was a full E Street Band outing, and the E Street Band has never played with more self-assurance than they do on the Tunnel of Love tour. The addition of the horn section only boosted the horsepower of their already mighty engine.

While one cannot presume to know what Springsteen was going through that year, an armchair psychologist might suggest that however traumatic and draining such a period of emotional upheaval may be, it can also trigger a profound recognition of what it means to feel alive. As you listen to Madison Square Garden 1988, there is a strong sense of a performer truly living in the moment. Pair that with a band playing at its peak and an ambitious setlist, and you have the stuff of the extraordinary.

How in the moment? Listen to Springsteen’s vocals on the final verse and chorus of “Boom Boom,” which careen between shrieking falsetto and full-throated bluesman. His scintillating guitar solo starting at 5:02 of “Born in the U.S.A.” and carrying on for well over a minute soars with the clarion ring of pure emotional catharsis. On the Darkness and River tours, Bruce laid it all on the line every night to convert the masses. At MSG ‘88, the motivation feels far more personal. Just maybe, performing itself is what provides a path through what he calls later in the show, “the goddamn darkness.”

And then there’s that incredible setlist. The Tunnel tour is notable for featuring so many non-album tracks and cover songs. MSG boasts five Springsteen originals not featured on a studio album: “Be True” (the River b-side, also released on Tracks), “Seeds” (a Born in the U.S.A. outtake, officially released in a live version on Live/1975-85), “Part Man, Part Monkey” (a Tunnel outtake, re-recorded during Human Touch and released as a b-side in 1992 and onTracks in 1998), “Light of Day” (covered by Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox in Paul Schrader’s film of the same name, but never released in studio form by Bruce himself) and “I’m a Coward.” Some may consider “I’m a Coward” a cover, and while it was clearly inspired by Geno Washington’s “Geno Is A Coward” (penned by Ronald Davis), Springsteen’s song bears little musical resemblance to the original and shares only a couple of lyrics (perhaps making it more akin to “Johnny Bye-Bye”). There are no known studio recordings of the song; “I’m a Coward” only exists in its Tunnel tour performances.

All five songs are in the baseline Tunnel setlist, which by Springsteen standards was relatively rigid, especially for the first couple of months of the tour. Things started to loosen up around the time of the five-night LA stand (from which the April 23, 1988 performance was previously released as part of the live download series). As the tour worked its way north up the coast and across the country on its last leg, a few new additions (notably “Have Love, Will Travel” and “Boom Boom”) stuck.

The setlist for the final U.S. show at Madison Square Garden strikes an enthralling balance between core Tunnel tour material, recent adds, and a couple of specials just for the Big Apple. In contrast to opening night of the tour in Worcester in February, there are 13 variations between the two shows.

To those five originals, MSG ‘88 adds seven cover songs: John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” Woody Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man,” Edwin Starr’s “War,” The Sonics’ “Have Love, Will Travel,” Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music,” Eddie Floyd’s “Raise Your Hand,” and Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops.” Throw in two full verses and the chorus to Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” inside of “Light of Day,” and the count pushes to eight.

On top of that, Tunnel arrangements of “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)” and “Born to Run” are completely reimagined. “You Can Look” is performed in a rockabilly style similar to its earliest incarnation during the River sessions, while “Born to Run” is played solo acoustic, an affecting arrangement that survived all the way to Bruce on Broadway.

All told, nearly half the Tunnel setlist sits outside the core canon while also boldly eschewing such staples as “Badlands,” “Thunder Road” and “The Promised Land.” In fact, the only song that was a Tunnel tour regular from the stalwart Darkness on the Edge of Town is the pulsing, horn-driven version of “Adam Raised a Cain.” 1988 setlists were truly out of the ordinary, no more so than this night.

Madison Square Garden 1988 also features the first bonus track in the download series with the inclusion of “For Your Love,” recorded during the 5/23 soundcheck. The song was a modest hit for Ed Townsend in 1958. Springsteen’s interpretation moves the tune from earnest R&B ballad territory to something closer to light reggae. While that might seem like a stretch, on the Jersey Shore club scene just a year earlier, Springsteen sat in three times with reggae act Jah Love, and a bit of that vibe comes through here (and for that matter, in “Part Man, Part Monkey”).

“For Your Love,” like so many of the cover songs surveyed during the Tunnel tour, appears to be born from the kinship between Springsteen and the horn section. Led by Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg, the five-piece Horns of Love brought a shared musical knowledge that made them utterly simpatico with Bruce’s fondness for lost pop treasures. Even as early tour setlists went mostly unchanged, tour soundchecks often featured wide-ranging covers, and eventually some of the songs they were playing for themselves found their way into the set proper.

The Horns of Love are essential to covers like the barnstorming “Boom Boom” and the Northwest garage-rock nugget “Have Love, Will Travel,” but equally so to the unique Tunnel arrangements of songs like “Cover Me” (powerfully tagged with a few lines from the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”), the pile-driving “Spare Parts,” and, most strikingly, the aforementioned “Adam Raised a Cain.” “Adam” had gone un-played since the Darkness tour before being vivified in its 1988 edition. As impressive as the song was every night of the tour, the tag of Muddy Waters’ “I’m a Man” here adds even more declarative grit.

The sonic signature of the Tunnel tour is distinct, too, and Jon Altschiller’s mix accurately pushes Bruce’s and Nils’ guitars forward in the overall wall of sound. But the heart and soul of this Express are the horn section and Clarence Clemons, who together add exceptional texture, punch, and irresistible melodic runs all night long. The Big Man is on his game, and his showcase work on “Be True” remains a tour highlight, reigniting one of Springsteen’s finest b-sides. His hype-man vocal responses during Bruce’s evangelical intro to “I’m a Coward” are another slice of pure joy in MSG ‘88.

Let’s also credit the E Street Band for their sympathetic backing on Tunnel of Love tracks, some of which stand along Springsteen’s best songwriting ever. They may have begun as solo creations, but the live versions of “Two Faces,” “Brilliant Disguise,” “One Step Up” and “Tougher Than the Rest” are splendid, and in some ways more fully realized than their studio counterparts. Kudos, too, for the band’s ability to switch gears seamlessly, tackling Guthrie’s bluesy “Vigilante Man” (featuring Nils Lofgren on pedal steel guitar), Steppenwolf’s hard-rocking “Born to Be Wild,” and Jackie Wilson’s soulful “Lonely Teardrops” with equal flair. Special shout-out to Roy Bittan as well for his captivating piano introduction to “Spare Parts.”

The show goes into celebration mode after “Born to Run,” and even Jon Landau gets in on the fun, joining the band on guitar for the rest of the uplifting encore. The concert ends with “Lonely Teardrops,” one of only three performances ever. It’s a song about yearning and a fitting end to a performance that is equal parts heart-wrenching and exhilarating, two attributes befitting a ride through the Tunnel of Love.