Elephants Never Forget
By Erik Flannigan
If there’s any period in modern Springsteen history that continues to grow in admiration it is the 2007-2008 Magic era.
There was always something appealing in the idea that Bruce and the E Street Band weren’t reuniting after an extended separation (only a few years since Vote For Change) nor called to service by historic events, but simply touring behind an excellent new album. Better still, the Magic tour created the setlist model we’ve had ever since.
The 1999-2000 Reunion tour marked the long-awaited return of the blood brothers and was tied to the release of the vaults-clearing Tracks, which liberated vital studio outtakes we only dreamed would someday be released. Several Tracks songs featured in the Reunion shows, and the exercise of producing the box and preparing for his first ESB tour in 11 years had Bruce looking at his catalog from a fresh vantage point. The result: setlist surprises on a regular basis—you didn’t know what Tracks song or vintage cut might turn up on a given night, putting long-lost classics like “New York City Serenade,” “Blinded By the Light” and “Lost in the Flood” back in play.
In addition to featuring 12 strong new songs from the 2007 album, the Magic tour suggested a similar reflection had taken place, but this time on the performance history of Bruce’s songs, with an eye toward the underplayed. Spurred by fan-sign requests, which took hold in 2007-2008, a trove of unusual cover songs appeared, along with choice rarities, upping the setlist wildcard factor practically every night. This awareness of what came before would continue on the Wrecking Ball tour, as requests persisted and got even more specific (e.g. “Prove It All Night ‘78”) in 2012-2013.
Nashville 8/21/08 exemplifies this “embrace the present and tap the past” approach. The concert immediately prior to the towering St. Louis show on 8/23, a previous Live Archive release, Nashville offers convincing performances of contemporary material, career-spanning classics, and special additions with deep roots in Springsteen’s performance past suggested by the fans. This delightful show also bears the unmistakable feeling of Bruce and the band enjoying being back on the job.
In a rare opening slot, “Out in the Street” sets the stage for a communal night between band and fan. The first half of the Nashville set runs strong with modern material (“Radio Nowhere,” “Lonesome Day,” “Youngstown”) and period heavy-hitters (“No Surrender,” “Murder Incorporated”), but things really open up when Bruce begins collecting request signs after “Spirit in the Night.”
“I’m gonna test the band,” he says with a wry smile. “We played this at the Capitol Theatre in 1978.” Credit him for remembering correctly: “Good Rockin’ Tonight” earned 17 airings in its premiere run on the Darkness tour (including the Capitol in Passaic, 9/20/78) and three more on the River tour before going dormant for 28 years. Did they nail the arrangement? Not exactly (though Roy Bittan’s piano playing is extraordinary). Did they tap Darkness tour spirit? Absolutely.
This ragged-but-right “Good Rockin’ Tonight” is an in-the-moment charmer, no more so than when Bruce shouts, “Go back a verse, Dan,” acknowledging crew member Dan Lee, who runs Bruce’s on-stage Teleprompter and helps make lost songs and other requests a welcome reality.
Preview of “Good Rockin’ Tonight” Live – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Darkness tour spirit also infuses a sweet “Growin’ Up,” complete with the “selling the pool table to buy the Kent guitar” story. A surprisingly rare “I’m Goin’ Down” follows. It’s the only song from Born in the U.S.A. performed fewer than 100 times, trailing even “Pink Cadillac” (125 to date). This one of three appearances on the Magic tour is lively and terrific.
If that isn’t rare enough for you, how about “Hungry Heart” b-side “Held Up Without a Gun,” played for only the fourth time ever? Bruces seamlessly slips back into the vocal cadence and tone of the original, and the band hits it like an every-nighter.
There’s no time to catch our breath before another River rarity, outtake “Loose End” (changed from “Loose Ends” as of the release of the Ties That Bind box set) in a sharp reading that again taps vintage vibes in a manner that suggests something beyond muscle memory is afoot in Nashville.
The most striking example of this uncanny ability to recall the past comes before “She’s the One.” The song was a staple of Magic tour sets, but on this night, seemingly out of nowhere—especially since he began the song as he did every 2007-2008 version—Bruce breaks into the classic “Mona” intro from the Darkness tour (and once in 1981) and damn if it doesn’t sound just right. Stevie Van Zandt catches on and brings his own vintage licks to the segment.
A few songs later divine inspiration strikes again, and Bruce calls out chord changes—“B” then “E”—to intriguingly append Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” to the start of “I’m on Fire,” a song that’s all about crossing lines. A brilliant coupling.
The back half of the show is anchored by a trio of recent rockers: “The Rising,” a potent “Last to Die,” and the underrated “Long Walk Home,” the arrangement of which is an exemplar of the modern E Street sound. “Badlands” finishes the main set before an encore that starts on a rousing “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” (it is August, after all).
“Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” follow before the last tour premiere of the night, a cover of The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law,” played for only the fourth time since 1981 and barely aged a day—as is the theme this evening.
For those of us not old enough to see ’70s and ’80s shows in person, the Magic tour provided a time machine to a taste of what a few of those special song performances were like. May those vibes return in 2023.