When you are among nearly 20,000 committed fans at a Bruce Springsteen show, it's hard to not have a great time. Or so it seems when the night is clearly in the hands of a stellar performer. And that was the case this week in Toronto for his umpteenth visit in a city he has been playing regularly since 1975 when he played Seneca College.
Springsteen and the full 12-piece accompanying E Street Band put on a solid show that lasted nearly three hours. The music was strong, with the big man Clarence solid as a mountain and guitarits Nils Lofgren soaring on the occasional solo. Little Steven frequently shared the spotlight, on vocals, guitar and mandolin.
They served up a bit of something for everyone, including early songs like "Badlands," "She's the One," "Prove it All Night", "Rosalita," a couple from the new album, "Working on a Dream" and "Outlaw Pete," and radio hits from the '80s that all the greying oldsters stood up for and sang along to.
Toronto is a bit of a sleepy town and regrettably it sometimes takes a lot to get people up from their seats, but that was the result when Bruce and crew played "Glory Days," "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and several other hits. Twice Springsteen teased the audience with calls of "Is there anyone alive out there?"
Bruce clearly is still having balls of fun on stage and he puts it all out, song after song. He also played a few requests from audience posters and signs, including an impromptu version of The Kingsmen's classic "Louie, Louie" which was captured on video below.
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It's hard to get tickets to a Springsteen show in Toronto and I gotta give credit to a strange bit of technology. I had been using a free Ticketmaster program on my BlackBerry to check for seats for the past four weeks and it was always sold out. Strangely, just two days before the show, while sitting in a hotel bar traveling on business, I checked again and some last minute stage-rear seats popped up. Maybe as the promoters get into town they're able to free up some extra seats. Who knows. At any rate, the seats were great, Bruce and the band frequently played to the rear audience and the BlackBerry program came through flawlessly: Fair price, instant transaction, tickets via email. If you're hunting for tickets for other sold out shows, it may be worth checking out.
- Bruce Springsteen: Official Site, Tour, Toronto Setlist
- Amazon: Working on a Dream,
Born to Run
, Live: 1975-85
- Globe & Mail: The Boss Still Satisfies
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