Bruce Springsteen and the E Streeters kicked off the European leg of their latest tour with a stormer of a gig in Madrid last Sunday. Jim Carrollwas there
THERE'S a current music biz notion that heritage bands are the way forward. The investors and bean-counters running the rule over what's left of the business see these grizzled veterans as safe bets because they've already built their audiences, recorded their boom tunes and achieved global name recognition.
Problem is, though, most of these acts are long past their prime. Sure, they can still pull a crowd, but that crowd is going to seed almost as fast as the players onstage. As for the new material, well, let's be honest, no one is going to a Eagles show to hear the new cuts.
Some would place the heritage band tag on Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. It's not much of a stretch because they tick all the boxes: a lengthy history, a run of starry albums and a commendable ability to keep selling tickets to live shows.
But that's where comparisons with rock's other senior statesmen end. Springsteen and the cast of familiars who populate the E Street Band, the cronies who've been with him since he was the young gun bursting out of Jersey, are still producing material and performances every jot as good as it was back then.
They're also pulling a crowd which, based on the performance at Madrid's Palacio de Deportes last Sunday night, is getting younger not older. This show, the first in a short European hop, was all about Magic. Released in October, Magic is Springsteen's 15th studio album and his first outing with the E Street Band since 2002's The Rising.
Springsteen has not been idle in the interim - the Devils & Dust solo set was followed by the folksy abandon of We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions with tours to plug both - but getting back in the saddle with the E Street Band is an event to make the headlines.
The album is a powerful sweep of songs. Springsteen takes stock of those characters who've always dominated his songs. They were the wild and innocent ones from Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge of Town who knew all about raising hell with cars and girls.
Decades on, they're older, maybe a little wiser and cars and girls have slipped down their list of priorities. Springsteen, though, is still tapping into their dreams, hopes, doubts, anger, desperation and defiance for inspiration and new songs.
So there are Magic moments everywhere you look tonight. The opening thump of Radio Nowhere knocks you for six. Livin' In The Future fits effortlessly between She's The One and The Promised Land and the way the band embellish the emotional thrust of Long Walk Home augers well for future classic status.
When the band tear into Springsteen's back-catalogue with the appetite and energy of young ones, the show moves to a new level. The fact there are 15,000 giddy, demented Madrilenos in the hall urging the band on seems to inspire sparkling versions of Candy's Room and Tunnel of Love.
The treatment of Darkness On The Edge of Town is spine-tingling and further evidence of the generational ties that bind that album to the current one.
The continuing importance of the E Street Band to Springsteen is clearest on Badlands, Thunder Road and Born To Run. The likes of Max Weinberg, Clarence Clemons, Roy Bittan, Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren provide the dynamism and vitality which turn these anthems into showstoppers. No matter how many times these songs are played, sparks and fiery sax solos still fly.
Even with some absences in the ranks (serious illness means longstanding E Street keyboardist Danny Federici is on hiatus, while Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa has stayed home to look after their teenage kids), the E Street gang are peerless on a night like this.
Naturally, Springsteen remains at the heart and soul of the experience. He's the one who calls the shots and keeps it all on track. Whatever about his other creative dalliances of late, it's clear that Springsteen is rejuvenated by how this band approach the emotional weight of the new songs and the heavyweight glitter of the classics.
With perfect symmetry from start to finish, Springsteen and the E Street Band demonstrate just how glorious and life-affirming rock'n'roll can be.
