SANTA, JONES AND A CHEESEBURGER

by Manuel Pasi

During his Zurich concert (5/2/96) an excellent Bruce had a lot to talk about

After having raved about the accoustic-shows on the first leg of the US-Tour (check reviews in the last issue) and then being even more taken by the first few European shows I was glad enough to witness, it seemed very hard indeed to top that with my words; harder even, of course, it would be for Bruce to better his performance.

Well he did his in great fashion and now I have to try to stay par.

When after two weeks of stranious waiting - the question from where and if all of us would be able to see the concert was, because of the ticket sale strategy quite real - the lights in the Kongresshaus went out and Bruce took the stage, I was pleased already, 'cause in the end we all got pretty good tickets (the writer himself got unexpectedly tenth row). Also seemed a hometown concert still a bit more exciting, especially if you could go to see it with so many friends (and even some mothers !!!).

The only concern remaining was that the audience might not fully get the concept of the show and therefore annoy their fellow listeners as well as Bruce with an unseeming "stadium"-behaviour. But it seemed that almost everyone in the theatre knew what the songs, the tour and Bruce was all about. Besides that major parts of the audience understood english surprisingly well. So here ,contrary to Germany, France or even the US (!) the stories, jokes and comments weren't lost or misunderstood. Bruce himself thanked the fans for this with a lot of stories, some surprising songs and the best mood I have seen him in this tour.

Bruce also seemed to have enlarged his arsenal of effects and variations quite a bit. Taking advantage of the small venue he sometimes simply stepped away from the mike and let his bare voice carry through the rafters. Other times (especially with the newly shaped "Promised Land"; his last song of the evening) he used his guitar as a drum kit while still playing the melody line at the same time. Besides all this special tricks his guitar play itself seemed to have become even more elaborate.

What concerns the setlist: we were treated to two consecutive Nebraska songs. First the best "Johnny 99" that I can remember, followed by the title track, played as perfectly haunting as he did throughout the whole tour. Another highlight and crowd pleaser was the first encore "Bobby Jean", which sounded almost like a love message to the fans.

As for Bruce himself, he seemed to have gained a lot of confidence in his ability to maintain the audience's concentration without having to be too stern or tight. While in the earlier stages of the tour he often had an air of anxiety throughout the whole show and always kept the reigns quite short (as to say he didn't really give him or the audience a break between all the moving but quite heavy-tempered songs from TGOTJ), he now knew exactely how to play with the emotion and mood of the audience. He preceeded, for example, his "Veteran-Doublepack" of "Brothers under the Bridge" and "BIUSA" (the guitar-intro of the latter just gets better and better all the time) with the hilarious duo of "Red Headed Woman" and the xxx-rated "Pilgrim in the Temple of Love". The former included some wild and crazy yodeling (Bruce's comment: "You swiss are all good yodelers. But that's probably just an old cliché. Like, if you go to the states you buy a cheeseburger and kill someone.") and an all new last verse. "Pilgrim..." is a highly bizarre and unseasonal song about Bruce going to a stripper bar, seeing a piss-drunk Santa getting a blow-job and all kinds of weird stuff. This seemingly disjointed order of songs didn't slow down the flow of the show, but helped, in fact, to heighten the crowd's attention; the lighter parts of the set taking the part of a catharsys. Another telling incident took place during his introduction to "Across the Border". As he was talking about the final scene of John Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" he accidentally mixed up Tom Joad with Tom Jones (a Freudian slip?). But, while the audience looked at each other to reassure themselves that their ears hadn't just failed them, Bruce kept talking for another couple of minutes before he stopped with a startled and selfironic smile and asked placantly : "Did I just say Tom Jones ?!?". From that moment on he brought the much beloved singer of "Delilah" back to the show in almost every introduction or speech he came up with.

While earlier on such incidents might have upset Springsteen quite a bit, he didn't mind too much, but joked and fooled around with the fans at times and then still got their attention and devotion when it came to the silent and more important issues. This not only makes the show a bit more enjoyable, but brings an even more intimate atmosphere to the whole event. With the first few concerts it was like if you peeped into Springsteens livingroom and leaves dropped on his stories; in Zürich you felt as if Bruce visited you in your home and talking directly to you. And what better storyteller could pay you a visit...