Now that the excitement has died down, I've gotten to thinking about the upcoming release. It's the first full show featuring the band in like six years, with the previous one being the Barcelona show from the Rising Tour. Well, it's not exactly full because if you notice the setlist, you'll realise Rosalita is missing. Seriously, I got no idea why that is. Why the fuck would management wanna take that out?? For those of us who were there, Bruce and the band didn't stop after Born To Run, and immediately went into Rosalita. They didn't leave the stage after that, and went straight into the encore, beginning with Hard Times. I really do hope it's just a typo on the DVD, because that was one hell of a fun song.UPDATE: Rosy is indeed on the DVD after all!!! Management fucked up this time.
Now, for the 'not so good' part. Many fans have been complaining about this release, because the London show didn't best represent the entire 2009 tour, mainly due to the fact that it was a festival gig, and Bruce's voice was worn out, having played the epic Glastonbury show the previous night. For the record, I thought his voice had a lotta soul and was mostly spot-on, despite bump notes here and there. Also, fans think it's just a lazy-ass attempt (by Jon Landau, if I may add) to make a quick buck by putting something out there that's already been filmed and some of the songs broadcast on TV. Now we know for a fact that the legendary final Giants Stadium shows were filmed, and many of us at BTX thought those full album shows would see the light of day.
But now with the release of this show instead, I fear the Jersey shows might never come out. We know that management will never put out two different DVDs from the same tour back to back. I have a feeling that they thought those Jersey shows wouldn't sell as much as the London one, because the setlists catered to the more hardcore crowd. And this is actually true. But why film something when you know you're not gonna put it out for the public to see? So there goes another 'wasted' effort, another bunch of shows filmed and then thrown into the vaults. And while I'm on this subject about live releases, I've always wondered why the hell don't they follow Pearl Jam's business model and just put out officially every live show they've played? Being in the Ten Club for a quite a while already, I know that it's bigger than the Springsteen fan base, but seriously, PJ isn't releasing all these official bootlegs mainly for the money, cause they know they aren't gonna make a lot. It's a fact that PJ (and other official bootleg bands like Phish & The Dead) have been really good to their fans, and I can't see why Bruce's management can't do the same, selling all their future live shows, in pristine sound quality.
But with that being said, I'm still pretty pumped for this DVD. It's even more special for me since I was there, and I can again witness the majesty of Racing In The Street and Jungleland. I just hope they don't fuck up the surround sound like they did with the Barcelona one. With this out of the way, the next thing to look forward to is the Darkness On The Edge Of Town box set, which I foresee will be released during the X'mas period. This release will pretty much save my summer -- at least now I'm not so sad that I can't go to London for another round of Hard Rock Calling......
......but I still got my sights on U2!!! The Australian leg of the 360 tour is definitely on, but I'll be even happier if they do it this November instead of next March. June should be the right time for a tour announcement. Besides, I still gotta think of a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers show in 2011 :)
P.S. I really really can't get enough of The Gaslight Anthem and that American Slang!!!!
