Posted by john pinto I wanted to send you a note about Bruce’s show last night 09/08/06 at the Tupelo in Londonderry, NH. As always a consistent, solid performance of material that focused on the new disk, some songs from his “subgenre” of travel songs (Mozambique, Dust and Diesel, Baghdad), a couple of instrumentals, Lions and more. Dressed in a fuchsia silk blouse over a black T-shirt with a design in hot pink of a mirrored ripple connected with a vertical line… snazzy! The best shirt I’ve seen him in since the herringbone skull and crossbones shirt I saw him wear in the late 80’s. The Friday show was the second of two nights at the Tupelo in celebration of the Club’s second anniversary. Tickets were steep at $50 but it is a relatively small room. The Friday show was clearly oversold to the point that a Fire Marshall would have shut the place down. There must have been close to 300 people there with virtually no aisles and only one clearly marked exit. Big stage though with basic stage lighting, above average sound and good ambience. The point of this note has to do with the apparent gravity that seemed to surround Bruce. Maybe it was just one of those shows but he seemed troubled. The audience didn’t help even though there was a rousing sing to the chorus of Lions that seemed to please Bruce. Then the ridiculous cat calls of “Broooce..” started and some idiot was moved to shout out “Freebird”. Someone else kept asking Bruce questions between songs such as “that was in the key of C, right Bruce”. At one point Bruce had to curtly tell someone down front to stop taking flash photos. Add to that people checking Cell Phone messages. Embarrassing, especially considering that the mean age must have been in the late 40’s. At the end of the night, before the encore, there was such a crush to get out that Bruce had to literally push his way down the aisle. Chairs were being pushed into the aisle causing Judith Wolfe to crash hard into one and nearly fall flat on her face in the dark. On the long drive home I’m trying to figure out what was the edginess that seemed to envelope Bruce. He only genuinely smiled once, in recognition of a terrific keyboard solo. There were transcendent moments of great intensity but he never seemed relaxed or at ease. Was it the night, the weight of business and life on the road in the middle of a very long tour, the angst of the artist in these very, very troubled times? His songs become increasingly prophetic (highlighted by a very strong “Tree Falls…” that sounds as if it were written yesterday). The preaching once found in his monologues is now strongly in the songs and repertoire. There is a very deep, almost tragic sadness to his work. The work of a mature artist, very much in tune and glimpsing at the abyss it seems. A couple of quick questions… The person sitting next to me said the Lions imagery in “Wondering Where The Lions Are” is a Buddhist reference. Any thoughts? One of Bruce’s Manzers had some sort of inscription written in gold ink on the back near the cusp of the cut away. Saw it flash in the stage lights. Any idea what it says?
on 9/9/2006, 7:10 pm
216.107.230.24
Daniel,
On the topic of guitars I have never seen Bruce play so many different instruments. Looking for the sound? Certainly different than say Richard Thompson who will play a whole show of very different sound textures using one instrument.
Must also say that it took me a while to adjust to a Bass less trio. The use of preprogrammed loops was news as well.
Thanks Daniel….
J Pinto
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