The Long And Winded Road
The Nihilist hipped me to this review of Springsteen's show this past week in Saint Paul.
Keeping true to form, reviewer John "Foghat" Bream let us know that it was a special group of patient, dedicated and apparently suffering fans who attended the all acoustic show:
Springsteen offered stripped-down, sometimes tuneless ballads and soft-as-a-whisper stories about desperation and desolation. It takes a committed crowd to appreciate and absorb such soft, contemplative material in a hockey arena, set up to half its usual capacity. And the 7,996 fans clearly appreciated the artfulness of the evening.
Tuneless ballads--sounds very entertaining. Desperation and desolation--if I wanted desperation and desolation, I'd hang out with Chris Riemenschneider (the Strib's other music reviewer) in Uptown.
Notice how he praises the crowd as "committed" because apparently a normal group of people swigging a few beers and looking for a good night of entertainment would have been out of luck. You really had to bare down in order to enjoy yourself watching Springsteen acoustically.
Artfulness. God help us when this phrase is thrown about in a music review. It's hard to decide who is filled with more self-importance, Springsteen, Bream or his die-hard group of lefty fans who were there for art.
And if you are a conservative and like Springsteen or even attended this show, you really need to wake up. The guy hates you and everything you stand for. Is that clear enough? Another quote from the piece:
This was Springsteen the troubadour, not the rocker, playing his second solo tour, his first since 1995-96. Unlike October, there weren't nonstop political plugs. He did make a couple of pointed remarks, slamming the president before singing the sarcastic "Part Man, Part Monkey" and calling for a "humane immigration policy" before "Matamoros Banks."
Part Man, Part Monkey is Springsteen's snotty take on creationism versus evolution including these lines:
Well did God make man in a breath of holy fire
Or did he crawl on up out of the muck and mire
Well the man on the street
Believes what the bible tells him so
But you can ask me mister because I know
Tell them soul-suckin' preachers to come on down and see
Part man part monkey, baby that's me
What is interesting about these lyrics is the patent elitism of his take on this issue. He says the man on the street is basically a simpleton who believes anything the bible says. I always thought Bruce spoke for this man on the street, the simpleton, the guy that puts in 8 hours a day, the backbone of the country, etc. Now he uses the man on the street to describe an unsophisticated hick who gets brain washed by soul-suckin' preachers. If only that guy would just listen to his social betters like Springsteen and understand we all came from apes!
And what night of art would be complete without vulgar references to anal sex? Luckily for the fans on hand in Saint Paul, Bruce did not dissapoint with his song Reno(which, btw, got his CD banned from Starbucks something I'm sure his lefty fans applauded):
She took off her stockings
I held 'em to my face
She had your ankles
I felt filled with grace
"Two hundred dollars straight in
Two-fifty up the ass" she smiled and said
She unbuckled my belt, pulled back her hair
And sat in front of me on the bed
Charming.
Like Bream said, art isn't always easy. If you are a true, deep thinking fan, you would have sang along as he described anal sex with a prostitute. And after shelling out 100 bucks for a night of torture, you would have known how it felt.
No comments:
Post a Comment