Music Review: Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band - Live in Dublin (Blu-Ray Disc)
Written by Daryl D
Published June 10, 2007

Last summer I was invited to see Bruce Springsteen perform live in Chicago, where I was visiting. He was in the midst of his Seeger Sessions Band Tour, which was hyped up by Bruce’s usual media supporters and his obsessed fans to be a groundbreaking event that would change the face of music. Because of my disappointment with Bruce Springsteen over the past decade, I kept my previous arrangement - watching a local nursing home ensemble perform My Fair Lady. Those who went to the show (and they did praise it) talked about the outdoor venue, where Jimmy Buffet was scheduled to play soon after, being half empty.

The scene of thousands of acres filled with shiny green grass where people were supposed to sit must have looked beautiful to everyone except Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps this is something one would see at a Mariah Carey concert, but unexpected from Bruce Springsteen. What happened?

The answer, for the most part, certainly isn't evident when watching Bruce Springsteen's live Blu-Ray disc, Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin. One has to give Bruce Springsteen a lot of credit for doing something completely unexpected and different, rather than performing the usual repetitive songs about Bobby and Mary with the E Street Band. Unlike other acts who have been around thirty years or more, he is taking risks and having a fun time with it.

Bruce Springsteen interacts well with his Seeger Sessions Band and brings a new twist to his own songs, such as "Atlantic City," "If I Should Fall Behind," and "Blinded by The Light." At first, it was difficult to hear Bruce Springsteen sing songs by an artist whom I respect a lot more, Pete Seeger. Hearing Bruce’s “passing a kidney stone” version of “When The Saints Go Marching In” insulted the memory of my late father, who played the far superior Pete Seeger version all the time when I was younger. But Bruce sounded more passionate when singing “My Oklahoma Home,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” and “Mrs. McGrath.” He really seemed to understand Pete Seeger and the message of his songs.

The multiple shots in such a short period of time on this blu-ray disc may annoy some, but really make the concert more exciting to watch. The high definition filming, as well as the lifelike sound, really bring the concert experience alive. It was probably more exciting watching the concert on a blue-ray disc than sitting with a nearly vacant audience. However, the particular audience where this concert was filmed, in Dublin, was anything but vacant. Bruce Springsteen, like many other American acts, is probably appreciated a lot more in Europe than his own country these days.

While Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin certainly won’t bring back some of the fans he’s lost over the years, it will remind them why they became fans in the first place: Bruce Springsteen is a passionate performer who not only enjoys what he’s doing, but enjoys his audience as well.
Quelle: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/06/10/121444.php

Boss rules with oldies in Ireland

Mike Devlin
Times Colonist


Wednesday, June 06, 2007


BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND
Live in Dublin (Sony/BMG)
Rating 4 (out of five)

The world's most tenured rocker has been seriously un-rocking since 2002, which says nothing of Bruce Springsteen's recent three-album string of folk and Americana recordings. Good, the lot of 'em -- but rock 'n' roll is The Boss's lifeblood, and when he's in a bar-band zone he's unstoppable, if not the best in the game.

Rock fans will have to wait a touch longer: Springsteen's new release is yet another entry in his past-due Seeger Sessions series. But, hey, it's a double-live record, which by definition means its essence is rooted in the rebellious spirit of his past. We'll take what we can get at this point.

Nit-picking aside, Live in Dublin is an excellent sampling of his band's, many talents. They reinvent Boss classics Atlantic City and Blinded By the Light to maximum roots-rock effect, and his spirited renditions of dusty classics We Shall Overcome and When the Saints Go Marching In are equally magnificent.

Quelle: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolo ... 437d8853bd

Boss shows brilliance on "Live In Dublin"
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/5/07
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND


"LIVE IN DUBLIN"

(Columbia Music Video)

New Jersey's favorite son stretches far beyond his usual fare in this concert DVD done live in his ancestral homeland, which captures his adventurous (and ultimately brilliant) foray into music most closely associated with folkie Pete Seeger. By the time Springsteen and his 17-piece ensemble reached Dublin last November, Bruce and the band had greatly extended their range and repertoire — completely reworking vintage Springsteen favorites such as "Atlantic City" and "Growin' Up," while pumping new life into real, real oldies such as "O Mary Don't You Weep" and "Mrs. McGrath."

The 57-year-old Springsteen, often bathed in simple blue light, is the focal point — but his all-acoustic band is the driving force in these performances. From guitarist Marc Anthony Thompson to saxophonist Eddie Manion to banjo player Greg Lizst, everyone gets their chance to shine — Springsteen is generous with the spotlight and his approving smiles. The Boss also brings along wife Patti Scialfa; the pair harmonize on a gorgeous version of "If I Should Fall Behind" that revisits the song as a waltz.

"Open All Night," from Springsteen's sparse "Nebraska," becomes a bit of jumping jive, complete with an Andrews Sisters' vocal break courtesy of Scialfa and E Street Band member Soozie Tyrell.

Springsteen sings with his sleeves rolled up — he's working, but it's clear this is a labor of love. For those who prefer Bruce and his E Street Band running full throttle down some Jersey highway, this set provides a reminder that Springsteen does some of his best work while visiting the exits along the road.

Arriving in stores today, the DVD includes two bonus tracks not included on the companion CD release: "Love of the Common People" and "We Shall Overcome."

Larry McShane
The Associated Press
Quelle: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... /706050338

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - LIVE IN DUBLIN WITH SESSIONS BAND

Bruce Springsteen
(Vagrant)
Boss Man's 'leave the preaching to the choir' policy reaps live jackpot

In these demographic-specific times, Springsteen's desire to reach out and encompass a wider tradition than ever ironically means he gets smaller audiences. Yet the largest band of his career - the live incarnation of The Seeger Sessions album outfit – is the most the most mournful and celebratory. And, all due respect to the chaps and chappessses on
E Street, possibly the best.

You can't see the most racially complex and gender-blended band of Bruce's career on this set from Dublin barn The Point (recorded over three November nights last year). But you certainly can hear it - and also how much they had increased in fluidity and sense of purpose from their debut performance in New Orleans earlier that April.

That show had added emotional edge, given the distinctive Crescent City thread Bruce brought to proceedings, in the post Katrina protest climate. Here, though, The Boss’s mastery of several traditions in American music simply teems with glee and finery. On "Old Dan Tucker", second song in, bright country fiddle, weird but rapturous brass and massed harmonies make the overcooked "Atlantic City" seem an odd opener.

Bruce's connection to folk protest deepens, in righteously swaggering preacher and congregation style, on the epochal rewrite of "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live". A Depression era classic that Springsteen found on a Ry Cooder album and then amended with his own brilliantly Bush-baiting verse is perhaps the most politically extreme and, as hammered home here, exultant performance of his career.

Arguably even more profound, certainly as dramatic, is "Eyes On The Prize". Gilded by pedal steel and prowling stand up bass, the duet between Springsteen and raw throated guitar player Mark Anthony Thompson is like Sinatra and Sammy Davis doing revolutionary Gospel.
The stately waltz of "If I Should Fall Behind", a duet with Patty Sciafla, meanwhile brings the drama of the human heart into focus, while the choruses of "When The Saints Go Marching In" and "This Little Light Of Mine" rock free and easy.

In short, it's everything Springsteen's big-hearted thoughtfully impassioned take on Americana ever set out to be. Swing out sisters and brothers, swing out.

GAVIN MARTIN
Quelle: http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/bruce_spri ... views/9847