Sunday, January 28, 2007

'A Gentleman of Verona'

Is the title of a great new fan 'release' that documents the second half of Bruce Springsteen's 1993 concert in Verona, Italy. I was squashed somewhere in the stadium crowd so it's a real thrill for me to see this footage after all this time.

The show was part of the 92-93 Human Touch/Lucky Town tour with much the maligned 'other band'. They have taken a lot of stick over the years for simply just not being the E Street Band. I think though that if the tour had been different musically whereby they weren't having to play old E Street numbers then their reception might have been a whole lot better.

The first half of the show was pretty good with an added bonus of Jimmy Cliff making a guest appearance. After the intermission Bruce and the band stepped everything up a gear. On came the bandanna and the show felt more like it was from the old Born In The USA tour.

This clip from Light of Day shows just how well the 'other band' could make the house shake... (time though can be cruel; someone, somewhere has pointed out that here Bruce looks like a bizarre prototype version of K-K-Kramer!)

Bruce Springsteen - Light of Day
Verona, 11th April 1993

The song actually continues on for a few more minutes, leading to a climax in which Bruce bares his sweaty chest (NSFW)!

Other highlights of this 2 DVD set include a scorching Because The Night, the anti-gulf war run of Who'll Stop The Rain/Souls of the Departed/Star Spangled Banner/Born In The USA (which sadly is just as relevant today, 14 years later) and a fun encore featuring Rockin' All Over the World and Working on the Highway.

Fantastico!

www.lightofday.org

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