BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - London Calling: Live in Hyde Park June 28, 2009 (HD 2DVD set) (Columbia)

by Phil Rainone

Midway through The E Street Band’s 2009 tour, they played this scorching festival gig in London. The show opens with a frantic cover of the Clash’s “London Calling.” Very rarely have I seen a band and a crowd (this wasn’t exactly a home-town crowd), go from zero to a gazillion, energizing the show right from the get-go, with barely any let up!! Seguing right into “Badlands” without any hesitation is the cherry on top of the ice cream. Just perfect in every way, The E Street Band combined all the elements, good and bad that connects both countries musically, morally, and politically

Through “Night,” “She’s The One” (they do a menacingly cool, Bo Diddley rave up at the end), “Outlaw Pete,” and “Out in the Street,”) the intensity is raw and rough - like a band playing no-holds-barred rock ’n’ roll. “Working on a Dream” downshifts into a beautiful, early summer sing-along, that, as the cameras pan around Hyde Park, and if you close your eyes you almost feel like you’re there soaking in the sun, and the sounds.

“Seeds” revs things up again as Bruce and the band use the story of a 1940’s American family deep into the Depression as a springboard to “Youngstown” and “Johnny 99.” The common link, besides some damn good rock ‘n’ roll is the storylines and characters all are victims of their social environment, whether through their own hand, or that of others.

“Good Lovin” is one of the comedy relief parts of the show. Man, they aced The Rascals cover (in fact Bruce and Little Stephen had gone on stage with the reunited Rascals about four months ago to perform the same song) like it was their own. In this part of the DVD, Bruce goes down the multiple stairways to the crowd to gather the request signs (the requests got wilder and funnier when the tour came back to the US. They played “A Little Bit of Soul” by The Music Explosion when Gary, Diane and I saw them in Philadelphia later that September), and glad-hand the crowd. By the time Bruce makes it back to the stage, he was frantically sucking wind, trying to get up the last few stairs as Little Stephen let a hand, and helped him back up on stage. Huffing and puffing, Bruce finally gets to the mike and says: “That’s nuts! Someone get me a fuckin’ elevator!! I’m fuckin’ 60!!” The band and the whole park erupted into laughter!

From the request signs, Bruce pulled Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped,” which they had performed before “No Surrender” (Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem came on stage and traded lines with Bruce as the band roared through it like a bunch of teenagers discovering “Louie Louie” for the first time. Brian looked like he was ready to break out his air guitar, he was so excited), and later on during the show “Glory Days,” the latter of which Bruce and the band started mugging, and cavorting around the stage for the cameras (actually they didn’t need much prompting, as they were just having a blast and a half all the way through their three-hour set.

Live in Hyde Park marks the first Springsteen & the E Street Band outdoor concert film, and a first from a festival setting. I would have liked to have seen the cameras stay longer on each band member, and also the crowd to get a more solid, visual image of everything. They took a little too much from the MTV book on making music videos. Too many 5-10 second shots, trying to absorb everything all at once. I was once told by a seasoned photo journalist to, “Get a picture of the SOUND of the guitar.” I think if they would have lingered a little bit more on the band members, the crowd, and the vibe of the Hyde Park, I would have felt more like I was there, but still you still get that chill run up your spine every now and again from such an epic show.

Clarence still gets the loudest burst of applause. All he has to do is pick up his sax and the place explodes! This show was before he had his hip surgery at the end of last year. As a matter of fact, Clarence is back playing a few shows with his own band, so hopefully an E Street Band reunion it’s far away. The rest of the band including Roy (piano), Charles (keyboards), Soozie (violin, vocals), Gary (bass), Max (drums), Nils (guitar, vocals), and Steve (guitars, vocals)- Patti was absent , I missed her unique vocal prowess, and stage presence, and Danny had passed a few months before the show form melanoma), bring Bruce’s music to life. They flesh out new cadence’s like on old war horses like “Promised Land,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run,” and new numbers like “Radio Nowhere,” “The Rising,” and “Lonesome Day,” just to name a few.

As I’m writing this, I realize that I’ve been reviewing just about every song, comment, etc. - and I’ve done that in the past with Bruce’s music. Wondering aloud, I guess that to me, Bruce and The E Street Band whether on CD, DVD, or at a live show, create a visual and audio photo album. An album that is partly about me, my friends, and my family- the whole world actually. They touch me like no other band, and I really don’t want to know why- I love the mystery of having faith, hope, along with the not so good times. Like Jim (The Boss) says, “Bruce Springsteen has created his own version of rock ‘n’ roll.” And I’m on board, wherever that may lead.

Disc two almost seems like it’s over an hours worth of encores. “Born to Run,” “Rosalita,” “Glory Days,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and epically “American Land” litterly got me up outta my seat lettin’ loose, and that’s at work! Man, what a show!

They added two bonus songs to this 27 Monmouth song set. An amazingly passionate version of “The River” was taken from the June 27th show at Glastonbury, and a very cool music video for “Wrecking Ball” from the Giants stadium shows was a thrill to see and hear, after Frank, and his kids Tim, Nikki, Patti, and I had seen it in person that night in October.

Smartly, they released a single for “London Calling” to radio, and if the powers that be are wise enough, they’ll also release a 2 CD set of the show like they did when they reissued the box set for “Born to Run” a few years ago. - And speaking of box sets, “Darkness on the Edge of Town” is supposed to be reissued as a box set also. How cool would it be if they include a live DVD from one of their shows when “Darkness was first released, and a CD to go along with it?! I can never get enough Bruce!!

One thing: There were far more three hour power drives through Springsteen’s America during ‘09- including full-album shows (They did “Greetings…” “The Wild the Innocent…” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” and “The River”), but here is where a lot of the heat originated, the heart and soul of what makes Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band one of the best- ever!