Reviews
Bruce Springsteen Album: Land Of Hope And Dreams (Live In Manchester)
Label: Columbia
Tracks: 6
Website: https://brucespringsteen.net/
On May 14, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band opened their Land of Hope & Dreams Tour in Manchester, Highlights from that first night are already available as the "Land of Hope & Dreams" EP.
With Track 1 being devoted to an introduction vilifying the current American administration, he launches into Land Of Hope And Dreams a live set staple for many years. At 75 Springsteen's voice is holding up well compared to many of his contemporaries. The E Street Band, still including several members going back to the start of their career is on good form. While Jake Clemons is not his uncle, he still turns in a very credible solo on Land Of Hope And Dreams, which closes with drummer Max Weinberg closing the song with a solo that belies his 74 years.
The Ep is dedicated to songs which are clearly intended to send messages to those in power in America. Long Walk Home, originally written during the presidency of George W Bush talks about how a "guy comes back to his town and recognizes nothing and is recognized by nothing."
The introduction to My City of Ruins, written as an elegy for his hometown Asbury Park, New Jersey, and then used as a message of hope following 9/11. Springsteen takes up another track of the EP to talk again about his feelings on the current state of his country. The song itself, written around Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready and originally features on The Rising album is used here as a showcase for the horn section who turn it into a soul revue tune.
The EP closes with Bob Dylan's Chimes OF Freedom which has been the encore on the tour so far along with Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land. Musically the EP is exactly what you expect from a Springsteen live recording. A little rough around the edges maybe, due to the hurried release, but powerful and shows a band still after 50 years at the top of their game.
But this release is about more than the music. Sprringsteen has devoted a new webpage to the three statements about the situation in the United States which he opened this show with. They bear reading in full. For an artist who has clearly thought deeply about his country and written about many aspects of it, some songs like Born In The USA being at times wilfully misinterpreted, to take such a public stand at this time is a bold move. We'll see what happens when the tour gets back home how it is received there.
Tim Martin
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