Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Workingman's anthems of Boss cloaked in irony (SPRINGSTEEN BOMBS OUT IN CHICAGO)
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | June 15, 2006 | DAVE HOEKSTRA

Posted on 06/15/2006 3:37:09 AM PDT by Chi-townChief

Pete Seeger sings songs of peace, hope and the working class. Bruce Springsteen's idea to reinterpret the Seeger songbook with broad strokes of street jazz and gospel is a noble thought. Unfortunately, Springsteen's Tuesday night "Seeger Sessions" concert was outsourced to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

Everything that was so right about the music was so wrong for the venue.

Springsteen and his raucous 17-piece band failed to even fill the pavilion. Roughly 5,500 fans showed up, and the $92 ticket price knocked out the working-class audience that Springsteen and Seeger have championed. This is First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, as in cha-ching. A Corona beer was $10. "Seeger Session" programs were $20. I know many fans who would have taken a chance on the show had tickets been $50 or less. So who's left? People who may not share Seeger and Springsteen's political beliefs.

How do I know this? Springsteen's first encore was an evocative version of "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)," which Seeger wrote in 1966 as an anti-Vietnam War song. Back then, thousands of people sang with Seeger on the chorus: "Bring 'em home, bring 'em home, but I got a right to sing this song. ..."

But after Tuesday's rendition, there was a smattering of applause to a message that is as much about freedom of expression as it is against war. The starchy atmosphere was not lost on the Boss, who earlier in the concert remarked, "Tinley Park. I don't know where the hell that is -- some big black box outside of Chicago?"

So Springsteen tried his best, especially in the second portion of the 2-1/2-hour show. (In what is becoming a Springsteen tradition, he kicked off the concert almost an hour after the advertised 7:30 p.m. start.) He rearranged "Ramrod" into a Tex-Mex-meets-ska roadhouse number with tuba solos, and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" continues to embrace the zydeco seasonings Springsteen deployed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

New Orleans is still much on Springsteen's mind. He wasn't as vocal about President Bush as he was in New Orleans, explaining that he doesn't "like to kick a man when he's down." But Springsteen's hard-rockin' reworking of Blind Alfred Reed's "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" continues to be an emotional cornerstone of the set.

Springsteen added his own post-Katrina lyrics to the 1929 blues song that reflected on the Great Depression. On Tuesday, he sang of "bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to hell" with raw conviction and empathy. Moments earlier, Springsteen shared vocals with Marc Anthony Thompson (Chocolate Genius) as they recast "Long Black Veil" through pure country gospel.

The stage was basked in shades of red, and I found the three chandeliers above the band very ironic. Here's a news flash: There are places in Chicago like the Auditorium Theatre and Orchestra Hall that have storied chandeliers, where Seeger and the Weavers actually performed, and are more accessible for older folk music fans than a shed among the little boxes that Seeger himself sang about in 1963's ode to suburbia "Little Boxes (Ticky Tacky)."

dhoekstra@suntimes.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: blockhead; bushhaters; liberal; limousineliberals; overhypedhuckster; seeger; springsteen
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-83 next last
To: Chi-townChief
Shark Jumping, 450lb Elvis BTTT
21 posted on 06/15/2006 4:35:08 AM PDT by tcostell (MOLON LABE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Maybe getting the Dixie Chicks to open for him would help.


22 posted on 06/15/2006 4:38:32 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (If you read only one book this year, read "Stolen Valor".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: edpc
5,500 x 100 = 550,000

$550,000
- federal taxes
- state taxes
- municipal/township tax
- cost of venue
-cost of advertising
- managers fee
- agents fee
- band's fee
- equipment rental
-insurance
-"miscelaneous"...

yeah he cleared about $50,000.00, not bad for a nights work...being a "working man" and all.

23 posted on 06/15/2006 4:49:38 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Lurker

see my post 23


24 posted on 06/15/2006 4:51:51 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Dick Vomer
he cleared about $50,000.00

- federal taxes
- state taxes
- municipal/township tax

We were talking gross figures, but that would be poetic. If it were true, however, it would blow up the Lib complaints about tax cuts being for the rich...

25 posted on 06/15/2006 4:57:28 AM PDT by edpc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: garyhope
I hope Streisand un-retirement tour is just as successful
26 posted on 06/15/2006 5:08:51 AM PDT by txroadhawg ("Stuck on stupid? I invented stupid! " Al Gore)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Maybe the Boss can team with the Dixie Chicks and play the indian casino circuit. If they add in Bin Jovi, they might even fill most of the 1500 seats.


27 posted on 06/15/2006 5:18:59 AM PDT by pissant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

I can't think of a single Springsteen tune that doesn't cause my radio to suddenly turn off or change channels.


28 posted on 06/15/2006 5:27:04 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief
.....the $92 ticket price knocked out the working-class audience that Springsteen and Seeger have championed.

That's all you need to know about liberals.

29 posted on 06/15/2006 5:28:33 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurker
I've loathed Springsteens music since 1977 and quite proudly I might add.

Ditto.

Bananarama is more enlightening.

30 posted on 06/15/2006 5:31:39 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: iopscusa
..... his music sounds to me as little more than an adverising jingle.

Well stated.

31 posted on 06/15/2006 5:34:05 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief
Springsteen and his raucous 17-piece band failed to even fill the pavilion. Roughly 5,500 fans showed up, and the $92 ticket price knocked out the working-class audience that Springsteen and Seeger have championed.

So much for the 'working' people Springsteen claims to represent.

Ticket prices anymore are beyond outragious. I have passed over a number of concerts in the last several years because it would have cost over $100 for me and my Wife to go. Forget it - they're not that important.
32 posted on 06/15/2006 5:35:02 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Man was made in the image of God, not pond scum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fester Chugabrew
I can't think of a single Springsteen tune that doesn't cause my radio to suddenly turn off or change channels.

That's odd. His tunes have that exact effect on my radio.

33 posted on 06/15/2006 5:35:58 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Nobody's gonna beat Ry Cooder's version of "Blind Alfred Reed's "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live".


34 posted on 06/15/2006 5:36:45 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: E Rocc

Carlton Theater, Red Bank, N.J. 1975. 10th Ave. Freeze Out, Night and the Fever were life changing experiences.

That was when Bruce and the band were just about to launch. They were optimistic in looking toward the future and the music reflected it. Contract dispute with DellaPelle bittered Bruce forever. From Darkness it has been a steady downhill slide. Pity.


35 posted on 06/15/2006 5:45:21 AM PDT by frithguild (The Freepers moved as a group, like a school of sharks sweeping toward an unaware and unarmed victim)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief
(In what is becoming a Springsteen tradition, he kicked off the concert almost an hour after the advertised 7:30 p.m. start.)

Make'em wait.

"Working-class man" letting the little guy know what he really thinks of him.

May Brucie Boy have many more empty seats in his future.

36 posted on 06/15/2006 5:46:29 AM PDT by FlyVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: metesky

I met Seeger in 1962 in Harvard SQ. a pal of mine was a big folk music fan, gifted musician, and future drug victim. he, Seeger, seemed kind of smarmy and self righteous.


37 posted on 06/15/2006 5:55:44 AM PDT by Little Bill (A 37%'r, a Red Spot on a Blue State, rats are evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: garyhope

You got that straight; in the "Hail Hail Rock and Roll" movie, Keith Richard came across as much more articulate than Springsteen so what does that tell you?


38 posted on 06/15/2006 6:07:34 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Little Bill

Is he aware of Seeger's support for the Nazis from '39-'41?


39 posted on 06/15/2006 6:13:45 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Little Bill

Oops, by "victim", maybe I should assume that he's no longer around.


40 posted on 06/15/2006 6:14:53 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-83 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson