While 16,000 fans at the St. Pete Times Forum stood on their feet, silent, basking in Bruce Springsteen’s ballad “Racing in the Street,†I was sitting with my face in my hands, pleading for the song to end. Several times he finished that dreary chorus and I’d think “Racing†was coming to a merciful close, only for Bruce and company to creep back into another verse. “Does everything have to be an epic?†I wondered, cringing.
Just so you know: I never drank the Kool-Aid — which, I hasten to add, is not the same as being a hater. I’ve had my periods of appreciation for Springsteen, but over the years it’s more been an admiration for some of his better work than genuine fandom.
And just so you know: I’m not looking down on Brooooooce fans who commune with their hero. I have a similar relationship with a handful of other acts.
That said, the show demonstrated how redundant Springsteen’s songs are. (I’ve seen him maybe six or seven times previously, and this is the first time it hit me.) He has maybe four basic compositional conceits that he returns to again and again. (What is “Livin’ in the Future†if not “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out†30 years on?)
So, yes, the concert got dull.
But it’s also why “The Rising†is such a great tune, Springsteen’s best in, oh, two decades. It’s a roof-raiser that sets itself apart from the others — a respite from the doldrums, if you will. The ensemble’s performance of the song Tuesday was particularly spirited.
One more complaint and I’m out: Springsteen has always favored a wall of sound, but his on-stage instrumentation of four guitarists, two keyboardists, bassist, violinist, saxophonist and drummer turned crescendos into sludge.
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.