4/26: REHEARSALS WRAPPED; NAWLINS NEXT!
The fourth and final rehearsal show opened with the debut of a stunning "Long Black Veil," sounding pretty faithful to The Band's rendition; Bruce brought "Adam Raised a Cain" back to the set, dropping "Jesse James," "Erie Canal," and "When the Saints Go Marching In." Closing the show in place of "Saints" was another debut: "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze." (Seriously. Think "Wild Billy's Circus Story" meets Tom Waits.) But not everything was done with the greatest of ease at this 5:30 show: the lower-energy crowd wasn't quite as "in concert" with the performers (chalk that up to the matinee timing, perhaps), and "Cadillac Ranch" was a Mystery Trainwreck. "We needed to fuck up!" said Bruce after that one, suggesting better now than later -- this was still a rehearsal, after all. And with that out of their system, and the rehearsing behind them, this is a band that's primed and ready for their big New Orleans debut this Sunday.
In a new Associated Press story, Springsteen looks ahead to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and says, "We're rehearsing, but we're also thinking, 'What do you want to say to those folks?'" And indeed, throughout these rehearsals, it's been clear to the preview audiences that thoughts of New Orleans hover over the whole proceedings. That begins with the sound itself, which embraces musical traditions from the Crescent City -- in Asbury, Bruce mentioned his band's "debt to that melting pot of R&B and jazz." But it extends to the show's topicality, too. "There's a lot of music we have that cuts right to the heart of what's going on there," Bruce told the Associated Press. "When the Saints Go Marching In," played at three out of the four rehearsals, is an obvious one, but songs like "We Shall Overcome" and "My City of Ruins" are imbued with new meaning post-Katrina, and "My Oklahoma Home" took on modern relevance with Bruce's intro: "The biggest displacement of American citizens since the Dust Bowl has been New Orleans."
The horn-fueled "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" -- the show's centerpiece, literally and otherwise -- is the most overt reference to the Gulf Coast disaster and its aftermath. On Monday night, Springsteen introduced it by telling the crowd that it's "important that we do what we can to help that area get back on its feet," adding, slightly off-mic, "and force our government to do something about it." On Tuesday, he explained the new twist he put on Blind Alfred Reed's Depression-era song: "I kept the first verse, and rewrote the second three, in true folk fashion." His new lyrics include "bodies floating on Canal," "I got family scattered from Texas to Baltimore," and a not-so-subtly-veiled description of President's Bush's response to the tragedy: "He took around and gave a pep talk / Said 'I'll be right here' then he took a little walk..." But Bruce, and the show, manages to avoid any heavy-handedness. What's on its way to New Orleans for its most fitting official debut this weekend is a rousing, hootin', hollerin', joyful noize -- in that great American musical tradition, transforming pain into jubilation.
It's been a long time since we laughed together
It's been a long time since we cried
Raise your glass for the comrades we've lost
My friend it's been a long, long time