Bruce Springsteen Dublin The Point The Seeger Sessions tour 19th Nov 2006
In 2006 I was travelling to Dublin on a regular basis and often tried to arrange my trips around concerts. This didn’t usually work out, but this was one of the few occasions when it did. At the time, I’d lost touch with Bruce Springsteen, but my interest in his music was reignited when I heard the Seeger sessions CD. I read the very positive reviews of the album, and I liked the concept: Bruce returning to the roots music which inspired him, and those who influenced him. I missed the tour when it first visited the UK, and kicked myself when I read the rave reviews of the concerts. When Bruce added further dates including a three night stint at the Point, Dublin, I decided to try and get tickets and arrange my next trip to the city around the concert. My plan worked, and I flew over to Dublin on the Sunday morning, attended the concert on the Sunday evening, and went to meetings on Monday, returning home Monday evening.
The Point was a concert venue on the site of an old train depot along the dockland, off O’Connell Street. It operated during the period 1988 to 2007, and played host to the world’s top acts. In 2007 it was redeveloped as an O2 arena with a capacity of 14,000 (the old Point held 8,000). Several bands recorded live albums at the Point, including two which I attended: this series of concerts by Springsteen, and a two night stay by David Bowie.
This was a truly amazing and joyous concert. How could it be anything else? Springsteen singing those simple class gems of Americana with his Seeger sessions band in a lovely, relatively small, venue in Dublin; a city whose people are renowned for song and singing and for taking acts to their hearts. I just knew that this was going to be a special evening. From the minute I entered the Point, I could feel the atmosphere, and the cameras and mikes all over the auditorium made doubly sure that the Dublin crowd was going to give Bruce a reception like no other. From the minute that Springsteen came on stage, held his acoustic guitar high while strumming away at it, standing in line with his massed group of players, the whole hall was singing along as one, and the power and atmosphere continued at full pelt for a couple of hours. There were smiles on all of the band members’ faces, you could see that they were all enjoying the experience and the reaction from the Dublin crowd.
There was a sense of a mass party, a celebration, and a religious, gospel gathering, all rolled into one. It was unlike any other performance I have been to, and easily matched the previous Springsteen shows I had been to. At the end of the show, the band brought all of their families, kids and the crew on to the stage, and the whole crowd gave the performer, all their people, and themselves, an ovation that seemed to go on for ever. As we all wandered out into the cold Dublin air, and made our way back along the road to O’Connell Street, we knew we had all been part of something special. I have the DVD, which was drawn from selections across the three nights at the Point, and it captures the excitement and joyous mood of the evening. I was a Springsteen fan again, and have seen him four time since, at concerts in Hampden Park Glasgow, The O2 London, Stadium of Light Sunderland and Leeds Arena.
Setlist: Atlantic City; John Henry; Old Dan Tucker; The Ghost of Tom Joad; Mary Don’t You Weep; Jesse James; Further On (Up the Road); Erie Canal; For You; My Oklahoma Home; If I Should Fall Behind; Mrs. McGrath; How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?; Jacob’s Ladder; Long Time Comin’; Jesus Was an Only Son; Open All Night; Pay Me My Money Down; We Shall Overcome; Blinded by the Light; When the Saints Go Marching In; This Little Light of Mine; American Land
Band (this was a bog band!): Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Sam Bardfeld (violin, vocals); Art Baron (sousaphone, trombone, mandolin, penny whistle, euphonium); Frank Bruno (acoustic guitar, vocals, field drum); Jeremy Chatzky (bass guitar, double bass; Larry Eagle (drums, percussion); Clark Gayton (trombone, vocals, percussion); Charles Giordano (accordion, piano, Hammond organ, vocals); Curtis King Jr. (vocals, percussion); Greg Leisz (banjo, vocals); Lisa Lowell (vocals, percussion); Ed Manion (tenor and baritone saxophones, vocals, percussion); Cindy Mizelle (vocals, percussion); Curt Ramm (trumpet, vocals, percussion); Marty Rifkin (steel guitar, dobro, mandolin); Patti Scialfa (acoustic guitar, vocals); Marc Anthony Thompson (acoustic guitar, vocals); Soozie Tyrell (violin, vocals).
27 Jul
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