Concert Review

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
January 19, 2016 @ United Center

By Dave Miller

Bruce Springsteen scored one for the album Tuesday night at the United Center.

In the age of downloaded singles, Springsteen reminded the sold-out crowd of the storytelling possibilities and collective power a carefully-crafted album can offer by performing The River in its entirety. It was the second stop on a tour where he and the E Street Band are playing the album in each show in conjunction with the release of its recently-released box set. As he was wont to do early in his career, Springsteen labored and obsessed over the 1980 album. He turned in a single album to Columbia Records, but took it back and eventually produced a double-album containing 20 songs. (The box set features an outtakes disc of 22 songs, showing the wealth of material he was churning out while seeking to make his creative vision a reality.)

"The River was a record where I was trying to figure out where I fit in in a broader community," Springsteen said in introducing the album set. "By the time I got to The River I had taken notice of the things that bond people to their lives -- work, commitment, families, love. I wanted to imagine and write about those things. I figured if I could write about 'em, maybe I'd get one step closer to having them in my own life."

Springsteen wanted to make a big record that felt like "life" and an E Street Band concert. He succeeded on both counts. The album and concert revealed a masterwork of tension and release. For each slower, serious song such as "Independence Day," "The River," "Point Black" and "Fade Away," there was a raise-the-roof rocker such as "Out in the Street," "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)," "Cadillac Ranch" and "Ramrod." The sequencing of the album heightened the effect of each song and swept you away. The album set closed in artistic triumph with the emotional triumvirate of "The Price You Pay," "Drive All Night" and "Wreck on the Highway" examining love and loss and the cost along the way.

While some fans expressed reservations if not downright disappointment in Springsteen hitting the road behind a 35-year-old album instead of new material, the irony is the concert was the freshest performance from the New Jersey outfit that this Springsteen fan has seen in years. That's a tribute to the quality of the album and how well its songs have aged. Beyond Springsteen's off-the-charts energy that had the 66-year-old crowd-surfing during "Hungry Heart," the show was pushed higher by the band's welcomed looseness. Steve Van Zandt resumed his considerable guitar and backing vocal duties that "The River" originally required. When he wasn't doing his share of the heavy lifting, Van Zandt moved into cheerleading mode with relish. Singer Patti Scialfa and guitarist Nils Lofgren were looser than ever on stage, too. While departed Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici continue to be missed, Clemons' nephew, Jake Clemons, not only delivered "Big Man" saxophone, but bounded around the stage with grace and infectious joy.

The momentum of The River catapulted the band into the rest of the show. Highlights included a raw "She's the One" that achieved lift-off at its end, and ripping guitars in "Cover Me" and "Human Touch." Springsteen paid tribute to Glenn Frey to start the encore with The Eagles' "Take It Easy," which became prayer-like with the crowd singing along lightly and cellphone lights dotting the darkness. Telling was the unabashed enthusiasm that Springsteen exhibited in "Thunder Road" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)." Those two songs have often been delivered on recent tours as obligated favors to fans. This time, it was like he played them for his enjoyment, and the same could be said for the entire three-hours-plus show. The performance was pure because of it. The river of life can do amazing things.

The setlist:

Meet Me in the City
The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Out in the Street
Crush On You
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
I Wanna Marry You
The River
Point Blank
Cadillac Ranch
I'm a Rocker
Fade Away
Stolen Car
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Drive All Night
Wreck on the Highway
Night
No Surrender
Cover Me
She's the One
Human Touch
The Rising
Thunder Road
--------------------
Take It Easy
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Shout

Start: 8:04 p.m./Finish: 11:19 p.m.
Totals: 33 songs, three hours 15 minutes