The Devils and Dust Tour was unpredictable and intimate: just Bruce and his guitars (and occasionally, a piano, a pump organ, and a used electric keyboard he bought on ebay). Maybe it was the relative lack of companionship on a solo tour that prompted Bruce to make unannounced visits to the arena parking lots during breaks in the sound checks. (His son Evan accompanied him for this leg of the tour, but Bruce liked to remark that Evan was usually lost in his videogames.) Whatever the reason, it was a never-before opportunity to meet the artist in person and maybe even make make a request.
My friend Kris and I were lucky enough to meet Bruce outside of the Rose Garden before the Portland show, and Kris requested her favorite song, “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart.” She got her request… two shows later. (Luckily, we were at that show, too.)
The setlist on this night was the second and my favorite of the four shows I saw on this tour, filled with rarities, unusual arrangements, and songs I’d never heard live before.
From the one-off “Soul Driver” opener (my first time hearing it live, and to this day the only performance of it since the 1992-93 tour), to my very first “Frankie,” “I Wish I Were Blind,” “Nothing Man,” and “Dream Baby Dream” (my Oakland show was too early in the tour–Bruce hadn’t yet debuted that Suicide cover), to revelatory new arrangements for “Ain’t Got You,” “Part Man, Part Monkey” and “Ramrod” — not to mention an unexpected solo piano “Lost in the Flood” and encore of “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” — this show was a cascade of jaw-dropping surprises.
But for my money, the highlight of highlights were the absolutely stunning and achingly beautiful performances of two of my Tunnel of Love favorites: “Valentine’s Day,” and “One Step Up.” Neither were tour premieres, but both were rarely played, and Bruce’s performance on each was sublime. I would have paid full price just to hear those two songs. Take a listen and see what I mean:
When the show inevitably drew to a close (those sets flew by), I was unprepared for the power of “Dream Baby Dream” performed live. I’d heard it on a few bootlegs, but bootlegs can’t capture the rapture and trance-like state in which Bruce performed the song–he truly seemed to lose himself in it, and when he finally stood up from the organ (which continued to play, in a bit of a magic trick) and waved goodbye, it felt like he’d left us with a benediction rather than an encore.
In all, there were a whopping nine songs played this night that I had never heard Bruce perform before, and that may be a record for a show that isn’t my first of a particular tour. And because I knew that Bruce was mixing up the setlists mightily on this leg, and because I knew I’d be at the next and last two shows of the summer tour (the next leg wouldn’t start for two months), I knew that I had two more nights ahead of me where almost anything could happen.
In all, I’d see 46 unique songs across the three nights and strike well over a dozen songs from my chase list.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
