Ah, Vancouver… I love that city.
It’s not my favorite city to see a Springsteen concert, though, because the Vancouver audiences are too darn quiet and respectful–the energy level there is never quite what it is in other cities, even in the usually sedate Pacific Northwest.
For an acoustic show, though, Vancouver is a great place to be, and Bruce seemed to recognize it, treating the respectful crowd at his 2005 Devils & Dust show to not just an incredible setlist, but also a night of performances that were just a notch above previous shows.
I don’t know how else to describe it, but if you saw previous shows on that run, and you were at the Vancouver show (which at that time was thought to be the last show of the tour–the next leg didn’t pick up for two months, and hadn’t yet been announced), you know exactly what I mean. I don’t know if it was because it was his last opportunity to play those songs for a while, or if it was the crowd, or if he just plain felt like doing something a little different… but almost every song was played and sung just a little differently than on the rest of the tour.
Bruce opened the show with “Living Proof,” just as he did in Seattle two days prior–clearly, Bruce was enjoying having Evan tour with him that week.
A few setlist staples followed: “Reason to Believe,” “Devils & Dust,” “Lonesome Day,” and “Long Time Comin’.” But it was clear from the performances that something was in the air–all three were different than we’d heard them at the previous two shows, and my friend Kris and I exchanged glances–we both noticed the heightened performance. Check out “Lonesome Day” below–it’s my favorite performance of that song from the tour, and you’ll hear exactly what I mean:
And then came the wild cards: first up, the tour premiere of “Because the Night” (the chords of which proved just a touch challenging for Bruce):
Next up: gorgeous back-to-back piano songs: “The Promise” and “The River,” one heck of a one-two punch.
“State Trooper” followed, Bruce’s falsetto perfectly conveying the desperation of the protagonist better than I’ve ever heard it before or since. This version was downright disturbing, and in my mind is the definitive performance of it (at least among the ones I’ve heard):
We needed a palate cleanser after that, so Bruce gave us rollicking renditions of “Ain’t Got You” and “Cynthia,” before turning things serious again with “The Line” and “Reno.”
By this point, Kris and I had either forgotten about or given up on the request she asked Bruce for in Portland, but Bruce surprised us by remembering and playing “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart” for Kris (even if Bruce forgot her name). I’m surprised you can’t hear her delighted scream in the recording!
That was my first and still my only “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart,” and it was worth the wait.
Back to the piano for “Paradise” and “Real World,” and then the standard set closers. But there were more surprises in store for the encores, starting with the Canadian debut of “Blinded by the Light” (how is that even possible?) and a lovely “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” to mark the end of Bruce’s “summer extravaganza.”
Bruce sent us off into the night with his by now traditional show closers of “The Promised Land” and “Dream Baby Dream.” Bittersweet moments, because I knew that even if the tour were to be extended, this was the end of the run for me. These solo shows were magical, and as it turns out, not to be repeated again (unless you count the Broadway run, which I consider to be a very different experience).
Bruce’s three-night stand in the Pacific Northwest was everything we could have asked for and more, with 46 unique songs and each show bringing me personal premieres and delights I couldn’t have ever predicted. I’ve had individual shows over the years that I’d rank higher than these, but this is probably my favorite consecutive run.
