LESBIANS LOVE BRUCE

Well, I thought it was a great night. The 'backstreets' online review is oddly mixed -- though they're right it took 20 minutes or so for the band to kick into gear. But when they did, it was pretty incredible. Surprises: back-to-back requests in the middle of the set, for "For You" and then "Lost in the Flood." A particularly emotional "Jungleland" in the encores. "Candy's Room" and "Prove it All Night" joining "Badlands" and "Promised Land" in the main set. And partway through the encores Bruce noticed half a dozen women in the pit wearing t-shirts that said 'Lesbians love Bruce' and he essentially played the rest of the show to them, elbowing Steve so he saw them, and then changing the lyric of "American Land" to say "The Irish, the Italians, the Lesbians and the Jews." That was particularly cool.

They opened with "Night," then into "Radio Nowhere" and the usual opening setlet. They have this cool, extended end to "Long Walk Home" which they didn't have last fall. We had amazing seats, on the side right off the front left corner of the stage. (thanks to a friend of a friend with the Portland Trail Blazers organization). My kids were into it, that was terrific.

I came away thinking it was one of the better Springsteen shows I'd seen in the last 30 years. That the contrast between the sluggish opening and the rest of the evening was so clear that when they kicked into gear they really flew into hyper-space. Then, reading the less-than-ecstatic note on 'backstreets' this morning it made me wonder whether I'd been swept up in my own excitement. Or conversely, if that reviewer has seen too many shows on this tour and just wasn't into it. Hmm.

Anyway, it was a great night. -- Peter Carlin, from the Portland desk...