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    • Why Bruce Springsteen decided to change his setlist, end with this song
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    Why Bruce Springsteen decided to change his setlist, end with this song

    Vaseline Posted on

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    Few things make you feel more alive than a Bruce Springsteen concert.

    But when Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage in 2023 after a six-year hiatus, the common thread of the tour was death.

    Or at least mortality, as depicted in ‘Road Diary’, the documentary about Springsteen, his sacred band, life on tour and the inevitable tug-of-war of time. The two-hour film will be released on Hulu on October 25.

    As for the revelations from this visual chronicle, the biggest comes from Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, who reveals that she has been living with a rare form of cancer called multiple myeloma since 2018.

    But the film reveals deep themes and insights into how the Boss creates imitable musical experiences for fans.

    More: Bruce Springsteen speaks of ‘tremendous pressure’ in the music industry following the death of Liam Payne

    Springsteen chooses his set list to ‘complete the story’

    Springsteen, who turned 75 in September, immediately emphasizes the importance of a set list as he and the E Streeters gather at a theater in Red Bank, New Jersey to “shake off the cobwebs” and prepare for their tour of 2023 (which has been extended to 2025).

    It’s the first time he’s been able to perform songs from his deep twenties’ “Letter to You.”e studio album released during the COVID wave of 2020, and he’s on a mission.

    The set list, Springsteen says in the documentary directed by trusted friend and filmmaker Thom Zimny, will convey the story for fans. “In 25 songs, I chose to focus on what would complete the story for what I wanted to say and let the audience know who I am at this point in my work life,” he says.

    For a collective almost as famous as The Grateful Dead for shuffling songs and unpacking surprises at every concert, the first part of the 2023 shows showed meticulous discipline.

    Why Springsteen ends his set with this song

    With few exceptions, the opening quartet included “No Surrender,” “Ghosts,” “Prove it All Night,” and “Letter to You.” With zero exceptions — even during the current run of fall shows — Springsteen has ended his concerts on stage alone with his acoustic guitar, leaving fans with the sweet meditation on loss and spirituality: “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

    “It’s critical that he connects the underlying thoughts and feelings that make this show different from any other show he’s created,” says an unknown voice that sounds like Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager of nearly 50 years. (One quibble about the documentary: Band members are identified only once, and given the sheer size of the E Street Band, it’s often challenging to determine who’s speaking during show footage and backstage clapping.)

    More: The Grateful Dead Named MusiCares Persons of the Year: How They’ll Be Honored at the Grammys

    Throughout the film, there are nods to late band members Danny Federici, who died in 2008, and Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011 (“Clarence and I, we were different parts of the same spiritual body,” says Springsteen). It also confirms what fans had already concluded: that the addition to the setlist of “Night Shift,” Springsteen’s soulful cover of the Commodores’ 1985 tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, is a tip of the hat to Federici and Clemons.

    But strangely, given the overriding theme of mortality, it’s curious why there’s no mention of the debilitating stomach ulcers that forced Springsteen off the road for the final four months of 2023 before he and the band returned in March.

    A segment aimed at a fanbase as ardent in parts of Europe (particularly Barcelona) as the US, it offers insights as much about the ticking clock as it does about the exuberance of ‘Born to Run’.

    “We don’t expect it to tour forever,” says one enthusiast in Ireland. “We want to enjoy every moment of this… just in case.”

    Vaseline
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