Area Man’s World Rocked
This last Tuesday night, Jane and I (and friends of Pipeline Brad and Katy) went to the Vote For Change concert in St. Paul. It’s a concert tour put together by MoveOn, and they are specifically targeting swing states like Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. The various lineups change depending on date and location, but I would have to say we caught the crown jewel of the tour.
The announced lineup was Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., John Fogerty, and Bright Eyes, an indie-rock prodigy from Omaha, NE. That, friends, is a lineup.
On our way to the venue, I fretted about how going to an arena show was going to make me feel old. I hadn’t been to an arena concert since I saw Iron Maiden and Anthrax in 1990. (A fiasco not of my own choosing.) My idea of a concert is to go to First Avenue and fight with people for space and a view of the show, usually without much success. But that’s where the acts I like to see are playing, you see? And that’s because I’m so hip and cool, and so very not into corporate rock or nostalgia.
Yeah, I know, that’s all self-imposed bullshit. The truth is I haven’t seen a concert at all since I saw the White Stripes at First Ave. in 2002. I might like to think of myself as Mr. On The Town Seeing Live Music With Other Twentysomethings, but I’ve done that maybe four times in the last five years. Also, I’m no longer particularly close to Twentysomething. Thus, the fretting.
On the positive side, the show was at the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild NHL franchise. The X is known as one of the great concert venues in the country these days because of great sight lines and even better acoustics. All of that proved to be correct. For instance, I actually understood what people were saying when they spoke into the mic. At other venues, even smaller ones, it always sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher is working the room. The X was outstanding in many ways, and I would strongly suggest seeing a show there as long as it’s not Iron Maiden.
The show started with Bright Eyes, really just a stage name for Conor Oberst. His set was more acoustic than I think his overall catalogue is, but no matter. Nobody was there to see him, but he did a nice job. What a great gig for that kid; he seemed in awe of the other acts whenever he was on stage, but not so much that he didn’t give a good show.
As R.E.M. set up, we were treated to the expected montage of video plugs by the performers and others supporting the Kerry effort. This was where the radical agenda of these performers was revealed, proprosing things like truth in government, cooperation with other nations, advancement of medical care and veterans benefits. Those fucking radical rock stars! Next they’ll be calling for legit elections.
I was pretty excited to see R.E.M., because I had never seen them before. I was never the world’s biggest R.E.M. fan, but I certainly am a fan. I’ve owned most of their albums over the years, and generally believe they are one of the, if not the premier American band post-1980. (What other candidates would there be? Public Enemy? Nirvana? It’s not as long a list as you might think.)
They opened with “The One I Love”, and I was immediately struck with how much presence Michael Stipe had on stage. At some level, “stage presence” could be interpreted to mean “wacky dancing”, because Stipe does plenty of that. But it’s a lot more than that. He commands the eye of the audience at almost all times. That’s hard to do. On this night he wore a white suit that, combined with his bald head and skinny physique, made him look like Colonel Sanders after a three week stay at camp X-Ray.
A digression about front men, as long as we’re talking about Stipe. There aren’t many great front men in rock to point to. I wouldn’t have thought to put Stipe on the list until I saw him on Tuesday, but there’s no doubt in my mind he belongs on the list. Who else? Bono. Axle Rose. Jagger. Freddy Mercury. Yeah, I said Freddy Mercury. When I saw Freddy Mercury on the Midnight Special when I was a kid, I thought he was mesmerizing. How much of that was because he was the gayest man I had ever or would ever see in my life is unclear. But Freddy Mercury, like all the others on this list, was what a front man is supposed to be: A great singer, and a performer. Frontmen must add something to the show beyond what the band behind him can add. I love Peter Buck, but if Stipe’s not on stage, there’s no R.E.M. to watch.
I was disappointed with R.E.M.’s set. Obviously, the sets were going to be shorter than normal; I think they probably played for an hour and 20 or so. I was disappointed because after starting with great run-throughs of “The One I Love” and “Begin the Begin”, the next-oldest song they played was “Losing My Religion”. Mostly, they played newer material. Considering they have a new album out, that’s understandable. And the material was pretty strong, especially “Bad Day”, even if it is a rip-off of “End of the World As We Know It”. But the bottom line for me is that I think their strongest material was on their first five records, and I wanted more of it. But they were so good, I might be willing to see them again just to hear it.
Despite my disappointment with their set list, I was more than impressed with R.E.M. Given their tenure on the scene and the fact that Bill Berry was no longer with the band, I sort of expected to see a band on the downhill slide. I never saw them in their heyday, but I have a hard time believing these guys have lost much if anything. Great band.
But in the middle of their set, a something great happened. Stipe said something about Canada, I can’t remember what. And then Neil Young appeared. BAM! Neil Young. There was no indication at all that Neil Young was going to show up; he hadn’t played the earlier shows on the tour. Neil Fucking Young!
I like Neil Young. A lot. His early albums are among my favorites, but I like the Neil Young of today most of all. During the ‘90s he gained cache with a whole new set of fans when Pearl Jam and other bands proclaimed him the Godfather of Grunge, or whatever. But Young keeps moving forward, putting out great albums and backing them up with guitar playing unlike anything else you’ll hear.
The crowd went nuts when Young appeared, and it was clear that the other musicians on the bill held Young in similarly high regard. They pretty much gave him a wide berth to play and do whatever he wanted, and just about everybody on stage with him—Stipe, Buck, Bruce, even Fogerty--spent most of their time watching him play.
And man, did Neil Young play. From the very first moment he hit a string on his guitar it was clear that Neil Young’s guitar didn’t sound like other people’s guitars. His playing was heavy and loud. He blew the roof off the place on a number of tracks, and generally put on a clinic. It was impressive. How exactly does a grizzled grampa who lived in a 10-year drug haze manage to play like that?
R.E.M. finished up in time for us to be brainwashed into more radical notions of representative democracy and fair elections, and then it was time for The Boss. Springsteen was the heavy crowd favorite, and I suppose that figures. Personally, I like Springsteen, I respect him as an artist, and I like many of his albums. But Springsteen just doesn’t really do anything for me. The lyrics always seem to be top-notch, but the music seems too pedestrian for my tastes. And since I’ve always been a music first, lyrics second kind of listener, that dampens my enthusiasm for Springsteen as an artist. Same with Dylan. It also explains my lack of patience for spoken-word.
Having said that, I was thrilled to see him and the E Street Band. And it was the whole band. Clarence Clemons, Max Weinberg, Patty Scialfa, Little Steven. What other band can conjure images of Conan O’Brien, the Sopranos, Juliette Phillips or the Lord of the Rings? (Lord of the Rings, you say? E Street guitarist Nils Lofgren was about as tall as a Hobbit. If he wore elevator shoes.) Sidenote on Clarence Clemons: Can you name a better sax gig since John Coltrane died? How many times do you think CC has had to play the solo from “Born to Run?” 10,000? No question, Springsteen gives a great show. I was glad to see it. I wouldn’t pay to see him again, though.
Fogerty was the last major part of the evening to appear on stage, and for the most part I thought he sounded great. His voice is still there, and the dude still plays a great guitar. I did find his hair color to be unnatural to the point of distraction, but I was glad to see him for even the limited amount of time he played. The version of “Fortunate Son” that he and Springsteen ripped through was unforgettable.
The finale was as you would expect. All the bands ended up on stage for a Last Waltz-style group jam, including “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding” and Young’s “Rockin’ In the Free World”. I kept expecting Joni Mitchell and Paul Butterfield to come out on stage.
It was wonderful.
Over five hours after it started, it was done. And I have to say, my back and legs felt much better than they normally would after even a two-hour show, all because of the arena seat I had the chance to use during slow moments. Hey, if getting older means seeing concerts this good, I can live with that.
But something tells me it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal. Considering the reasons for the concert in the first place, I hope that’s the case.
5:31:51 PM 
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