Tougher Than the Rest

Figures. Tell me, is Clear Channel worth anything at all? Thank goodness CC didn't exist in the late 60s - think of who you WOULDN'T hear on the radio. I am interested, however, in checking out the sites below the article and see how "Magic" is being reviewed around the nation.

Glad to hear Lefty digs most of the new album after seeing the show. The songs from the new album that really stand out:

Radio Nowhere - blazing opener, arpeggiated guitar with driving rock beats and chorus that isn't sing-songy but an outright demand for change.

Gypsy Biker - while I still don't find myself moved by the song and its structure, the part that really kills is the duel between Bruce and Little Steven at the end. Last time the boys went head to head like that since the Darkness tour nearly thirty years ago.

Last To Die - powerful anti-war anthem that the band drives with the intensity of "Because the Night" with some killer sax playing by the Big Man.

Now, as much as I dig the new album, there are some songs that don't quite hold up live, for whatever reasons:

Magic - tough to be placed in such a rocking set; a "Streets of Philadelphia"-type song that brings the energy to a different place, one that I didn't necessarily agree with.

Girls With Their Summer Clothes - the song's introduction misses something and only strikes the indifferent audience when the first chorus comes around. Don't get me wrong, this is more of the fault of the concert-goers and not the song as people are singing their heads off by the end of the song. By the time Bruce plays this song in the set, the "I paid $100, I better be getting something old" crowd is growing restless. The song worked really well followed by "Thunder Road" with the reverse story line. This song would probably receive greater applause if the second set was another three or four songs longer.

Now, the question of the summer tour...what stays, what goes. The biggest shocker is the Devils and Dust songs that didn't make it into the setlist. In 1984, the band essentially toured two albums, "U.S.A." and Nebraska, from two years' prior. Much of the show consisted of both albums and both were well-received. I thought that at least two or three songs would have worked their way into the setlist, "Long Time Comin'" and "Maria's Bed" for sure.

Just checked it out. Well worth it. Westmont? Man, I wonder if I knew him when I was in school.