TAMPA 2008 – ST. PETE TIMES FORUM, TAMPA, FLORIDA, 22 ABRIL 2008 – 3CD – OFICIAL SONIDO DEFINITIVO

TAMPA 2008.

ST. PETE TIMES FORUM, TAMPA, FLORIDA, 22 ABRIL 2008.

Homenaje a Danny Federici. Editado de los archivos de Bruce Springsteen.

El sonido definitivo. 3CD oficiales.

Grabado por John Cooper. Mezclado por Jon Altschiller.

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A medias entre un concierto y un auténtico velatorio irlandés, Tampa 2008 celebra la vida del miembro fundador de E Street Band Dan Federici, quien falleció cinco días antes. Con corazones afligidos, Bruce y la banda interpretan un repertorio con gran carga emocional, que combina temas claves de Magic y canciones seleccionadas con Phantom Danny en mente, incluido el estreno de la gira «Growin ‘Up», un raro «Backstreets» como apertura de la noche, «4 of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)» y una actuación catártica única del clásico gospel, «I’ll Fly Away».

Equal parts concert and Irish wake, Tampa 2008 celebrates the life of founding E Street Band member Dan Federici, who passed away five days earlier. With heavy hearts, Bruce and the band perform a charged, emotional set that blends key tracks from Magic and songs selected with Phantom Dan in mind, including the tour premiere of “Growin’ Up,” a rare, show-opening “Backstreets,” “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and a cathartic, one-off performance of the gospel standard, “I’ll Fly Away.”

BLOOD BROTHERS / BACKSTREETS / RADIO NOWHERE / LONESOME DAY / NO SURRENDER / GYPSY BIKER / 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) / GROWIN’ UP / ATLANTIC CITY / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / SHE’S THE ONE / LIVIN’ IN THE FUTURE / THE PROMISED LAND / WAITIN’ ON A SUNNY DAY / BRILLIANT DISGUISE / RACING IN THE STREET / THE RISING / LAST TO DIE / LONG WALK HOME / BADLANDS / OUT IN THE STREET / I’LL FLY AWAY / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) / BORN TO RUN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / AMERICAN LAND

Show rescheduled from April 21. Incredibly emotional show after the passing of Danny Federici. This show and all others on the rest of this leg of the tour open with a tribute film montage set to «Blood Brothers.» Several songs are played clearly with Danny in mind – «Backstreets» opens, plus «4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)», «Growin’ Up» (for the first time in 2008), and a tour one-off performance of «I’ll Fly Away». «4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)» features the Harley lyrics.

Bruce Springsteen – Lead vocal, electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica; Roy Bittan – Piano, keyboards, accordion; Clarence Clemons – Tenor and baritone saxophones, percussion, backing vocal; Nils Lofgren – Electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocal; Patti Scialfa – Acoustic guitar, backing vocal; Garry Tallent – Electric and upright bass; Stevie Van Zandt – Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocal; Max Weinberg: Drums, percussion; Charlie Giordano – Organ, keyboards, accordion; Soozie Tyrell – Violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocal

Recorded by John Cooper
Mixed by Jon Altschiller; Additional engineering: Danielle Warman
Mastered by Adam Ayan, Gateway Mastering
Post-Production: Brad Serling and Micah Gordon
Artwork design: Michelle Holme
Photo by Guy Aceto
Tour Director: George Travis
Jon Landau Management: Jon Landau, Barbara Carr, Jan Stabile and Alison Oscar
HD Files are 24 bit / 48 kHz; DSD files are DSD64
Blood Brothers is the studio version from the Danny Federici tribute video played before the show.

One More Fairytale
By Erik Flannigan

He was the first to fall.

Just 58 years old, Danny Federici died on April 17, 2008 from melanoma, the skin cancer for which he had been undergoing treatment since 2005. The disease eventually forced him to take leave of the E Street Band in November 2007, vacating a seat he had occupied since 1972.

Despite his nickname “Phantom” and onstage introductions like, “now you see him, now you don’t,” Daniel Paul Federici was a stalwart, symbiotic soldier perched at Springsteen’s side for nearly 40 years, going back to Bruce’s early groups Child and Steel Mill. His swirling organ and glockenspiel parts are as core to the E Street sound as Clarence Clemons’ saxophone. Max Weinberg summed it up perfectly when he described Danny’s role to Rolling Stone: “He was the glue that held the band together.”

Tampa 4/22/08 was the first show after Federici’s funeral, and the performance is as soulful as one would expect. But there’s something more subtle going on that becomes gradually apparent as one listens to Jon Altschiller’s inviting and wide stereo mix: while the audience is an essential catalyst, Bruce and the band are playing for themselves in Tampa.

After a preamble video tribute to Danny (set to the studio version of “Blood Brothers,” included here), the show proper begins on a deeply emotional note with “Backstreets,” played with purpose and conviction in a version that stands among its best contemporary performances. Maybe his throat was just dry, but when Springsteen’s voice catches a couple of times, one suspects the gravitas of the moment was getting to everyone.

A solid “Radio Nowhere” yields to “Lonesome Day,” and “It’s alright, it’s alright, yeah!” never felt more cathartic. Next, “No Surrender” is one of many songs that feel expressly chosen for the occasion and provide a foundation of nostalgia and reflection throughout the set. That being said, this is still the Tampa stop on the Magic tour, and the prevailing mood complements that agenda (even if it reduces the number of songs played from the album).

As it was most nights of the tour, “Gypsy Biker” is a high point. Roy Bittan’s piano playing channels his Power Station finest, while the Bruce and Stevie guitar solo shred-off provides a highly entertaining Listen to This, Eddie moment. Note to trainspotters who quibble about how much audience audio is heard on archive releases: you will be pleased to hear a woman clearly shouting Danny’s name in the left channel at the end of “Gypsy Biker.” You’re welcome.

Later, “Last to Die” soars with pulsating urgency (and more 1979 channeling by Bittan), and the spotlight shines sweetly on Van Zandt for a solo vocal turn towards the end of “Long Walk Home,” which has grown more majestic since Boston ‘07, the last released version from the tour.

In total, Tampa offers 12 setlist changes from Boston, only one of which could be called a rarity, but the allure of this show is a heartfelt performance, not an unusual setlist. Maybe it’s hindsight filtered by the circumstances, but the arrangements of “Atlantic City” and “Brilliant Disguise” sound distinctively restrained, and the band plays warhorses like “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “Badlands,” “Out in the Street,” “The Promised Land,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out” with marked vigor. As a wise man once said, “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.”

Moments of direct Danny recognition are just as gratifying, with back-to-back versions of “Sandy” and “Growin’ Up” that begin with Bruce warning an accordion-adorned Bittan, “Roy, you better get this one right now, somebody’s watching.” It’s an especially delicate reading, enriched by the Big Man’s baritone saxophone and Stevie’s joyous mandolin licks.

Introducing “Growin’ Up,” Springsteen says, “Alright, one more fairytale,” acknowledging, as he did on Broadway, his own myth-making and Federici’s invaluable role in the tale, set this particular night in Danny’s hometown of Flemington, NJ.

When it comes time to truly say goodbye to Phantom Dan, instead of reaching for an original, Bruce opts for the gospel standard, “I’ll Fly Away,” in its only Springsteen performance ever. The arrangement is a Seeger Sessions-style hootenanny, with Max out from behind the drum kit on tambourine, Garry W. Tallent on upright bass, and Charlie Giordano filling Danny’s big shoes (as he does capably and respectfully all night) on accordion. The sentiment of death as a pathway to freedom from suffering couldn’t be more fitting, as summed up by the song’s second verse:

When the shadows of this life have gone, now I’ll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly away, I’ll fly away

“I’ll Fly Away” provides an emotional epilogue, but the denouement of the evening comes six songs before with “Racing in the Street,” presented in a widescreen print not always screened on recent tours. It is patiently paced, sung with sober richness, and played magnificently on piano by Bittan. Like “Backstreets,” this is as good as “Racing” has been performed in the 2000s.

As vital as Danny was to 40 years of Springsteen history, life goes on. The Tampa show is a rumination on both of those undeniable truths, because the stage is “a place where miracles occur,” as Springsteen said at Federici’s funeral the night before the show. “And those you are with, in the presence of miracles, you never forget. Life does not separate you. Death does not separate you. Those you are with who create miracles for you, like Danny did for me every night, you are honored to be amongst.”