Warte noch auf Rückmeldung!
Aber hier schon mal der Bericht:
October 11 / Washington, DC / MCI Center
Notes: In the city that will host a Presidential Inauguration in a little more than three months, the Vote for Change tour finale brought many of its artists together for the first time in the President's backyard. Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, Dixie Chick Martie Maguire, and Michael Stipe greeted the crowd as the five-hour-plus show began, the REM frontman offering a simple and clear rejoinder to the „shut up and sing“ contingent: „We are all Americans, and we have all been U.S. citizens longer than we have been singers, songwriters, pop stars, public figures, celebrities with a public voice. We are each of us placing our yardsigns in our front yards. Our front yard just happens to be a stage. And tonight it is this stage; thank you all for listening.“ It was a revolving stage, allowing for expedient equipment changes to keep the concert moving at a fast clip considering the number of artists; the show still ran an hour longer than scheduled. But Sundance kept the cameras rolling as the tour's flagship act, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, rocked the show to a close well past the midnight hour. It was an abridged version of their standard VFC set that hit most of the highlights (alas, no time for „Johnny 99“), including the collaborations with Stipe for „Because the Night,“ and Fogerty for „Fortunate Son.“ Springsteen's refined PSA got huge cheers from the D.C. crowd (the least Bruce-partisan audience of the tour), as did a new to-the-point exhortation during „Mary's Place“: „All this fuss about 'the swing voter'… All I wanna say is, it's October 11, what the hell are you waiting for? You mislead the nation to war, you lose your job. It ain't rocket science!“ As the standard encores from Bruce's shows („Peace, Love and Understanding“ and „People Have the Power“) brought the concert to a rousing close, the stage filled with the night's artists (including John Mellencamp, Kenneth „Babyface“ Edmonds, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Keb’ Mo’, REM, James Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, Jurassic 5, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, and John Fogerty) to share the vocals. Mellencamp started the evening, with highlights throughout including Browne, Raitt, and Keb' Mo' doing Little Steven's „I Am a Patriot“ (the songwriter himself conspicuously absent here, unfortunately); a golden set from Jurassic 5; and Eddie Vedder joining REM for „Begin the Begin.“ The Pennebaker/Maysles documentary footage included REM learning „Born to Run“ („We can only hope that he didn't change keys downwards over the years!“), Springsteen rehearsing with Fogerty (and marveling at the output of CCR in just two-and-a-half years), and Bruce handwriting an early setlist that would have started his set with „Devils.“ „Devils and Dust“ is a song Bruce rehearsed with the band but never did play… but waitasec, did we say this was the tour finale? As Springsteen said tonight, „Hold on, New Jersey — we're comin'!“
Setlist: Man on the Moon (with REM)//The Star-Spangled Banner/Born in the U.S.A./Badlands/No Surrender/Deja Vu All Over Again (with Fogerty)/Fortunate Son (with Fogerty)/Because the Night (with Stipe)/Mary's Place/Born to Run (with Mills and Buck)//(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (with most)/People Have the Power (with all)
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