MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
Sunday, March 2
Ringin' the Bell
by Bill Daverne
It was a perfect moment in Montreal last night to again open the Tracks vault -- the Bell Centre is built beside Montreal's fabled Windsor railway station, in the middle of the former trackbed that for decades sent Canada's own "American Land" mix of immigrants westward after landing here from their home lands.
But it wasn't to be, unlike the 2008 opener in Hartford, which gave us "So Young and in Love," "Loose Ends," and "Janey Don't You Lose Heart" from the 1998 closet-clearer. Tonight was old school, 2007 tour-style, with lots of passion and crowd-connection on display. But while it may have taken a few shows in the fall to nail the tour's soul, it was here from the first note, and the crowd was roaring and jumping and pogoing at times like the old steam engines which started their westward journeys in this same airspace.
This was a Boston-quality show even if the audience was more Canadian in character -- that is, edge-of-seat studiously quiet at times; wildly, passionately loud at others; and requiring lots of extended shushing at the start of the "Reason to Believe," which again blew the roof off and sees no slowdown as the tour showstopper.
"Night," perhaps my favorite Springsteen song, as difficult as that is to decide, kicked off the Magic tour's second visit to Canada after the crowd had totally drowned out Bruce's opening exhortations, and Max's chattering drums had sure sounded ready to bleat out a reprise of Hartford's "So Young and in Love." Then, the biggest difference from the fall. Back then "Radio Nowhere" got the response you'd expect from a radio-happening new release: more than polite, a celebration of a new single. But this time it received a roar of recognition usually reserved for the '70s and '80s chestnuts. "Radio Nowhere" brought goosebumps and a "this is huge" exhortation from the Bruce show rookie beside me.
In fact, one of the special facts about the pit crowd last night was its mix of youth, greybeards and absolutely excitable Bruce rookies. Pierre Alexandre and Jean Philippe, 27 and 28, are from France but have worked in Montreal for several years. After winning a mid-pit number in the GA lottery, they spent part of two hours shivering in line and and running across the street to re-warm at their workplace. This was their first Springsteen show.
"I'm looking for a great rock show. Bruce is a legend like Pink Floyd, the Stones, and AC/DC. I want to feel in person what I've seen in the Barcelona and Live in New York DVDs," said Philippe.
Alexandre added: "Bruce sings passionately about the American Dream, the good and the bad -- and I can't wait to see him live."
They said this as they stood in the pit, ten feet from the stage, as full of anticipation as any kid at Christmas.
Post-show, both exuberantly agreed it was "better than expected."
"You can see they're having fun on stage," said Alexandre. "You can just feel it."
"Unbelieveable. Old. New. Fast. Slow. Wow..." was Phillippe's summary.
Both are re-checking their calendars to fit more dates and promised they'd see me again on the road.
Song-to-song highlights were aplenty, such as Nils' exotic bridgework in "Because the Night" (and the crowd roar that thanked him), the seamless transitions into and out of a thundering "She's the One," the fist-pumping and crowd accompaniment on "Long Walk Home," and the audibled, stunning version of "Jungleland," with Clarence air-guitaring Steve's solo on his sax as he faced off with a grinning Bruce before standing and delivering the solo of solos.
Almost 20 years ago, Bruce rolled into Montreal's Olympic Stadium with the Amnesty International tour, and coming on stage at 1 a.m. blew the roof off. Montreal wants Bruce to know that the stadium roof has been repaired, and they can find another 60,000 people to fill it again any time he wants to come back. In the meantime, the still-ringin' Bell Centre has some roof repairs of its own to contemplate, and the local economy just got a boost of 20,000 smiling faces.
