ARTS
Friday, September 6, 1985
The Michigan Daily
Page 7
Springsteen's 'Glory Days'
numbered?
By Jerry Markon
WHEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
and the E Street Band struck
up the first few notes of "Glory Days"
at the Pontiac Silverdome Wednesday
pight as nearly 70,000 mesmerized
oss-lovers screamed with delight, a
strange thing happened. Laying down
4on the stage, guitar still in hand,
rock's new messiah acknowledged
that married life and advancing age
may rob him of his seemingly
limitless energy.
"I'm 35 now," Springsteen said.
"I've got to start resting. Take a little
breather."
"I can feel that clock ticking every
ninute of my life, every day," he con-
inued during a break in the song. He
then counted from 30 to 35, his present
nge, limped across the stage, and ap-
peared to "play dead" to the
amusement of the crowd and band
members.
Are we witnessing the unthinkable
a middle-aged Bruce Springsteen?
Fortunately, the man who in many
people's view revitalized an entire in-
dustry proved that he has, at least for
pow, eluded the clutches of Father
!Time.
Although early Springsteen fans
-nay disagree, Wednesday's concert
exhibited a degree of energy and in-
ensity unseen in your average 35-
ear-old. Amazingly, after 12 years of
laying nearly every show as if his
ife depended on it, Springsteen is still
n love with performing. He once
eclared that he would never play in a
arge arena, fearing that cavernous
halls-like the Silverdome-would
ruin the intimacy that he felt with his
audience. Amazingly, though, he
seemed as comfortable as if he were
playing a club in Ashbury Park.
{ From the opening chords of "Born
n" the USA" through a 28 song set
;drawn primarily from Born in the
;USA, Nebraska, and The River,
* pringsteen tried valiantly to
envolve every member of
ihe audience in every song,
Molding nothing back in a
Records
Feelabeelia - East to West
( Qwest)
Where are you, Alison Moyet?
Your deep-throated, sexy, soulful
voice would surely have been the only
thing to, save this debut album by
Feelabelia.
Actually, East to West is not a bad
album. It's just not very good. Nor
terribly original, for that matter.
Stevie Wonder was somewhat im-
pressed with this British trio and
volunteered his harmonica playing
for the peppy, dance single, "Feel It."
But Mark Seifton Price seems to think
that he is the real Stevie Wonder and
cops the master's vocal style
everywhere - down to that smiling
vibrato. Price also attempts to mimic
Moyet in places; although he is
adequate, his voice is pretty weak.
Standout tracks include "Jn the
Middle of the Night" and "Killing
Time," both pretty tunes. Other than
that, the cuts range from tolerably
pleasant to what resembles a jingle
for Bubblicious. The music is always
too slick, but includes the respectable
percussion talents of Paulinho da
Costa.
All in all, this is just another attem-
pt to jump on the bandwagon of Brits-
doing-American-soul - which also
includes the likes of Wham!, Paul
Young, Style Council, and Moyet.
Most of those artists, however, are
considerably better at it.
-Beth Fertig
LIBERAL ARTS
MAJORS...
You're Needed
All Over the
World.
Ask Peace Corps volunteers why
their ingenuity and flexibility are
as vital as their degrees. They'll
tell you they are helping the
world's poorest peoples attain
self sufficiency in the areas of food
production, energy conservation,
education, economic develop-
ment and health services. And
gutsy, three and one half hour
long show.
Andlie succeeded far beyond what
he could have foreseen when he was
traveling the New Jersey club circuit
in the early 1970s. Springsteen elicited
a religious fervor from his followers,
who continually chanted "Bruuuce"
and imitated their hero's every
move.
In a strange departure from his
normally low-profile, shy exterior,'
Springsteen radiated confidence,
even cockiness, as he seemed acutely
aware of his new status. He declared
that he was "Feeling handsome
tonight" during "Glory Days" and
exhorted the crowd to follow him and
the band across the country on the
rest of their tour, even naming off the
cities that remain. This became ex-
cessive when he screamed "Do you
love me?" to the enraptured crowd
during his marathon encore of "Twist
and Shout." The crowd, of course, an-
swered with a resounding "yes!"
The songs from Nebraska, although
generally drawing more restrained
reactions from the crowd, showed off
Springsteen's voice at its scratchy
best. Overall, they translated well in-
to the stage, which is hard to imagine
when one hears Bruce and his
acoustic guitar and the harmonica
alone on the album.
A particularly upbeat song was
"Cadillac Ranch" which seems to be
made specifically for live performan-
ce. As for the Born in the USA songs,
"Dancing in the Dark" was certainly
the most enthusiastic, as Springsteen
showed off his dancing skills. "Glory
Days" elicited the wildest crowd
reaction owing to it being the most
recent single. Most impressive,
however, was "I'm Going Down,"
which was preceded by a humorous
story about rove going sour after
initial euphoria.
To a lover of Springsteen's early
material and the scruffy, non-
conformist image he used to project,
Wednesday's show was somewhat
less than satisfying. The list of early
favorites left off Wednesday's song
list is obvious-classic songs like
"Rosalita,'' "Jungleland,''
and"Spirit in the Night" were once
the cornerstone of Springsteen's
shows. Although rumour has it that
Springsteen played "Blinded by the
Light" from his nearly forgotten
Greeting from Asbury Park album
earlier this summer, nothing from
either of his first two albums was
heard. Only the title track and
"Thunder Road" were played from
Born to Run and even 1978's
"Darkness on the Edge of Town"
barely made an appearance.
Springsteen's new sex-symbol
image seemed offensive when a shot
of his crotch appeared on the Silver-
dome's giant video screen sending
every female member of the audience
into a tizzy. A shot of his rear
produced the same result.
Even though Springsteen himself
seems to be used to stadiums as
foreboding as the Silverdome can be,
some of the intimacy was lost and
there seemed to be little anyone could
do about it.
But, for the majority of Springsteen
fans, Wednesday night's show was
unquestionably sufficient. But if older
fans desire a glimpse of the past,
about all that's left are the bootlegs so
rarely found in record stores.
U
STUDENTS
TELEPHONE ANSWERING
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for ONL Y
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MASS MEETING
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Sunday, September 8 8:00 p.m.
t
1, nr w
s. a uha
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