Re: Was Led To Believe
Posted: August 7, 2008 2:29 pm
I agree with you about the Bruce Springsteen thing. At 58, he still blows everyone I have ever seen away (that list includes JB, U2, and The Rolling Stones). I told my wife, I'd rather take the money we would spend on going to see JB do the same stuff and invest it in tickets to see Springsteen. So we did and it was everything you wanted in a show and then some. I still have the image of "Badlands" going through my head, and that show was last October. WOW!ParrotheadPeteNJ wrote:I bought tickets the first day-in part of the hope of going solo after my friends said they'd be too busy to go. Life got in the way I really missed seeing Newport. However as even the HOJO's outside of Newport was $250 a night I'm glad for financial reasons that I did not go. Jimmy said it was going to be a non standard Parrothead show and it appears from what all have said that Jimmy did say that the set list would not be a normal set list (why I wanted to go to Newport). Either Jimmy decided that it would be a bad idea to play a non Parrothead set or more likely he decided not to bother.
I think Jimmy has gone through the motions for some time now in terms of a creative set list-but at this point you pretty much know what you are going to get. I have also heard and seen many stories on how Jimmy
is the shrewed (sometimes nasty) businessman. Like many others (jaded?)
at the music industry he does what he has to do. You go for the standard setlist with the nice cover or two-and enjoy the partying with the other Parrotheads.
I love Jimmy and he's always been nice in terms of giving me a fins up while on stage or passing but it seems to be all about the Margaritaville and Landshark brand now (it's possible he could have problems such as health that limit him). His time is likely spread way to thin to focus solely on the music. In fact I just saw his "successor" Kenny Chesney in New Jersey and frankly at this point Chesney's show blows Jimmy's away. By the way I was 5th row for that show and saw the setlist. Chesney had a great night, reminisced about the venue (ironically I was outside selling tickets for one of the earlier shows) and ad libbed a few additional songs to the setlist including Steve Miller's "The Joker".
I spent my Newport money on the 3 (saw 2) Bruce Springsteen shows at Giants Stadium. Bruce at 58 still puts on the best show in music-he changes his set list immensely nightly and even went out into the crowd each night to collect signs for requests/oddities. Bruce may not be on the other worldly level he and the band were at 35 but he's made up for it with his showmanship. Yes due to the varying setlist you may miss a "Thunder Road" at a given show. However Bruce fans see multiple shows. And by the way by showtime the "easy" tickets for the 3 shows (admittedly 150,000 seats for Jersey were much less than usual)-especially last Thursday-became impossible. I landed my seat due to a contact who landed a block from the box office that was supposed to be saved for Bruce (reportedly the Governor wanted those seats, was ticked off and made a big deal of it). That's repeat business folks.
Jimmy is Jimmy, I used to get upset when people said he does not challenge himself and does the same old stuff. And you know what, if he's going to keep doing that same list it's fine with me. It makes people happy. No crime in that. I am just not going to pay to see it anymore. I'll still by the albums, listen to the shows on Radio Margaritaville, and love his music.
I'm a parrothead, I have been since my late teens. I am proud of that. I was one of those drunken idiots once upon a time. Now I've got wife, couple of kids and dogs. I am not that same person anymore. Last show I was at was Wrigley Field. It was a great way to end 20 years of seeing him live.