On Saturday night, Bruce Springsteen found himself in a position he probably can't remember last being in: having to preach to the not necessarily converted.
Springsteen and the E Street Band's headlining slot at Bonnaroo was only the band's second-ever festival date - the first being Pinkpop in the Netherlands just weeks ago - and instead of proving it all night to a sea of older faces comfortable reporting back every syllable of every song, Springsteen arrived to a crowd that needed some background. “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight and we're going to do everything we can to bring down the power of the music on you," he preached during “Working on a Dream," and spent the remainder of his nearly three-hour, 28-song set doing absolutely that.
To be fair, Springsteen's set started with some bumps in the road: new tracks “My Lucky Day" and the eight-minute (Phish-length!) spaghetti Western epic “Outlaw Pete" (the latter finding Bruce in black cowboy hat) didn't quite catch with the sprawling festival crowd.
But it didn't take long for Springsteen to figure out that though his job was different, his well-honed work ethic would suit the occasion just fine. A hard-times trilogy of “Seeds," a revved-up “Johnny 99" and “Youngstown" (which featured the night's killer Nils Lofgren solo) helped Springsteen turn his focus from converting the crowd to emoting about the kind of cold, crisp realities he's been known to occasionally write about.
Springsteen and the E Street Band's headlining slot at Bonnaroo was only the band's second-ever festival date - the first being Pinkpop in the Netherlands just weeks ago - and instead of proving it all night to a sea of older faces comfortable reporting back every syllable of every song, Springsteen arrived to a crowd that needed some background. “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight and we're going to do everything we can to bring down the power of the music on you," he preached during “Working on a Dream," and spent the remainder of his nearly three-hour, 28-song set doing absolutely that.
To be fair, Springsteen's set started with some bumps in the road: new tracks “My Lucky Day" and the eight-minute (Phish-length!) spaghetti Western epic “Outlaw Pete" (the latter finding Bruce in black cowboy hat) didn't quite catch with the sprawling festival crowd.
But it didn't take long for Springsteen to figure out that though his job was different, his well-honed work ethic would suit the occasion just fine. A hard-times trilogy of “Seeds," a revved-up “Johnny 99" and “Youngstown" (which featured the night's killer Nils Lofgren solo) helped Springsteen turn his focus from converting the crowd to emoting about the kind of cold, crisp realities he's been known to occasionally write about.
