Review of 1st night Bruce RDS Dublin 2009

After standing in the rain for 3 hours, feeling, if not bedraggled, well certainly far from draggled, and with not much more to think about than what the opening song might be, it was all worth it when he opened with the oh so appropriate, Who'll Stop the Rain!
Who, indeed..
Anyway, the constant rain didn't deter band or audience from having a great show. Another huge performance as we've come to expect from the ageing Boss these days here in the RDS.
After the surprise opener, they launched into Badlands with some gusto. At first I thought the sound was not great, but I realised wearing a hood was affecting it, so I took it down. Better a wet head than a muffled E-Street!
Having only been keeping a vague eye on matters Bruce in the last year, it was nice to note the few changes in the show, such as the addition of two of the Seeger band backing vocalists, the gimmicky but nice song request sign collecting thing, and we also got some family related guest appearances later on, vis a vis Christopher Clemons on sax, and a youthful looking Bruce child, Evan Springsteen, on guitar.
But, the big change, of course, are the new songs from Working on a Dream. And actually, he played nothing at all I think, from the previous album, Magic.
Of the new ones, I was so pleased he played my favourite one, Kingdom of Days, and the title track is a very catchy Boss single which went down well with the Dublin crowd. I don't seem to like Outlaw Pete as much as some, but I must concede, it works very well live. My Lucky Day was also well performed.
The show seems to have a 'recession theme' both in some of Bruces's chat, and also in selections such as The Ghost of Tom Joad, Seeds, Johnny 99, Hard Times, The River etc..
I don't have any complaints about the show really, maybe one or two of the rock'n'roll numbers here and there flagged a tiny bit, but a really good show overall.
Other personal stand outs for me were the requested For You, given a great Bruce vocal on top of a fine band arrangement, and the gorgeous Hard Times, a song that's been done by almost everyone, it seems, since it was written in the 19th Century. But few have done it as well as this.
Roll on Sunday, which can only be as good, or better. And probably drier..
Ken.