Between the ticket prices, the weather, the traffic, the parking, the hour plus delay in getting the show started, the crowd of overweight baby boomers, Springsteen's obvious age and being noticeably winded during several songs, Van Zandt's paunch, the band playing mostly new songs with very few of their hits that everyone knows, and then of course more traffic to get home and nearly not making it up my hill due to 2" of ice and snow that had suddenly appeared since we left home several hours earlier, the entire evening was just a giant bummer. I should have known better, but I'd never seen them live before, and figured this might be my last chance. Not at all worth it, though. I've learned my lesson for the next time I'm tempted to see a dad rock act at Key.

Hahaha.

Rk, I'm glad that you have learned your lesson because concerts will be better off without whiners like you. Did you really expect him to start at 7:30 when the arena was a third full? They print that time on the ticket because they know most people are going to show up right at 7:30 and it takes a long time to seat thousands of people. He started just over an hour later when the arena was full and he played show for 2 1/2 hours. I am in shock that you could complain about his "obvious age"? The man is 58 yrs old and he played a high energy set that most bands half his age wouldn't have been able to keep up with. I saw him reach for a towel once or twice and he took probably a minute and a half before he came out for the encore but if that's your definition of winded, you must not see live music very much. He did play a lot of music from his new CD but why shouldn't he? This isn't Air Supply playing the Emerald Queen casino. Springsteen is still recording new music and I understand that you might not like it as much as your Greatest Hits CD but you should respect that he wants to play his new material along with his classics. And your complaints about the weather? Boo fucking hoo, it wasn't a freaking blizzard. Unless you are seeing an outdoor concert, I don't see what the weather has to do with the quality of a show. Also, traffic always sucks when you have thousand of people at an event so if you hate it, splurge a bit and take a taxi or do what I did and take the bus. Yeah, I got rained on, I paid a ridiculous amount of money for nosebleed seats, and I had to sit amongst the Mom jeans and dockers crowd but for me, seeing one of the best performers alive was worth it.

I think most of the 16,000+ folks in the audience would dispute rk's account. Hippy party monster aside, there haven't been that many people on their feet in Key Arena since the 96' NBA Finals.

And as far as The Boss being winded, I didn't notice. But if the man did find himself short of breath at some point during the insane 24-song marathon set, I couldn't very well hold it against him.

While it's true that some hits were left out in favor of new songs, there's an important thing to note. Springsteen has a new record that actually rules. The Eagles and other dad rock acts are content to shove out a putrid, stillborn layup of a courtesy record to justify trotting out the old hits and charging a pound of flesh for a t-shirt. But Springsteen is touring the way bands always intended: to showcase songs from your new record (and charge a pound of flesh for a t-shirt).

It should also be pointed out that show kicked off with "Trapped" an obscure, killer Jimmy Cliff cover that from what I can gather, is not played often.

All in all, The Boss and the band slayed and actually rescued what would have otherwise been another night in Seattle riddled with traffic and shitty weather.

was max weinberg there?

Weinberg was in full effect.

@1 fuck you

the boss was totally boss! winded? i didn't see it. it was a great show from beginning to end. and double fuck you to #1.

RK is a whiney windbag. The boss showed us all why he earned his nickname on Saturday. He truly is the greatest live act ever. BTW Im 27 yrs old, not an "overweight baby boomer."

@1 Hi, it's called the INTERNET and if you looked up any of the last few shows on this tour you would have known they don't start until 8:30 and play until 10:45. They're all pushing 60 and very regular, dipshit.

Great show, lots of obscure tunes, and a ton of fun. That band can PLAY.

@1 Hi, it's called the INTERNET and if you looked up any of the last few shows on this tour you would have known they don't start until 8:30 and play until 10:45. They're all pushing 60 and very regular, dipshit.

Great show, lots of obscure tunes, and a ton of fun. That band can PLAY.

Hey, fawning fanboys: Bite me.

And read this:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/blogs/reverb/2008/03/post_1.php#more

hahahaha, using a seattle weekly review is not the way to justify your musical taste dude. bruce and the band were great (nils especially).

I've seen a several dino-rock shows over the last five years and I'd rank them like this:
1. Roger Waters and his Pink Floyd cover band--so entertaining I didn't miss Dave Gilmour much at all.
2. Rush--don't like their music, went because of my brother, was pleasantly surprised at how into it they were and how long they played and the songs they played--mostly new stuff, and fuck you to the fairweather fans.
3. Springsteen--I like his music better than Rush, but the setlist did kind of blow--why three songs from "The Rising?"--but again a nice fuck you to the fairweather fans.
4. Stones--more energetic and well-played than expected, but too short. Clearly only in it for the money.
5. Police--for this price, I expected a few more rehearsals. The rhythm section was looser than most bands at the Dubliner in Fremont. Come on.
6. Neil Young--the extreme version of the Springsteen complaint--he played his whole new album, "Greendale" straight through. A fine performance of a terrible album. The encores were too little too late.

TESTING

This was the 3rd time that I have seen the boss.. I had really shitty seats.. thank you, ticketmaster.. but the show was great.. those who said the boss was winded? I didn't see it.. it was tight.. TRAPPED WAS EPIC! and the new album is very good... I loved the fact that a dipshit in front of me left when Bruce mention that shit of the past 8 years.. oh.. and the encore brought tears to my eyes...