Live In Dublin (2CD/DVD) [ENHANCED] [LIVE] [SPECIAL EDITION]

Bruce Springsteen

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 5, 2007)
• Original Release Date: June 5, 2007
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Enhanced, Live, Special Edition
• Label: Columbia
• ASIN: B000PGTPE6
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,473 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The last time Bruce Springsteen gave up E Street for Folk Street, the band of fiddles, banjos, and accordions--sans audience--was recording 2006's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in the informality of his living room. This time the Boss takes his American-music foray to Ireland for a three-night stint on the north quay of Dublin's River Liffey. The 23 songs drawn from those performances cover most of the songs from the Pete Seeger tribute, but venture drastically into Springsteen's popular back catalog ("Atlantic City," "Highway Patrolman," "Blinded By the Light") while delving further into his affinity for multiple styles of music, from folk and blues to gospel and country. "If I Should Fall Behind" plays like a tear-jerking last call in a dimly lit pub. "Open All Night" has been shaped into pure swing, complete with pedal steel and sax. And "Jesse James," with its furious banjo, spectator handclaps, and Springsteen howl, could pass for the Pogues, circa 1985. A simultaneously released DVD uses nine cameras to capture every sweat-beaded highlight, from the tin whistle of "Further Up the Road" to an arena bursting out in a "We Shall Overcome" singalong. --Scott Holter

Product Description
THIS PACKAGE INCLUDES 2CD'S & 1 DVD

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WITH THE SESSIONS BAND LIVE IN DUBLIN FEATURES 23 SONGS DRAWN FROM THE BAND'S PERFORMANCES IN DUBLIN, IRELAND AT THE POINT ON NOVEMBER 17, 18 & 19, 2006. SONGS INCLUDE FAN FAVORITES FROM `THE SEEGER SESSIONS,' RADICAL INTERPRETATIONS FROM THE SPRINGSTEEN SONGBOOK AND RARE SONGS APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME ON ANY SPRINGSTEEN RELEASE.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing the Celebration Back Home, June 5, 2007

By	Soulboogiealex (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Roughly a year ago Springsteen surprised a lot of people when he released We Shall Overcome: the Seeger Sessions. A record that was not so much a tribute to Pete Seeger but more a celebration of American musical history. The record was uncommonly loose for Springsteen's standards, the song basically being the result of impromptu sessions. Musically the album mixed damn near every style in American folk music between New Orleans Gumbo & Blue Grass. A highly unorthodox style that would raise the eyebrows of purists but sounded catchy as hell. The song selection on the record went back hundreds of years but had a strong connection with today and Bruce's own catalogue.

Even before the album went on sale, concerts were announced and tickets were sold in Europe. Again, nobody quite knew what to expect from this evening of gospel, folk and blues performed by Bruce Springsteen & his 17 piece Seeger Sessions Band. Nobody knew what to expect but the shows in Europe sold out in minutes. I think few who went were disappointed.

Live in Dublin is a registration of what this tour was about, not necessarily a registration of the concert experience. The DVD clocks in at a mighty two hours, the shows were often pushing the two and a half. Some concessions seem to have been made to make the show fit on one disc. Concessions that'll no doubt bother a lot of fans. Two tour staples were cut from the set. John Henry and You Can Look were played every night, yet didn't make the DVD. A totally redundant track as Love of the Common People did, as a bonus. Springsteen has always made strange choices when it comes to releasing his live material and this is certainly one of them.

Despite those odd choices the Live in Dublin DVD gives you a pretty good sense off how good these shows were. The tour was in part a explicit political rally with anti-war songs as Ms McGrath or the New Orleans tribute How Can a Poor Man (stand such times and live). Yet most of the time its message was more subtle. Songs as Eyes on the Prize, a recast to the civil rights movement, or When the Saints Come Marchin' In served the same function, but in a more subdued manner.

The political issues that the tour tried to get back on the agenda weren't its greatest achievement by no means. The celebration of music was. Springsteen's own material fitted in seamlessly adapted to the style of the tour. Open All Night became a stomper in the style of Louis Jordan, Highway Patrolman revoked the images of Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong was omni present in the horn section and if you didn't know any better Jesse James felt like it had been in Bruce's catalogue since mid eighties.

The DVD captures all the musicians on stage in all there glory. Seldom did Springsteen give his band so much of the lime light. And during no tour he did before did the audience play such a crucial role. The band sung, danced and played with the audience. Pay Me My Money Down was sung minutes after the band left the stage, until they came back for the encores and even the most convinced atheist would belt out the words to Jacob's Ladder. The Seeger Sessions Tour was a celebration and this DVD brings it all back.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bruce morphing?, June 23, 2007

By	Greg Foundos "tar heel" (York, SC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Back in the 70's and 80's I used to purchase all Bruce's records, collect all his bootleg albums, stand in line sometimes overnight to get tickets to his shows ... Ah! you get the picture.

But once the Born in the USA tour was over, Bruce went down the tubes (in my book). Yeah, he still did some great shows, but those memories faded fast. He seemed to be getting an attitude.

Here, however, he seems to have once again captured some of his earlier energy and commitment to the fans. This double-cd is great! He definitely has regained his knack (here) for musical arrangements that'll stand the test of time.

If you are a floundering Bruce fan, get this one; it'll be one cd you'll wear out. Well worth the money.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this music makes life better., June 6, 2007

By	warzoo - See all my reviews

If you loved The Seeger Sessions, you will love this, too. It definitely captures the amazing energy of the tour. The most exciting part for me are the new arrangements for two of my all time favorite songs, "Atlantic City" and "Open All Night". They blew my mind when I saw him perform them at the show and they still blow my mind in the privacy of my home a year later. The revamped "Further On (Up The Road) and especially "If I Should Fall Behind" are simply lovely.

But of course, what really matters here are the folk and gospel songs from The Seeger Sessions. I am an unabashed devotee to this music. I don't care how old they are or if I did learn some of them in grade school music class, these songs are just as exciting, clever, touching, relevant and memorable as anything Springsteen ever wrote. As much as I love Springsteen's entire catalog (I am a full-fledged addict), I have to admit I don't think I have ever listened to one of his album's more than I have listened to The Seeger Sessions. I have been listening to it practically non-stop for a year and I still have as much enthusiasm for it as I did when I first put it in the stereo. I was worried that I wouldn't really care much for this CD, but the songs that appear on "Live In Dublin" are tweaked just enough to keep it interesting and there is just the right amount of the audience sing-a-longs to give the live experience vibe but to keep from being annoying. For me, the highlights include, but are not limited to: "Jesse James", "My Oklahoma Home" and the big bang which comes on the second disc during "When The Saints Go Marching In", "This Little Light Of Mine" and "American Land". And it's simply a matter of fact that "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live" is one of the greatest songs that Springsteen has ever performed.

The DVD looks wonderful and the show itself is a great representation of what I experienced when I saw the tour here in the states. Watching Springsteen armed with an acoustic guitar that he wields like a shotgun is always going to be worth your time---the energy he delivers doesn't change just because his band does. (For those of you who need him strapped to his Telecaster along side The Big Man and Little Steven, I beg you to get over it!)

Any complaints? I wish "Live In Dublin" could have included a performance of "Long Black Veil". I wish it was four discs instead of three.


Sadly, there now seems to be two kinds of Springsteen fans: Those who accept and adore Springsteen as a folk troubadour and those who can only handle him as the Almighty Leader of The E Street Band. For all those who fall in the latter category, I pity you. To close yourself of from the pure and total joy that these songs can stir is nothing short of tragic. Your soul must be calloused; your heart must be made of lead.