Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band live in Munich! A stadium show on a hot summer night; though I was sceptical, Olympiastadium is very nice — and even nicer from the pit in front of the stage.
And what a night: My eight show was one of the best with the E Street Band! This ‘wow, awesome’ feeling was there immediately, I was crying already at the third song, and singing all night long. The band was great: Max was here!, though Clarence could hardly move, he got his (few) solos right, and Nils is awesome but underemployed.
The difference to the last tour was a very loose Bruce, having fun and celebrating a big party (not only Roy’s birthday). Inflatable cake , paper plane, and squeaking toy dragon included. Plus, the neck breaking speed of the Magic Tour was gone, with a great setlist (though, next night’s Frankfurt set was stellar).
Highlights were a fun Spirit in the Night, Seeds (great guitar) and Atlantic City, Seven Night To Rock, and a beautiful The River (steaming hot in Glastonbury). After a sign request brought an impromtu This Hard Land (pulled from a numbered envelope), the most memorable moment was the request for Orbison’s Pretty Woman for Roy’s birthday. That sign just had to get his attention! Big thanks to the two Belgian guys for that work.
Hard Times was a final highlight (and Cindy very hot), but still not the end of a 2:50 hrs show…
Das Volk diskutiert darüber, ob seine Kanzlerin Angela Merkel eher Protestantin oder Physikerin oder Frau oder Ostdeutsche ist. Dabei lebt die einstige Quereinsteigerin seit Jahren wie in einem Schloss, aus dem sie auf ihr Land und die Welt schaut.
An einem Freitagnachmittag, Ende April, hat Angela Merkel ein weiteres Stück Boden unter den Füßen verloren. Rüdiger Schuck und seine Jungs haben es verschwinden lassen.
Schuck ist Polier einer Templiner Straßenbaufirma. Er und seine drei Kollegen bekamen den Auftrag, zwischen zwei Wochenenden einen 120 Meter langen Streifen uraltes uckermärkisches Pflaster mit einer Asphaltschicht zu überziehen. Er gehört zu der schmalen Straße, die zwischen Feldern, Seen und Wäldern zum Dorf Hohenwalde führt, wo das Wochenendhaus der Bundeskanzlerin steht. Der Weg erklimmt hier einen kleinen Hügel, den letzten vor dem Dorf, dort, wo der Besucher aus der Stadt bereits anfängt, sich zu erholen, wie man so sagt, und war an den Rändern ziemlich ausgefahren.
“Die schönen ollen Katzenköppe sind natürlich weg jetze”, sagt Rüdiger Schuck, zündet sich eine Zigarette an und schaut auf das schwarzglänzende Asphaltband, das wie ein Flicken auf dem alten Feldweg klebt. Er kann sich nicht vorstellen, dass es der Bundeskanzlerin so gefällt, aber Auftrag ist Auftrag. Freitagmittag müssen sie fertig sein. Ab da öffnet sich das Zeitfenster für das Eintreffen der Kanzlerin, hat ihm einer der Polizisten ausgerichtet, die in dem weißen Würfel Wache halten, der gegenüber dem Kanzlerinnenwochenendhaus steht. (more…)
Of course, that’s what Pete’s done his whole life. He sings all the verses all the time, especially the ones that we’d like to leave out of our history as a people.
As Pete and I traveled to Washington for President Obama’s Inaugural Celebration, he told me the entire story of “We Shall Overcome”. How it moved from a labor movement song and with Pete’s inspiration had been adapted by the civil rights movement. That day as we sang “This Land Is Your Land” I looked at Pete, the first black president of the United States was seated to his right, and I thought of the incredible journey that Pete had taken. My own growing up in the sixties in towns scarred by race rioting made that moment nearly unbelievable and Pete had thirty extra years of struggle and real activism on his belt. He was so happy that day, it was like, Pete, you outlasted the bastards, man!…It was so nice. At rehearsals the day before, it was freezing, like fifteen degrees and Pete was there; he had his flannel shirt on. I said, man, you better wear something besides that flannel shirt! He says, yeah, I got my longjohns on under this thing.
And I asked him how he wanted to approach “This Land Is Your Land”. It would be near the end of the show and all he said was, “Well, I know I want to sing all the verses, I want to sing all the ones that Woody wrote, especially the two that get left out, about private property and the relief office.” (more…)
Und die Finanzkrise ist im Kern eine Vertrauenskrise, sie hat moralische Ursachen. Wir alle haben den Hals nicht voll genug bekommen. Wir alle wollten immer mehr.
(Unternehmer Max Schön, Präsident der Deutschen Gesellschaft Club of Rome)
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain’t satisfied till he rules everything…
Regular ticket prices for U2′s 2009 tour: 179,50 Euros. That’s how to save the world, Bono!
Like a preacher stealing hearts
At a traveling show
For love or money money money…
Not to speak of ticket scalpers. But, hey, I found a good deal on eBay:
Suit and tie comes up to me
His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colours of a royal flush
And he’s peelin’ off those dollar bills
(Slappin’ ‘em down)
One hundred, two hundred.
