| 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 |
