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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
Bruce Springsteen, REM and friends kick off the Vote for Change tour with a night of passion and inspiration.
Oct 2, 2004 | Hunched over a 12-string acoustic guitar, standing in the lone spotlight of an otherwise darkened Wachovia Center in Philadelphia Friday night, Bruce Springsteen began his tour sprint to help unseat President Bush with a bluesy, instrumental version of the Star Spangled Banner. America is not always right -- thats a fairy tale you tell your children, Springsteen later commented from the stage. But America is always true. And its in seeking this truth that we find a deeper patriotism. Remember, the country we carry in our hearts is waiting.
It was that sense of determined optimism -- a positive message of empowerment -- that drove the opening night of the unprecedented, all-star Vote for Change tour. On Friday night, Springsteen and his E Street Band were joined by REM, John Fogerty and the young band Bright Eyes for a memorable concert of inspiring American rock classics, bound together by a newfound call to activism.
The Vote for Change tours, featuring six separate traveling bills, include Pearl Jam, the Dixie Chicks, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp and others. They will play 37 shows in 30 cities in swing states such as Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Washington and Arizona. Proceeds go to ACT (America Coming Together), a group raising money for Democratic candidates. The tour concludes in Washington on Oct. 11 with 13 of the headliners and will be televised on the Sundance cable channel.
On Friday night in Philadelphia, talk of politics was relatively subdued. There was no Bush-bashing and Sen. John Kerrys name was mentioned only once from the stage by Springsteen. (REMs Michael Stipe wore a Kerry T-shirt for the encore.) Sharply political comments aired in taped interviews by Vote for Change artists played between performances. Pearl Jams Eddie Vedder said of the Bush administration, They went out of their way to lie to the American people.
Early on, Stipe told fans from the stage, This is a very important moment for every one of us and for our country. Several times during the night, Springsteen talked about the need for a new progressive government, for an administration that was open, rational, and forward-looking.
But any Kerry supporters coming to the show expecting a banner-waving pep rally were probably disappointed. Organizers have said the Vote for Change shows are meant to be respectful. And artists are being careful not to give Republicans any ammunition to criticize them for questionable rhetoric, as Republicans did this summer when Whoopi Goldberg made a crude pun on Bushs name during a Kerry celebrity fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.
That said, given how barren the political landscape has been among pop stars for the past 10 years, how strangely silent so many of them have remained as tumultuous, national events often came and went without comment, Vote for Changes embrace of a political identity constitutes a remarkable breakthrough.
Introduced by Springsteen as one of the great American rock bands, REM turned in a spirited, 50-minute, 10-song set. Opening with, The One I Love, REM faced the thankless task of not only acting as Springsteens de facto opening act (normally, he never employs one) but doing it in the singers backyard of Philadelphia. But with Michael Stipe out front, REM is rarely in danger of losing a crowd. Dressed in a white suit, white shirt, white shoes, sporting a shaved head and looking more and more like John Malkovich every day, Stipe remains one of rocks great crooners. Hes what every band craves: a dynamic presence you cant take your eyes off of.
This is REM and this is what we do, Stipe announced, never even bothering to plug the groups new CD, Around the Sun, which arrives in stores on Tuesday. For most of the set, the band leaned on recent material, such as 2003s Final Straw, released the week the United States declared war on Iraq, and Bad Day, another 2003 release that already sounds like an REM classic. The band also dug out the seldom-performed World Leader Pretend and then drilled for gold on the wonderfully raucous She Just Wants to Be.
Stipe told the audience that sharing the stage with Springsteen and the E Street Band was a fucking unbelievable honor. He then invited Springsteen onstage to join the band on Man on the Moon. As Stipe and Springsteen traded verses, paying an ode to late, demented comedian Andy Kaufman, and singing choruses about astronauts, the giddy crowd went bonkers.
