Saturday was all about Bruce. Anticipation was appropriately high and Springsteen delivered big. Springsteen (plus horns) merged with the crowd throughout the show, giving the performance an even more personal feel; check out Keith Spera’s excellent and very on point wrap up. Whether taking the “Saints Go Marching In” down to a whisper, digging into the hits or Seeger Sessions traditionals, the show was a celebration of the New Orleans spirit (“where it all started”). Tom Morello and Springsteen tangled on many occasions bringing passionate energy to their exchanges throughout the show. Morello’s shredding on the “Tom Joad” solo was off the charts.
But there was more than Springsteen to make the day. Gorgeous weather prevailed again. The Revivalists continue to prove they know what to do with the big stage while Henry Butler went even older-school with Steven Bernstein and the Hot 9. Jimmy Buffet dropped in on Allen Toussaint and the Voice of the Wetland All Stars did justice to their name.
Six days of a truly epic Jazz Fest means there is one more day yet to go. There is nothing like it.
Bruce Springsteen Setlist:
1. High Hopes
2. Johnny 99
3. Badlands
4. No Surrender
5. Hungry Heart
6. Jesse James
7. The River
8. How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live
9. Wrecking Ball
10. Death to My Hometown
11. Promised Land
12. O Mary Don’t You Weep
13. Shackled & Drawn
14. Ghost of Tom Joad
15. The Rising
16. Land of Hope and Dreams
17. Green River (with John Fogerty)
18. Proud Mary (with John Fogerty)
19. Born to Run
20. Dancing in the Dark
21. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
22. When the Saints Go Marching In
23. Pay Me My Money Down
24. Thunder Road
