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Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Live in Barcelona

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Live in Barcelona

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have...
Review: I attended a Giants Stadium show of his and this brought back great memories. He has such a way of connecting with the audience and his fun is contagious. Luckily, my 2nd disk works perfectly and I've noticed no problem with sound like some people have said. The songs are all fantastic and the way he sets them up, from one to the next, is so well done. This is a definite must for any Bruce fan.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Springsteen and Zeppelin, a Tale of Two DVD's
Review: Springsteen Live in Barcelona is a 2 DVD set and Led Zeppelin is also a 2 DVD set, and the similarities end right there! While this may be directed to two separate audiences, the core remains the same. As a fan of both, I happily purchased these and I can't believe the logistic differences. Although the Led Zeppelin DVD was more money it was worth every penny. I would have gladly paid more for Barcelona if Bruce put the same amount of care into his project as Zeppelin did on their DVD. From what I've seen and read on the DVD, the Zeppelin guys hired a producer that worked closely with them for over a year to get the compilation done right. The result is nothing short of spectacular. Since the Barcelona DVD was a single concert the work on it should have been easy. However, the shoddiness of the sound, the quality control problems that have been posted here and the editing makes this look like a rush job. This should serve as a wake-up call for the Bruce team over at Thrill Hill that any product that their bosses name graces should be of the highest quality. Sorry if this offends the die-hards like the fan who said, "never mind the sound, look at the performance." Wow, that is really a sheep mentality because the performance can only be enjoyed if the sound is good. I love Bruce too but you have to admit this release could have really been special had he cared as much as Plant and Page.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What is Rock 'N Roll, you ask?
Review: Yes, finally! After 30 years as a recording artist Bruce finally releases a complete concert from beginning to end that we can have with us for posterity. Although he has maintained a consistently high level of audio releases over the years, his video releases have been at best fair to middling. The history of his video releases begins with his video anthology, which contains some phenomenal concert footage, (Rosalita, Thunder Road), but contains way too many cheesy made for MTV videos. I still cringe when I see that Dancing in the Dark video. He went on to release "Plugged", which was made for the MTV Unplugged series, in which his back up band was not the E Street Band, but the most generic group of musicians imaginable playing to the lamest studio crowd I've ever seen. After that was "Blood Brothers", an excellent documentary chronicling the recording of new music for a greatest hits album with the newly reunited E Street Band, and then finally "Live in NYC" which consisted of edited footage of a 2000 NYC concert. Unfortunately through the editing process, we only get part of the picture of the Springsteen concert phenomena on Live in NYC.

Now we have "Live in Barcelona", an amazing performance from 2002 in front of what has to be one of the most enthusiastic crowds I've ever seen. For us American fans it gives us a look at his European audience, who seem on average younger and I would venture to say as devoted a following as any fans you could find between Boston and Philadelphia. This concert has it all, from the heart wrenching ballads of "Empty Sky" and "You're Missing" to moments of pure joy like "Waiting for a Sunny Day" and "Ramrod". Oldies like "Spirit in the Night" are included with his new stuff along with everything in between. We also see the ultimate performer, usually singing and playing the guitar, sometimes playing the piano, sometimes on top of the piano and other times with just the microphone, hamming it up like Tom Jones, all the while with a smile on his face that can light up a stadium.

The filming is well done with the right mix of close-ups, audience shots and full stage shots, and the sound is good, although I did notice a difference between the first and second disk. That didn't bother me though, in fact the poorer vocal mix on the second disk gave it a more authentic arena concert sound.

My only criticism is that he didn't do something like this sooner, like in 1978! Although he is still the greatest performer in the world, at 50 years old he is obviously not in his prime. I hope one day they'll dig up a concert from the vaults, back when he used to jump on top of the speakers, tell those great stories and sing Backstreets with an added improvised verse that was different every night. Nevertheless buy this DVD! If you want to see the quintessential American rocker, who combines the charisma and showmanship of Elvis, with the poetry of Bob Dylan and backs it up with the "greatest little house band in the land", this is it. One day when I have grandchildren and they ask me, "what was Rock N" Roll?" I'll put this DVD on for them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: What a great show! Forget what everyone's saying about the sound quality and look at the performance itself. No one connetcts with his audience like The Boss. And he still is The Boss, probably even more so than ever after seeing this show in person. You gotta love the guy - some criticize the simplicity in his style, some say he's not a great musician - so he goes and adds some great new parts to his songs, like the guitar in Darkness, and gives a nice new touch to it. Or, take his piano playing on 3 songs. Or, listen to the great vocal performance he gives on Empty Sky - it was really beautiful. I think he does these little things just to show his critics he can do all the cool music tricks but what's really important, what matters most is the music, the connection, the feeling.
I really liked the Rising album when I got it, but this show takes all its songs to a new level. The Rising song itself was huge. The lighting was key, the mood was perfect. Same for Lonesome Day. Then, the way he silenced the crowd so he could deliver that beautiful rendition of Empty Sky showed how his music truly speaks for itself. Without saying a word about 9/11, he gave everyone affected by and lost that day a fitting tribute. That's exactly what I love about Bruce. He is America and he is humanity at the same time. And it was so evident that night in Spain.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Maybe the mic wasn't working?
Review: I love Bruce, and I had to buy this because of "The Rising" material, but the sound was nowhere as good as the NYC show, still a must have, at times it just isn't too clear.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This is how Bruce sounds from the lobby!!
Review: If you spent the night in the lobby at the concession stand, this is how the concert would have sounded. I see his lips move but I can't tell what he's saying. Max slams the snare but it sounds like he's playing with brushes. Someone keeps turning the volume up and down. What the heck is going on here? This sounds like one big mono mess! 'Live in NYC' has clear sound and separation...neither of which can be said for this DVD. I got this for Christmas from my fiancé and I think we got Scrooged! Some heads should roll for this.

We were lucky to see Bruce at Fenway Park this past summer, it was great, even the sound was pretty good considering that it's a baseball park not Symphony Hall. This DVD will only tarnish the memory of that night.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE MUST HAVE DVD !!!!!
Review: Bruce Springsteen and the E St band puts on a great performance during their show taped live in Barcelona . I'm a big fan of THE BOSS since my early age and I have to say it's one of the most Joyfull concerts I've ever seen on a screen (unfortunetly I never saw him live). During the whole concert he's singing playing Guitare and Piano he's THE LIVING LEGEND. And above all he's never tired and you feel he's giving it from his soul. The confindence he portray adds enjoyment to watching this concert, while the E st Band is on the Edge of a great performance. The only disappointment for me, not being able to watch them perform live! But hopefully I will one day ! Great Job BOSS keep on Rockin !!!!!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A genuine 110% honest rocking performance from the heart
Review: I have been lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen live twice in Melbourne when he has toured Australia. The first time was seeing him alone & acoustic after he released The Ghost Of Tom Joad, and the second time was earlier this year on The Rising tour. This DVD release captures what I saw both times when I saw him live, that is a living rock 'n' roll legend giving it everything he's got, putting every ounce of energy and effort into his performance.

I have read about some people having problems with disc 2, but there was nothing wrong with mine so I reckon it must have been a problem with the first releases only that has now been fixed.

Yes I agree with some other reviewers that the sound quality on this DVD could have been better, but it's not that bad so don't let it stop you buying it. It is a great show.

I feel far more satisfied with this DVD than the "Essential" compilation released on CD at about the same time. In my opinion it is this Live DVD that is the "essential" purchase.

The Rising is one of my favorite of Bruce's albums and much of the songs in this concert are from that album, but there's also some great older tunes mixed in aswell such as The Promised Land, Thunder Road, Dancing In The Dark, Ramrod & Born In The USA which all sound good, but the high-lights for me are:
1. Spirit In The Night and Incident On 57th Street. (Bruce alone on the piano)
2. Mary's Place. (I thought this was not one of the best tracks on The Rising but it is a great live track)
3. Empty Sky (Played acousticly with Patti singing in the background. I was amazed at how haunting and emotional this song sounded when I heard it live, and whilst I don't think it sounds quite as good on this DVD as when I heard it in Melbourne it goes a long way to capturing that feel)
4. The crowd. (This crowd really gets right into it, and you can see that the fans get to be right up the front, unlike Melbourne where we never had that opportunity because all the corporate fat-cats had preferential prioroty tickets!)

The rest of the concert really rocks and Bruce and the E Street Band give what is sadly lacking with many modern artists in this age of carefully crafted formula music, that is a genuine, honest rocking performance delivered with 110% effort from the heart.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great DVD
Review: If you want to hear the Boss say bad things about the America on Foreign Soil. Other than that the sound quality is terrible. The video is good but not as good as Live in New York.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Please release a late 70s early 80s concert!
Review: Do any high quality concerts from the late 70s early 80s time period (prior to Born In The USA) exist on video somewhere? The dead just released a 78 show from Winterland and it's amazing! I'm hoping there is something in the vaults like that somewhere for Springsteen!


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