Live In New York City Germantown MD

Live In New York City

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Columbia Records, 2001

http://www.brucespringsteen.net

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/27/2005

By the late 1990s, fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E StreetBand had to be wondering if they'd ever get to see their heroesperform live together again.

In the '70s and '80s Springsteen had taken his legendary backingunit from the bars of the Jersey shore to the stadiums of Manilaand Dublin, only to decide in 1989 that it was time to make somechanges. He parted ways with his longtime partners in crime andrecorded a pair of new electric albums with session musicians, thentoured with an almost entirely new band behind him. A tantalizinglybrief reunion to record new material for 1995's Greatest Hits didn't develop into anything more, asSpringsteen immediately reversed course to release the solo disc The Ghost Of Tom Joad and embark on his first-ever soloacoustic tour.

The trigger for the band's true reformation turned out to beSpringsteen's 1999 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Amonth after reuniting for the induction ceremony, Springsteen andthe E Street Band -- including both original guitarist Steve VanZandt and replacement Nils Lofgren -- launched a massive two-yearreunion tour, hitting arenas and stadiums across the globe as theyhad done in their 1978-1988 heyday.

There was always the chance that a live album chronicling thisparticular tour could have been a disastrous idea. The band was tenyears older, didn't have a new album to tour on, and had alreadybeen captured live as well as anyone could ever hope on 1986'sexhaustive five-LP, three-CD box set Live 1975-85. What was left to say or hear or get excitedabout?