Have you met Brotha-man?

Meet Paul Bernstein, friend of Pete's so therefore welcome here! He posted as 57 Channels a while back. He was at MSG last night and offered these ramblings:

Great show last night! Only my second after Hartford, so I noticed a definite change in how tight the band was (for example, on Girls in Their Summer Clothes - big difference). High energy show and you could tell Bruce and the band were having a lot of fun. Bruce did the "is there anybody alive out there!?" thing before kicking off Radio, which was cool! Out of the gate running from that point on. Pete and I really enjoyed watching Max pounding his drums during Reason To Believe (man, that song never gets old!). Go Max!! Candy's Room/She's the One was a real treat for me. Haven't seen Candy's Room since Providence Rising Show, and I thought they nailed it. Again...Max!! Also, Bruce's guitar work was smoking. Livin' In The Future - sorry, but just not doing it for me in the live version (love the album though). Classic moment during this song with the combo of Paul's bathroom break (along with a TON of other people w/ the same idea) and Pete's THUNDEROUS "Booo!... just play the song, Bruce!!" hollering! LOL! ;-) On to Promised Land and a lump-in-the-throat, "damn, it's amazing to see these guys still doing it so well" moment for me, which all fell apart when Clarence hit the sax (hanky time...). On to Tougher, which looking at the setlist was an audible (in place of Heartbreak - yeeha!). Outstanding. Very heartfelt, full band version, Bruce and Patti really feeling it. Very nice moment. Only very minor complaint is I wish Bruce played harmonica at the end like he does on the album, but he made up for it with some really nice guitar work. Nice moment. Meeting Across The River....oh man! Total audible and a dedication to Peter Boyle (nice tough, Bruce). One of the highlights of the show (we just could feel what was coming next...though it surely didn't stop us from relishing the song, which was beautiful - they nailed it). Professor on the keys, Gary on the standup bass, and a lone spotlight on Bruce at the mic. Goosebump moment. Transition into Jungleland (turn up Soozie's violin next time!). Place ERUPTED. Holy sh*t!! Thought it might be coming tonight, but still, was an amazing moment. I'll never forget the feeling of watching C in the sax solo, standing next to my Brotherman, and watching it all unfold....the look of pure pride, wonder, and love on Bruce's face as he watched Clarence's solo will forever be seared into my memory. Clarence finishes and Bruce walks over and gives him an affectionate pat on the back before coming to the mic for the final salvo lyric. The final lines, the "whoa-oh-oooooh" verses were amazing. Bruce leaning into the mic, back arched, up on the balls of his feet, eyes closed, head cocked back, pouring every ounce of his soul into singing those roars...Max wailing on the cymbals with his padded hammers...wow. Truly an amazing moment, after which I think I said to Pete, "ok, I'm done. I can go home now..." Launch into You Can Look. Yeowza!! Play time for Bruce and Steve! Great great fun. Pete leans over to me and points out that you can feel the Garden shaking and bouncing (literally) under our feet. Holy cow. Place was alive! Lots of clowning around at the mic with Bruce and Steve - old school all the way....until the buzz kill of coming down too soon with Devil's Arcade. Love the song, but the pacing just was a killer. Oh well. I think Pete went to get a beer at this point, can't remember... Here's where my slight criticism comes in: very predictable part of the show now, with the following songs. Understandable as it's part of the theme of the night, but we all seem to agree that something needs to be done to keep this a little more fresh. Time to shake it up, in my opinion. Great songs here, but just too predictable. Long Walk Home and Badlands were still fantastic, though.

Encores: Girls sounded much-improved from Hartford. Much tighter. The encores were pretty much the standard salvo at this point (though I did spot Ramrod though my binoculars, on the video screen by Bruce's feet before he decided to stick with T-crack). Would have been cool to see them shake it up w/ Ramrod, but T-crack was still fantastic as always. BTR just NEVER gets old, I'm sorry. Bruce had the place in the palm of his hand. Amazing. Just amazing. Dancing was a lot of fun, too (thanks for sticking it out and pretending to like it, Steve!). I bolted for the train during American Land (something I almost never do, but was determined to make my train out of Grand Central.

Overall, a fantastic night. Great fun hanging with Pete and T-mal before the show, loved the pub (Stout's) we hung at. Very cool to see the show from behind the stage. Totally different perspective. 2 minor criticisms (obvious ones...): time to shake up the encores, and Bruce REALLY needs to start working the catwalk behind the stage, for crying out loud! C'mon, Bruce! :-) But it was an AWESOME show. On to Albany!