There will always be those that naysay Bruce Springsteen, that he's overrated, can't sing, his song are too simple etc. Well all I can say is they are too ignorant to get it, they're the type of people that just hate without giving what they hate a shot, because if you look closer to the man and his passionately constructed music you'll have found one of the most astounding bodies of work imaginable in Rock and Roll history. Hell, You might not like Born In The USA's melodic catchiness or Born To Run's operatic bombast, but then you have so many other genres he has masterfully tackled over his illustrious 43 year career: intimate folk music in Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, Full Band Jazzy Van Morrisson-inspired tunes in The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle, Soberingly contemplative punk rock in Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Celtic folky Irish inspired tunes in The Seeger Sessions, and, well, pretty much every possible genre -up until then- in 1980's The River.
Playing The River front to back is daunting task, it requires incredible focus and a voice that can bounce from genre to genre. That's exactly what Springsteen did on Monday night at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. It was a tremendous show, lasting close to 3.5 hours, and proved just how incomparably devoted to his fan base Springsteen is. He could easily coast along, being a multi-millionaire, and resign to any physically arduous shows at his tender age of 66 years old, but no, he continues on, a soldier of rock and roll and all props to him for still giving us "The Greatest Show On Earth" night in and night out. Who knows how long he could continue doing this, he isn't getting any younger, but with the mighty help of his drummer Max Weinberg, who's also given a daunting task of drumming for almost four straight hours, and the rest of the E-Street band, we should be thankful and lucky we live at a time when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are part of this world and still giving us the same religious experience as they were giving millions of legions 3-4 decades ago.