Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odean London '75 (2005)

**** (out of 4)

Thunder Road / Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out / Spirit in the Night / Lost in the Flood / She's the One / Born to Run / The E Street Shuffle / It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City / Backstreets / Kitty's Back / Jungleland / Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) / 4th of July, Asbury Park / Detroit Medley / For You / Quarter to Three

In the liner notes from Bruce Springsteen on the DVD release of this concert, the singer talks about their first trip to London and then he dares any young band to try and top the setlist they performed at this concert. Overall this is an incredibly raw and powerful performance that really jumps off the screen and right into your lap. The amount of energy is without question legendary Bruce and the setlist just makes the night even better. It's funny but sometime in today's time you go to concerts and just wish you could hear certain rare tracks but then you get a concert like this where most of those tracks you wish you could hear now and right there in their full glory. The show starts off with a masterful performance of "Thunder Road" and it's without question one of the strongest openings I've seen from any concert. Things just keep picking up steam with each song and some of the highlights include a terrific jam during "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City," the jam during "Backstreets" and when has "Born to Run" not been done with fire and passion? This film was released as part of Born to Run's 30th Anniversary and it's rather amazing to see how good this show look. It doesn't have a professional look to it so there's no gloss but what it does have is a certain raw look that really captures the performance and also fits it. Fans of The Boss are certainly going to get a kick out of this show and those new to him will see what all the legendary comments about his live shows are all about.

Yeah the hype of Born To Run, On the cover of Time and Newsweek on the same week, and Bruce was to invade England. Was England ready??. Heck, the Poms gave us the British Invasion of the 60,s so who was this guy from NJ?? This concert has gone down as the one of the best concerts ever. And for the first time, we get to see it. This is Bruce taking on the world and succeeds. Brilliant brilliant. I would recommend this DVD concert to any fans of Rock even if they are not fans of Springsteen, because this is what rock n roll is about. This concert introduced Bruce and the E Street band to the world. To learn about rock n roll, this is a great tutor

Even with poor lighting and film quality, you can still feel the energy of Bruce and the E Streeters come through. I loved all of the versions, except the E Street Shuffle, which really didn't work for me. The arrangements were great and varied. Unlike another commentator, I loved the slower, acoustic versions of Thunder Road and For You. The band was really on that night. Have they ever had an off night?. Although Bruce was not bounding around the stage as he often does, the joy and passion in which he performs radiates through the screen. And he sang with great range, emotion, and clarity. My only complaints would be: 1. it's too short; 2. not enough guitar solos by Bruce; and 3. "Incident on 57th Street" wasn't included. What were they thinking? This is the best song on his first two albums, and one of my all time Bruce favorites, if not my #1 favorite. Watch and enjoy. You won't be disappointed!

If you liked Bruce Springsteen's early recordings this DVD is for you. This re-engineered DVD sounded great on the surround sound system. Pretty much every hit from Greetings From Asbury Park, The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle, and Born To Run are on this DVD. The only disappointment from my perspective is that two of the best songs are performed in an acoustic style. Thunder Road and For You are two of my all time favorites and in my opinion the acoustic versions aren't anywhere near as good as the regular rock versions. All the other early hits are there including Rosalita, Jungleland and Backstreets. The Lost In The Flood performance is great. 9 out of 10. Would have been a 10 if the two above mentioned were regular versions. Check this out.

So... the way it's lit and shot is a little underwhelming by today's standards. The band is also finding its feet in terms of stage presence and personas- their technical skills when it comes to playing the music are already impeccable, but they're not as much fun to watch as they are a few years later and onwards, when they're all used to playing on stage, and more comfortable with being as goofy as Bruce himself can be.

His antics in this are pretty funny at times, and with Rosalita at least, you can start to see some of that infectious and goofy E Street Band chemistry.

Thankfully, despite a slight lack of confidence and a less than amazing visual style, this is still a very good concert movie on the strength of the music alone. By and large it's not terribly shot for its time, just a little dark in the lighting department- it is still good it exists, and I love seeing Bruce and the band together so young, of course.

And the music itself is so good. Many versions of songs here are debatably better than the studio versions (especially the faster-paced She's The One and It's Hard to be a Saint in the City, as well as the absolutely epic 17-minute version of Kitty's Back).

When listening to the live album by itself, opening track Thunder Road is a little underwhelming, but it's probably the one song on here truly enhanced by the visuals. A dimly lit Bruce alone on stage, with only a piano and a harmonica, and singing a quiet, lonely version of one of his best and most powerful anthems is a memorable start that gave me some serious goosebumps.

Like with any Bruce concert movie, if you're a big fan, you'll love it. If you're a Bruce purist, you'll probably really really love it, because from a technical perspective, it's probably the best Bruce and the E Street Band ever sounded live.

If you'd rather watch a movie than listen to an identically lengthy album, then this is a good way to experience the legendary band in it what might have been its musical prime.