Rationality is, as per usual, hard to find in these user reviews. It's always either a 1 or a 10, whereas the reality lies somewhere in between. People call it either a great masterpiece or a self-centered POS. Well, it is quite self-centered, but what do you expect out of a one man show?
The thing is: Springsteen knows how to tell a story. As a European fan, I like the little travel capsule his music and this show give me into a regular American life that I sometimes dream of. This very much does that, diving into Bruce's youth, his parents and his hometown. It's standard Springsteen material and no matter how many times it's repeated, I still gobble it up. There's some real touching stories in there.
Now the songs... I can't say I was a fan of the stripped down versions. I love me some acoustic, but this was different. The lyrics were there but the entire songs were changed to the point some were hard to recognize and it didn't really sit well with me for most. Tom Joad was nice and Brilliant Disguise was decent but those were really the only two where I didn't feel weirded out by how much the songs stray away from the flow and style of the originals. You could see this creative approach as positive, but to me it really wasn't.
At 2.5 hours, it's a little on the long side and I caught myself yawning here and there, but all in all it manages to feel shorter than it is and it usually stays interesting enough with a decent mix of story and song.
Conclusion: If you don't like Springsteen, this won't convince you. If you like Springsteen, you won't need convincing and you'll probably enjoy it.
The thing is: Springsteen knows how to tell a story. As a European fan, I like the little travel capsule his music and this show give me into a regular American life that I sometimes dream of. This very much does that, diving into Bruce's youth, his parents and his hometown. It's standard Springsteen material and no matter how many times it's repeated, I still gobble it up. There's some real touching stories in there.
Now the songs... I can't say I was a fan of the stripped down versions. I love me some acoustic, but this was different. The lyrics were there but the entire songs were changed to the point some were hard to recognize and it didn't really sit well with me for most. Tom Joad was nice and Brilliant Disguise was decent but those were really the only two where I didn't feel weirded out by how much the songs stray away from the flow and style of the originals. You could see this creative approach as positive, but to me it really wasn't.
At 2.5 hours, it's a little on the long side and I caught myself yawning here and there, but all in all it manages to feel shorter than it is and it usually stays interesting enough with a decent mix of story and song.
Conclusion: If you don't like Springsteen, this won't convince you. If you like Springsteen, you won't need convincing and you'll probably enjoy it.