Bruuuce.com - tour reports

Venue: Joliet, IL .. July 30 2004

Thanks to Rob Quicke for this write-up from Joliet, as the Tour for '04 continues:

Well, well, well – driving from Chicago to Joliet for the first time was quite an eye-opener. The town itself is a curious mixture of old stores and newly developed buildings with pseudo-historic architecture. I was in town to see Bruce perform at the Rialto Square Theatre. It was a beautiful theatre with gold furnishings everywhere and a ‘snacks’ stall before we went inside to take our seats. I have never been to a concert where the ushers eagerly told us ‘don’t forget to buy a cookie and a soda to take in with you for the show!” As much as I was fascinated by the great selection of cookies on offer – it was time to get in and take our seats for Bruuuuuce!

Bruce and the band enter stage left – to huge roars from the seated crowd. Then, very quietly Bruce starts to play How Far Am I From Canaan? which goes into Country Doctor with the full band.. Great applause when it finishes then Bruce says “I would say it’s good to be back, but we’ve never been here before. In all our 18 years this is a brand new place for us, and so here’s a brand new song for you”, to which he plays Circus On the Moon (the premiere performance), and the song is brilliant, classic Hornsby stuff. Great response from the crowd after that. At this point some latecomers who had seats on the very front row enter just as Bruce is about to start the next song. They wave to him and Bruce quips, “hey, so glad you made it!” – and then starts playing ‘Gimme’ Some Lovin’ singing the line “so glad you made it” to the latecomers on the front row. Then Long Tall Cool One followed by What A Time with an excellent organ solo by JT, in fact Bruce left the stage so JT could have the spotlight. There is a real vibe in the theatre at this point, although the audience is still seated, plenty of foot-tapping and head-nodding though. There was a bizarre moment when a guy in the audience yells out “turn it up!!”, Bruce says to the crowd ‘can you hear me OK?” – huge roar – “OK what about those who think I should turn it up?” – even louder roar!!

Two new songs are next, Dreamland followed by Gonna Be Some Changes Made both well received by the audience. Bruce looks at the pile of requests left on his piano by a roadie. “Hmm, this one I think I’ll do”, and then says to the band, “why don’t you guys go and burn one or something?” It’s then Bruce solo playing Hooray For Tom. After this band returns for a very loud Resting Place with a brilliant guitar solo from Doug Derryberry. That concludes the first set and intermission follows.

When Bruce returns the band immediately launches into See The Same Way, and the band is rocking! The audience too seems to be a different audience – much more relaxed, people starting to get up and cheer and few people down the front now dancing. Then, as if to keep the vibe going, Bruce launches into Sunflower Cat with a solo for nearly everyone and the audience going wild! After the medley finished you could tell that the band was knackered! JV wiped himself with a towel and Bruce turned and looked to the audience and comically said, “Ok! A ballad now, a rather… sensuous ballad for you!” The audience laughs as Bruce and the band start playing Fields Of Gray with That’s Where It’s At thrown in the middle.

After this you can tell that Bruce wants to keep the groovy vibe alive – so he launches into King Of The Hill, which contains an Elvis tribute “Hey – Elvis played Joliet!!”, and he plays Big Boss Man then Mystery Train before finishing up after more than 10 minutes of playing.

Now, what happened next made this gig for me. Before the gig I placed a large piece of paper on the stage with one request written with a *large* marker pen – ‘Bruce, please, please, please play THE TIDE WILL RISE! – Cheers, Rob”. I saw Bruce looking through some papers. Hopefully he saw mine because the next thing I know - “Sometimes I get lucky…” and the band launch into The Tide Will Rise. I was totally blown away – this was one of my favorite songs and now Bruce was performing it to the audience.

After that finished, Bruce again looked to the audience “I guess we haven’t played any hits yet! There are two types of people who come to our gigs, those who want to hear us just go all out for it and those who haven’t been before and just want to hear the hits. We cater mostly for the former!” Then he launches into End Of The Innocence with a spectacular saxophone solo. After this it’s time to pick up the groove again and Big Rumble finishes the set to huge cheers.

After shouts for more, Bruce comes back on and they launch into Cruise Control and at this point the whole audience gets on their feet. Bruce leaves his piano mid-song, grabs his accordion and the crowd goes wild! The audience is on its feet dancing and clapping. They don’t want it to end, but it has to. To huge cheers from the audience Bruce climbs onto his grand piano and stands tall for the finale of the song – and that’s how it ends. Bruce standing on his piano legs apart and arm pointing up in the air. Despite the audience shouting for more – it was over and the people of Joliet had been truly “Bruuuced”!


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	Venue: Joliet, IL .. July 30 2004 Thanks to Rob Quicke for this write-up from Joliet, as the Tour for '04 continues: Well, well, well – driving from Chicago to Joliet for the first time was quite an eye-opener. The town itself is a curious mixture of old stores and newly developed buildings with pseudo-historic architecture. I was in town to see Bruce perform at the Rialto Square Theatre. It was a beautiful theatre with gold furnishings everywhere and a ‘snacks’ stall before we went inside to take our seats. I have never been to a concert where the ushers eagerly told us ‘don’t forget to buy a cookie and a soda to take in with you for the show!” As much as I was fascinated by the great selection of cookies on offer – it was time to get in and take our seats for Bruuuuuce! Bruce and the band enter stage left – to huge roars from the seated crowd. Then, very quietly Bruce starts to play How Far Am I From Canaan? which goes into Country Doctor with the full band.. Great applause when it finishes then Bruce says “I would say it’s good to be back, but we’ve never been here before. In all our 18 years this is a brand new place for us, and so here’s a brand new song for you”, to which he plays Circus On the Moon (the premiere performance), and the song is brilliant, classic Hornsby stuff. Great response from the crowd after that. At this point some latecomers who had seats on the very front row enter just as Bruce is about to start the next song. They wave to him and Bruce quips, “hey, so glad you made it!” – and then starts playing ‘Gimme’ Some Lovin’ singing the line “so glad you made it” to the latecomers on the front row. Then Long Tall Cool One followed by What A Time with an excellent organ solo by JT, in fact Bruce left the stage so JT could have the spotlight. There is a real vibe in the theatre at this point, although the audience is still seated, plenty of foot-tapping and head-nodding though. There was a bizarre moment when a guy in the audience yells out “turn it up!!”, Bruce says to the crowd ‘can you hear me OK?” – huge roar – “OK what about those who think I should turn it up?” – even louder roar!! Two new songs are next, Dreamland followed by Gonna Be Some Changes Made both well received by the audience. Bruce looks at the pile of requests left on his piano by a roadie. “Hmm, this one I think I’ll do”, and then says to the band, “why don’t you guys go and burn one or something?” It’s then Bruce solo playing Hooray For Tom. After this band returns for a very loud Resting Place with a brilliant guitar solo from Doug Derryberry. That concludes the first set and intermission follows. When Bruce returns the band immediately launches into See The Same Way, and the band is rocking! The audience too seems to be a different audience – much more relaxed, people starting to get up and cheer and few people down the front now dancing. Then, as if to keep the vibe going, Bruce launches into Sunflower Cat with a solo for nearly everyone and the audience going wild! After the medley finished you could tell that the band was knackered! JV wiped himself with a towel and Bruce turned and looked to the audience and comically said, “Ok! A ballad now, a rather… sensuous ballad for you!” The audience laughs as Bruce and the band start playing Fields Of Gray with That’s Where It’s At thrown in the middle. After this you can tell that Bruce wants to keep the groovy vibe alive – so he launches into King Of The Hill, which contains an Elvis tribute “Hey – Elvis played Joliet!!”, and he plays Big Boss Man then Mystery Train before finishing up after more than 10 minutes of playing. Now, what happened next made this gig for me. Before the gig I placed a large piece of paper on the stage with one request written with a large marker pen – ‘Bruce, please, please, please play THE TIDE WILL RISE! – Cheers, Rob”. I saw Bruce looking through some papers. Hopefully he saw mine because the next thing I know - “Sometimes I get lucky…” and the band launch into The Tide Will Rise. I was totally blown away – this was one of my favorite songs and now Bruce was performing it to the audience. After that finished, Bruce again looked to the audience “I guess we haven’t played any hits yet! There are two types of people who come to our gigs, those who want to hear us just go all out for it and those who haven’t been before and just want to hear the hits. We cater mostly for the former!” Then he launches into End Of The Innocence with a spectacular saxophone solo. After this it’s time to pick up the groove again and Big Rumble finishes the set to huge cheers. After shouts for more, Bruce comes back on and they launch into Cruise Control and at this point the whole audience gets on their feet. Bruce leaves his piano mid-song, grabs his accordion and the crowd goes wild! The audience is on its feet dancing and clapping. They don’t want it to end, but it has to. To huge cheers from the audience Bruce climbs onto his grand piano and stands tall for the finale of the song – and that’s how it ends. Bruce standing on his piano legs apart and arm pointing up in the air. Despite the audience shouting for more – it was over and the people of Joliet had been truly “Bruuuced”!