Ghost of Tom Joad Tour
Encyclopedia
The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a lengthy, worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen
performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad
.
in New Brunswick, New Jersey
. The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles
, the San Francisco area, Washington
, Philadelphia, New York
, and Boston
.
After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North America
n cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio
due to "Youngstown
" being the album track most (relatively) played on radio.
February and March saw shows in Western Europe
, followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards
show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through earlyish May.
A family man with three small children at the time, Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started up again in the U.S. in mid-September, now playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold
, and finishing up in mid-December.
Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show for three weeks in Japan
and Australia
. In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm
to accept the Polar Music Prize
, then he toured Central Europe
for perhaps the first time, seeing Austria
, Poland
, and the Czech Republic
, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997 at the Palais des Congrès
in Paris
and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world.
, it did contain some limited additional instrumentation and arrangements. However, Springsteen decided to perform the new material completely by himself, using only acoustic guitar and harmonica
. (In actuality, a couple of the dourest Joad numbers did have a hidden offstage synthesizer
being played, by Springsteen's guitar technician
Kevin Buell.)
Given that Springsteen was famous for his full-band, high-energy, crowd-rousing concerts, this tour was sure to be a surprising departure. Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them http://www.brucebase.org.uk/gig1996.htm#1 to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect (and leading some to call the tour by that name, although it would become ambiguous in light of the later Devils & Dust Tour
; Springsteen's publicists did not give this tour any formal name).
In any case, after an opening rendition of "The Ghost of Tom Joad", which featured audience members whooping and "Brooocing" by habit, Springsteen regularly addressed this audience with some variation of this speech:
Sometimes Springsteen felt the need to reiterate parts of the message after subsequent songs, especially if Brooocing continued. The whole bit created quite an impression among Springsteen fans, some of whom would always refer to this as the Shut the Fuck Up Tour as a result, and others of whom would wish the same rules were in effect for slower songs at future Springsteen E Street Band
concerts.
The performance style of the tour varied greatly depending upon song. Some older numbers such as "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and the recently-exhumed "Murder Inc." were vigorously strummed on guitar and bellowed in voice. Slide
work also sometimes lent musical dynamism. But most selections, including almost all of the Joad material, were indeed arranged with silence as the leading accompaniment. Even normal fan favorite "Born in the U.S.A.
" was recast into a snarling attack mostly bereft of its anthemic title line. "The Promised Land" was transformed into a ghostly echo of its usually-rousing self, propelled by percussive slapping of Springsteen's Takamine guitar
body.
The typical all-Joad six-song closing sequence of the main set - "Youngstown
", "Sinaloa Cowboys", "The Line", "Balboa Park", "The New Timer
", and "Across the Border" - was especially stark and quiet. Based on the fates of lost American workers and Mexican
immigrants in California
, it suffered from some of same lack of melodic interest and forced didactic purpose that the album had been criticized for.
As the tour wore on, shows became a little looser. Springsteen introduced some humorous songs he had recently written, including "In Freehold", a ribald homage to his growing up, "Sell It and They Will Come", a tribute to the insanity of late-night infomercials, and "Pilgrim in the Temple of Love", a tale of Santa Claus
doing something naughty. Indeed explicit sexual mentions became something of a theme of the tour, with Springsteen telling any children in the audience that words they didn't understand were Latin for "doing your homework." Springsteen also engaged the faithful by unearthing some old numbers that had not seen concert action in a long time, or most famously in the case of Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
s "The Angel
", ever.
Due to the small venues played on the tour, often in the 2,000-to-3,000 capacity range, tickets were often hard to get, creating a "ticket scalpers' heaven." http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F13FA3B5D0C758EDDA80994DD494D81 Dave Marsh
's Two Hearts biography assessed the tour as not expanding Springsteen's audience any, but helping to solidify it, especially in Europe.
The Asbury Park Press
characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre
show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ... The lyrics are bleaker than usual for Springsteen and the music reflects the solemn mood." The New York Times
said a December 1995 Beacon Theatre show "easily qualifies as the most earnest concert of the year," that "Where [Springsteen] once saw open highways, he now sees roads to nowhere," and that "Springsteen turned in a painstaking and convincing performance. But with that material, he has turned himself into nearly a one-note performer."http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E3DE1739F937A25751C1A963958260 The Washington Post
, on the other hand, found a December 1995 DAR Constitution Hall
performance showing strains of the "sense of triumph" that Springsteen's previous work had evoked, although his physical appearance made him "look more like the custodian at Constitution Hall than the star attraction."http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/19493136.html?dids=19493136:19493136&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+6%2C+1995&author=Richard+Harrington&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=C.01&desc=Springsteen%2C+An+Austere+Power
The biography Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson found praise for the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again." Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career," but praised later legs that incorporated new material that was "sly, low-key, and funny."
was recorded live and a decade later aired on E Street Radio
.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
.
Itinerary
The tour began on November 21, 1995 at the State TheatreState Theatre, New Brunswick
Birth Date: December 26, 1921Age: 90 yrsArchitect: Thomas W. LambCapacity: 1800Location: 15 Livingston Ave New Brunswick, NJ 08901President & CEO: Mark W...
in New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
. The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the San Francisco area, Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Philadelphia, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
due to "Youngstown
Youngstown (song)
"Youngstown" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for the "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin...
" being the album track most (relatively) played on radio.
February and March saw shows in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through earlyish May.
A family man with three small children at the time, Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started up again in the U.S. in mid-September, now playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold
Freehold Borough, New Jersey
Freehold is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,052. It is the county seat of Monmouth County....
, and finishing up in mid-December.
Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show for three weeks in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
to accept the Polar Music Prize
Polar Music Prize
The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international music award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, possibly best known to be the manager of the Swedish pop group ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music....
, then he toured Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
for perhaps the first time, seeing Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997 at the Palais des Congrès
Palais des congrès de Paris
The Palais des congrès de Paris is a concert venue and convention centre in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 1974. Nearby the venue are Bois de Boulogne and the affluent neighbourhood of Neuilly-sur-Seine...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world.
The show
While the Ghost of Tom Joad album was in the more acoustic, somber vein of his earlier NebraskaNebraska (album)
-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
, it did contain some limited additional instrumentation and arrangements. However, Springsteen decided to perform the new material completely by himself, using only acoustic guitar and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. (In actuality, a couple of the dourest Joad numbers did have a hidden offstage synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
being played, by Springsteen's guitar technician
Guitar technician
A guitar technician is a member of a music ensemble's road crew who maintains and sets up the musical equipment for one or more guitarists during a concert tour...
Kevin Buell.)
Given that Springsteen was famous for his full-band, high-energy, crowd-rousing concerts, this tour was sure to be a surprising departure. Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them http://www.brucebase.org.uk/gig1996.htm#1 to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect (and leading some to call the tour by that name, although it would become ambiguous in light of the later Devils & Dust Tour
Devils & Dust Tour
The Devils & Dust Tour was a 2005 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage on a variety of instruments. It followed the release of his 2005 album Devils & Dust.-Approach:...
; Springsteen's publicists did not give this tour any formal name).
In any case, after an opening rendition of "The Ghost of Tom Joad", which featured audience members whooping and "Brooocing" by habit, Springsteen regularly addressed this audience with some variation of this speech:
- "This is where I get to set the ground rules a little bit ... a lot of these songs tonight were composed using a lot of silence, silence is a part of the music, so I really need your collaboration tonight in giving me that silence so I can do my best for you ... if you feel like clapping or singing along, you'll be an embarrassment to your friends and family ... if someone sitting next to you is talking, politely ask them to shut the fuck up ... Don't make me come down there and smack you around, it'll mess with my man-of-the-people image."
Sometimes Springsteen felt the need to reiterate parts of the message after subsequent songs, especially if Brooocing continued. The whole bit created quite an impression among Springsteen fans, some of whom would always refer to this as the Shut the Fuck Up Tour as a result, and others of whom would wish the same rules were in effect for slower songs at future Springsteen E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
concerts.
The performance style of the tour varied greatly depending upon song. Some older numbers such as "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and the recently-exhumed "Murder Inc." were vigorously strummed on guitar and bellowed in voice. Slide
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
work also sometimes lent musical dynamism. But most selections, including almost all of the Joad material, were indeed arranged with silence as the leading accompaniment. Even normal fan favorite "Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. (song)
"Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
" was recast into a snarling attack mostly bereft of its anthemic title line. "The Promised Land" was transformed into a ghostly echo of its usually-rousing self, propelled by percussive slapping of Springsteen's Takamine guitar
Takamine Guitars
is a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. Takamine is known for its steel-string guitars.The company was founded in May 1962; in 1978 they were one of the first companies to introduce acoustic-electric models, where they pioneered the design of the preamp-equalizer...
body.
The typical all-Joad six-song closing sequence of the main set - "Youngstown
Youngstown (song)
"Youngstown" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for the "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin...
", "Sinaloa Cowboys", "The Line", "Balboa Park", "The New Timer
The New Timer
"New Timer" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Springsteen performs the song solo on the album, with only guitar accompaniment....
", and "Across the Border" - was especially stark and quiet. Based on the fates of lost American workers and Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
immigrants in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, it suffered from some of same lack of melodic interest and forced didactic purpose that the album had been criticized for.
As the tour wore on, shows became a little looser. Springsteen introduced some humorous songs he had recently written, including "In Freehold", a ribald homage to his growing up, "Sell It and They Will Come", a tribute to the insanity of late-night infomercials, and "Pilgrim in the Temple of Love", a tale of Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
doing something naughty. Indeed explicit sexual mentions became something of a theme of the tour, with Springsteen telling any children in the audience that words they didn't understand were Latin for "doing your homework." Springsteen also engaged the faithful by unearthing some old numbers that had not seen concert action in a long time, or most famously in the case of Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the first studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1973. It only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release, but had significant critical impact...
s "The Angel
The Angel (Bruce Springsteen song)
"The Angel" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973. It was also released as the B-side to Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" single. The song was part of the demo that Springsteen recorded for John Hammond of CBS Records in advance of getting his...
", ever.
Critical and commercial reaction
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
's Two Hearts biography assessed the tour as not expanding Springsteen's audience any, but helping to solidify it, especially in Europe.
The Asbury Park Press
Asbury Park Press
The Asbury Park Press is a daily newspaper in Monmouth and Ocean counties of New Jersey and has the third largest circulation in the state...
characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre
Count Basie Theatre
The Count Basie Theatre is an historic landmark that operates as a theatre for performing arts in Red Bank, New Jersey. It opened as the Carlton Theater in 1926 and was renamed in 1984 to honor jazz great and Red Bank native William “Count” Basie. It has seating capacity for 1,543 patrons...
show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ... The lyrics are bleaker than usual for Springsteen and the music reflects the solemn mood." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said a December 1995 Beacon Theatre show "easily qualifies as the most earnest concert of the year," that "Where [Springsteen] once saw open highways, he now sees roads to nowhere," and that "Springsteen turned in a painstaking and convincing performance. But with that material, he has turned himself into nearly a one-note performer."http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E3DE1739F937A25751C1A963958260 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, on the other hand, found a December 1995 DAR Constitution Hall
DAR Constitution Hall
DAR Constitution Hall is a concert hall in Washington, D.C. It was built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to house its annual convention when membership delegations outgrew Memorial Continental Hall. Later, the two buildings were connected by a third structure housing the DAR...
performance showing strains of the "sense of triumph" that Springsteen's previous work had evoked, although his physical appearance made him "look more like the custodian at Constitution Hall than the star attraction."http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/19493136.html?dids=19493136:19493136&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+6%2C+1995&author=Richard+Harrington&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=C.01&desc=Springsteen%2C+An+Austere+Power
The biography Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson found praise for the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again." Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career," but praised later legs that incorporated new material that was "sly, low-key, and funny."
Broadcasts and recordings
Portions of the December 8 and December 9, 1995 shows from Philadelphia's Tower Theater were later broadcast on the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour on U.S. album oriented rock stations. The April 19, 1996 show from Internationales Congress Centrum BerlinInternationales Congress Centrum Berlin
The Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin , located in the Westend locality of the Berlin borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is one of the largest conference centres in the world...
was recorded live and a decade later aired on E Street Radio
E Street Radio
E Street Radio is a Sirius XM Radio channel, broadcasting on Sirius 20 and XM 20 since November 12, 2008, as well as on Dish Network channel 6010...
.
Sources
- Marsh, DaveDave MarshDave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
. Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005. Bloomsbury USA, 2006. ISBN 1-596-91282-0. - Killing Floor's concert database supplies the itinerary and set lists for the shows, but unfortunately does not support direct linking to individual dates.
- Brucebase the same, with ticket and promotional images as well.