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....were ON FIRE tonight in St. Paul. ....I would have to say that the evil demon spirit of Norm Coleman has been thoroughly exorcised from Xcel. .....It may have been the best rock 'n' roll show I've ever seen. .....In any case you haven't lived until you see Bruce trading Hendrix-like licks with Neil Young on Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." It was simply astonishing. ......Also amazing: Springsteen and Michael Stipe alternating verses on a kick-ass dustup of "Because the Night." .......Plus: John Fogarty comes out to play "Center Field" but first announces: ........"I got a score for you: Minnesota 2, Yankees 0." The place went nuts. Johann Santana shuts out the Yanks in Yankee Stadium!" All of the stars must have been aligned correctly. .......One of the encores was "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World," tearing the roof off. It was about a five-hour show and even for the last encore, no more than three to five percent of the sold-out crowd left.
the speeches were brief and to the point: Springsteen made an impassioned plea for votes, mentioned the environment, Bush's goddamn war, Haliburton, the spirit of the nation. It was a revival meeting. At one point, Springsteen, in full gospel preacher mode, asked for an undecided voter to come to the altar. He puts his hand on the guy's shoulder. To the crowd, he declares: "Say 'Haliburton' with me five times real quick." The crowd complies and he slaps the guy on the forehead a la Benny Hinn. The guy crumples to the floor and comes up with a Kerry sign. Beauty. Voter registration booths were doing a brisk business. there's more but my legs are tired, my ears are ringing. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.
OK, one more thing: John Fogarty unleashed his new song, "Deja Vu All Over Again," an indictment of the war & comparison with Vietnam. After the show local radio KQRS, which has slipped far to the right in recent years, was playing it along with other left-leaning tunes. Time was, KQRS was a tiny independent station that during Vietnam refused to accept military advertising and announced when and where spontaneous anti-war demonstrations were building. Perhaps the pendulum swings back?
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