By Karsten S. Andersen

Two good men found in Pittsburgh

Published 2010-11-05

It was billed as an anniversary show for the Springsteen-produced American Babylon album, but that was probably just an excuse for the two old friends, Bruce and Joe Grushecky, to get together and rock the house again. Whatever the case, only four songs from the 15-year old album were played, and focus was on songs that that are always highlights when Joe and Bruce are in charge of the entertainment, such as "Murder Incorporated", "Pumping Iron", "Code of Silence" and "Talking to the King". The event took place last night at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Pittsburgh, and apropos of the location, Bruce opened the show by entering the stage alone and playing an acoustic version of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)" (its only second live appearance ever). He followed up with "For You" and "This Hard Land" before leaving the stage to Grushecky & the Houserockers for a few songs of their own. However, it wasn't long before everyone was together on stage for what the packed house was there for: a blistering night of rock 'n' roll, with Bruce in the leading role, but closely followed by Joe, the local hero.

One of the biggest surprises of the night came about halfway through the set when Bruce chose to world premiere the soon to be released Darkness outtake "Save My Love". It was obviously well-rehearsed and featured a sweet guitar solo, and while The Houserockers did an excellent job as the backing band, one can only imagine how it would sound live with the E Street Band. Bruce at least looked more than fit and ready to tour again, but so far tonight's repeat performance with Grushecky in Pittsburgh is the only thing listed in his time manager. At least that the public knows about.

Check out the complete setlist, watch a video, and - if you were there - add your review.


Clear
Database Error: Expression #1 of SELECT list is not in GROUP BY clause and contains nonaggregated column 'gl_main_v6.news.id' which is not functionally dependent on columns in GROUP BY clause; this is incompatible with sql_mode=only_full_group_by