This is the fastest version of Badlands and it starts off with 3 slamming chords (E,D,B I believe). Bruce absolutely tears into the song, his guitar blaring with overdrive over the rest of the band (see Passaic Night 1). His voice (as with most songs on the 78 tour) is mean and tough and he always lets out a shriek at the end of "I don't give DAMN!" I like how you can tell throughout the song when Bruce turns his guitar on because of the volume change, especially before the solo. The solo is searing (due to the overdrive) and descends into a plucking rhythm for the slower part following. The song ending leads to Bruce again shrieking BADLAAANNDSS over and over and of course my favorite E string up and down slide.
1980-1981: Very interesting change for Badlands during the River Tour. First of all, The River tour is considerably less raw (compared to 78) and got a heavy dosage of less overdriven guitar. That overdrive is something that I love, but it certainly doesn't detract me from loving most songs on the tour, Badlands included.
The most interesting part of Badlands on the River Tour is the intro. The 3 chords during 78 is replaced by a piano intro (Once Upon A Time in the West, I believe). This intro was not used during the beginning of the River Tour and also not always towards the end, but I'm just gonna classify the River Tour Badlands as having a piano intro. The intro is quite lengthy, taking almost 30 seconds before the count off. As mentioned before, the guitars are toned down this tour, but that doesn't stop the band from ripping this song, putting a charge in the show after following the slower, mellower, The River (see Uniondale New Year's Eve show). I find it interesting that Badlands typically was sandwiched in between two less heavy songs (The River preceding, and Thunder Road following). The tough guy vocals and shrieks are absent from the River Tour Badlands, but he is definitely charged up and delivers powerful vocals. The solo leaves me with a little something to be desired. It seems buried in the mix of the band and it certainly doesn't hold up to Clarence's following solo (like it does in 78). It's almost as if he's using the rhythm setting on his Tele as opposed to treble. Two final differences in the River Tour Badlands is Bruce's tendency to shout after "baby I got my facts, learned real good right now"... "now LISTEN!!" instead of the usual "GET EM STRAIGHT! (or a variation of that)". The final change to Badlands that was sort of present previously, but really stands out this time is Stevie's vocal harmonies at the end of the second verse...but really...go listen to the version linked above and you'll see, it's awesome.
1984-1985: The Born In the USA Tour (BITUSA) definitely had an overall distinctive sound that sort of encompasses every song. Obviously the BITUSA album songs get their own special treatment such as the long Cover Me intro, Glory Days speech, and No Surrender acoustic. The old songs however, basically get "BITUSA-ized" with loud fanfare synthesizers, drum machine triggers, and bombastic vocals.
It may seem like I'm being critical of the BITUSA Tour, that is not the case at all. I love listening to BITUSA boots, and Badlands is a great spot in the set. Nothing really stands out however, other than the BITUSA-ized sound. Badlands was a song I think at this point in Bruce's career that just needed to be played in its core form and didn't need anymore tinkering (see Philadelphia Spectrum 1984 show). Not much else to say here except that when a BITUSA era Badlands comes on my shuffle...you can really tell it's BITUSA Tour.
1988: Ok to be honest...I ashamed to admit this, but I actually don't have any bootlegs from the Tunnel Of Love Tour with Badlands on the setlist. (Note to self...go get some!).
Had to go to YouTube for this one. One thing that's back is the 3 chord intro. The only real differences are the intro, the harder vocals compared to BITUSA Tour, and a cool piano medley during the slower part (see Live in Germany 1988).
1992-1993: Different band, so the sound is a little different. Also the count changes from "One! Two!" to "One. Two. Three. Four, One! Two!".
Excellent versions of Springsteen songs on this whole "Other Band Tour" and Badlands rocks. No Clarence means Bruce's new guitarist gets a solo after Bruce's typical one and he's not too shabby. Also, the crowd interaction that I've come to know and love during Badlands makes its debut on this tour. During the slow parts the crowd chants the spine tingling "WHOAAAA WHOaaAAAoooOOOAAAA". Bruce eggs them on the whole time before going into the final verse. Another background guitar solo is added during the outro (see Live in Stockholm 1993).
2000-2014: This encompasses all of the Reunion Tour and post Reunion Tour versions of Badlands with the exception of 2008 Magic Tour (I'll explain that later). Badlands appeared all over the setlist during these tours. Sometimes would open or be early in the setlist, and sometimes it would close out the main set. This position is my favorite because the audience chants would carry all through the couple minutes before the encore starts. The powerful "One! Two!" sends crowds into a frenzy (but seriously...WOW) with the guitars pounding into the main riff even more so than in the "olden" days. The main addition to the song during these years is the audience participation. It occurs in the slow part after the sax solo as well as during the outro. The other awesome part of the song is the false endings where the song appears to end, but then the bass drum starts kicking as the rest of the band quiets down, and Bruce's guitar begins blaring out a string picking E, A, and B chord all while the crowd roars out the "WHOAAAA WHOaaAAAoooOOOAAAA". Truly epic.
2008: During the heat of the summer months of the Magic Tour Bruce and the band were rolling out killer show after killer show, each night's setlist crazier than the last (fortunately I was able to catch one of those shows in late August in Richmond). Anyways, Badlands was better than ever and feeding off the crowd's wild energy, Bruce would do the false ending twice. So after the first ending the crowd just assumed the song was basically over, but then he would just crank those chords out again, making the crowd go nuts (see Richmond 2008 awesome video, I was there too!).
Future of Badlands?
For coming tours I could see Bruce keeping things just the way they are with the recent tours, although, I could also see the 3 chord intro coming back, but I expect to see it in similar spots in the set list.
1984-1985: The Born In the USA Tour (BITUSA) definitely had an overall distinctive sound that sort of encompasses every song. Obviously the BITUSA album songs get their own special treatment such as the long Cover Me intro, Glory Days speech, and No Surrender acoustic. The old songs however, basically get "BITUSA-ized" with loud fanfare synthesizers, drum machine triggers, and bombastic vocals.
It may seem like I'm being critical of the BITUSA Tour, that is not the case at all. I love listening to BITUSA boots, and Badlands is a great spot in the set. Nothing really stands out however, other than the BITUSA-ized sound. Badlands was a song I think at this point in Bruce's career that just needed to be played in its core form and didn't need anymore tinkering (see Philadelphia Spectrum 1984 show). Not much else to say here except that when a BITUSA era Badlands comes on my shuffle...you can really tell it's BITUSA Tour.
1988: Ok to be honest...I ashamed to admit this, but I actually don't have any bootlegs from the Tunnel Of Love Tour with Badlands on the setlist. (Note to self...go get some!).
Had to go to YouTube for this one. One thing that's back is the 3 chord intro. The only real differences are the intro, the harder vocals compared to BITUSA Tour, and a cool piano medley during the slower part (see Live in Germany 1988).
1992-1993: Different band, so the sound is a little different. Also the count changes from "One! Two!" to "One. Two. Three. Four, One! Two!".
Excellent versions of Springsteen songs on this whole "Other Band Tour" and Badlands rocks. No Clarence means Bruce's new guitarist gets a solo after Bruce's typical one and he's not too shabby. Also, the crowd interaction that I've come to know and love during Badlands makes its debut on this tour. During the slow parts the crowd chants the spine tingling "WHOAAAA WHOaaAAAoooOOOAAAA". Bruce eggs them on the whole time before going into the final verse. Another background guitar solo is added during the outro (see Live in Stockholm 1993).
2000-2014: This encompasses all of the Reunion Tour and post Reunion Tour versions of Badlands with the exception of 2008 Magic Tour (I'll explain that later). Badlands appeared all over the setlist during these tours. Sometimes would open or be early in the setlist, and sometimes it would close out the main set. This position is my favorite because the audience chants would carry all through the couple minutes before the encore starts. The powerful "One! Two!" sends crowds into a frenzy (but seriously...WOW) with the guitars pounding into the main riff even more so than in the "olden" days. The main addition to the song during these years is the audience participation. It occurs in the slow part after the sax solo as well as during the outro. The other awesome part of the song is the false endings where the song appears to end, but then the bass drum starts kicking as the rest of the band quiets down, and Bruce's guitar begins blaring out a string picking E, A, and B chord all while the crowd roars out the "WHOAAAA WHOaaAAAoooOOOAAAA". Truly epic.
2008: During the heat of the summer months of the Magic Tour Bruce and the band were rolling out killer show after killer show, each night's setlist crazier than the last (fortunately I was able to catch one of those shows in late August in Richmond). Anyways, Badlands was better than ever and feeding off the crowd's wild energy, Bruce would do the false ending twice. So after the first ending the crowd just assumed the song was basically over, but then he would just crank those chords out again, making the crowd go nuts (see Richmond 2008 awesome video, I was there too!).
Future of Badlands?
For coming tours I could see Bruce keeping things just the way they are with the recent tours, although, I could also see the 3 chord intro coming back, but I expect to see it in similar spots in the set list.
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