“Wrecking Ball” is the title of Bruce Springsteen’s new album and tour that opened last night in Harlem at the Apollo Theater, but it could also be a metaphor for the foundation- shaking blow E Street took when saxophone stalwart Clarence Clemons died last June.
Uptown at this very intimate show for SiriusXM radio, The Boss and his crew were in their working boots patching their broken wall of sound with the help of sax-probie Jake Clemons (Clarence’s nephew), a horn section and a trio of backup singers. It was a large band for a small stage.
At 62, there are few places The Boss can make a debut, but the Apollo is one of them, and he and the band proved as worthy as any of the theater’s greats from James Brown to Paul McCartney. Springsteen, clearly caught in the moment, was as jazzed about playing the gig as the audience was to witness it.
Dressed in black vest, blue shirt and jeans, the trim Jersey boy wiped his brow and gushed, “We’re here to put whoopass session on the recession . . . and raise your spirit high.” It was the truth. In less intimate halls, Springsteen can inspire confidence and project honesty. In the thisclose environs of the Apollo, you want to let the guy marry your sister.
There wasn’t a stinker in the set. Bruce and company worked the songs with smart sequencing that built in power. For instance, the fighting ballad “Death to My Home Town” led to the R&B-infused “My City of Ruins” and finally exploded with a stomping rendition of the dusty “E Street Shuffle” where he and his horn section hopped off stage and skipped up the aisles.
The band was musically tight as if they’ve been taking rehearsals seriously, yet there was the looseness shared between friends that isn’t always apparent when they’re on the grand stages of rock like Madison Square Garden.
“We Take Care of Our Own,’’ one of Springsteen’s new songs, opened the set and was among the most poignant in expressing hopeful patriotism and brotherhood.
There also was heartfelt passion on the born-to-strum version of “Shackled and Drawn.” Bruce’s grit-’n’-gravel voice worked beautifully on that folk jamboree.
Much of the chemistry and simpatico that Springsteen had shared with the late Clemons has been redirected to Steve Van Zandt. While Little Steven often shared the mike with Bruce for a little cheek-to-cheek harmony, at the Apollo the two stood a little closer.
Although the crowd cut him plenty of slack, Jake Clemons blew a very harsh-sounding sax at this gig. Hopefully, he’ll soon find the combination of warmth and power that was integral to his uncle’s sound.
Like every show Springsteen plays, he jams so hard, you never feel cheated. He works until his shirt is plastered to his back with sweat and the crowd is near frenzy. It wasn’t any different at the Apollo. He played a killer version of “Badlands,” nailed “Promised Land” and offered one of the most memorable versions of “Land of Hopes and Dreams” of his career.
There were even a few choice covers, including The Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and Wilson Pickett’s “634-5789,” both of which seemed to honor the famous Harlem theater as well as complement his set.
Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball Tour returns to the area with performances at the Meadowlands on April 3 and 4, Madison Square Garden on April 6 and 9 and Newark’s Prudential Center on May 2.