Oh, to have been in Houston last night…
If you read my recent post on Alejandro Escovedo’s Sunday night performance at SXSW, you know what a fan I am of the man. If you followed my entire South-by “highlights reel,” you also know that the Replacements are my all-time favorite band. What I haven’t yet divulged to you, Twangville nation, is that my all-time favorite artist is none other than one Mr. Bruce Springsteen. I’ve seen Escovedo a couple of dozen times, but I’ve seen Springsteen somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred times now.
Why am I telling you this? Well, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Magic tour rolled into Houston, TX, last night, and guess who joined them onstage to kick off the encores, performing the first track from his forthcoming album, Real Animal?
As if that mind-blowing special guest wasn’t enough, the spotlight continued to shine on superlative Texas-based songwriters, as Bruce and the band were joined by none other than Joe Ely for the very next song in the encores, “All Just to Get to You.” (This one I’ve been fortunate enough to see performed by the two of them together in the past but, man oh man, to miss Springsteen and Escovedo together … that hurts.)
About the author: John Anderson is a SXSW addict, having attended "South-by" every year since 1999. His South-by geekery spilled over into the realm of blogging in 2006, and he is grateful to the Twangville audience for having indulged his South-by ravings since 2008.