Bruce Springsteen opened his second winery show in the Hunter Valley in News South Wales with a cover of Eric Burdon & War ‘Spill The Wine’.
This wasn’t the first time Springsteen has covered Burdon but it was the first time he has covered this song. At SXSW in 2012 Springsteen paid homage to Eric Burdon. “For me, it was The Animals. For some, they were just another one of the really good beat groups that came out of the ’60s. But to me, The Animals were — they were a revelation. I mean, the first records with full blown class consciousness that I had ever heard. “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place,” had that great bass riff, [plays bass line of “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”] and that was just a clock, a clock marking time.
“That’s every song I’ve ever written. Yeah. That’s all of them. I’m not kidding, either. That’s “Born to Run,” “Born in the USA,” everything I’ve done for the past 40 years, including all the new ones. But that struck me so deep. It was the first time I felt I heard something come across the radio that mirrored my home life, my childhood. And the other thing that was great about The Animals was there were no good-looking members. There were none. They were considered to be one of the ugliest groups in all of rock ‘n’ roll.
“And that was good. That was good for me, because I considered myself hideous at the time. And, and they weren’t nice, you know. They didn’t curry favor. They were like aggression personified.
“It’s my life. I’ll do what I want.” They were cruel, which was so freeing. It was so freeing. When you saw Eric Burdon — Eric Burdon was like your shrunken daddy with a wig on. He never had a kid’s face. He always had a little man’s face.
“He couldn’t dance. He was just like — he was like this. They put him in suit, but it was like putting a gorilla in a suit. You could tell he — fuck that shit, man, he didn’t want it, you know? And then he had that voice that was, like, I don’t know, Howlin’ Wolf, or something coming out of some 17 or 18-year-old kid. I don’t know how it happened. But they were so — I found their cruelty so freeing. Um, trying to think of that great verse in “It’s My Life.”
“It’s a hard world to get a break in, all the good things have been taken.” And then, “Though dressed in these rags I’ll wear sable someday, hear what I say. I’m gonna ride the serpent. No time spent sweating rent.” Then that beautiful, “Show me I’m wrong, hurt me sometime. Hurt me sometime. But someday I’ll treat you real fine.” I love that. Yes, yes, yes, yes”.
And Sunday night Springsteen once again reached back to the music of Eric Burdon and gave The Hunter a taste of what he was listening to before he was famous.
Bruce Springsteen setlist, Hunter Valley, February 23, 2014
Spill The Wine (Eric Burdon & War cover)
My Love Will Not Let You Down (from Tracks, 1998)
Death To My Hometown (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Seeds (from Live 1975/1985, 1986)
Out In The Street (from The River, 1980)
Rosilita (Come Out Tonight) (from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, 1974)
High Hopes (from High Hopes, 2014)
Just Like Fire Would (from High Hopes, 2014)
Johnny 99 (from Nebraska, 1982)
Heaven’s Wall (from High Hopes, 2014)
Brilliant Disguise (from Tunnel of Love, 1987)
Human Touch (from Human Touch, 1992)
I’m Goin’ Down (from Born In The USA, 1985)
Pay Me My Money Down (from We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, 2006)
Shackled and Drawn (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Radio Nowhere (from Magic, 2007)
The Rising (from The Rising, 2002)
The Ghost of Tom Joad (from High Hopes, 2014)
Badlands (from Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978)
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, 1974)
Born In The USA (from Born In The USA, 1985)
Born To Run (from Born To Run, 1975)
Ramrod (from The River, 1980)
Dancing In The Dark (from Born In The USA, 1985)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (from Born To Run, 1975)
Rockin’ All Over The World (John Fogerty cover)
I Wish I Were Blind (from Human Touch, 1992)
Thunder Road (from Born To Run, 1975)
Bruce Springsteen’s final Australian show for Frontier Touring is February 26 in Brisbane at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Bruce Springsteen – Spill The Wine
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
