‘Bruce In The USA’ Pay Tribute To Springsteen At The Whisky For AXS TV 90-Minute Special

By Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Joe Dolan]

March 24th 2014, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Continuing to unearth talented tribute bands in the ongoing third season of their World’s Greatest Tribute Bands series, AXS TV and host Katie Daryl once again took over the Whisky last night, this time to present ‘Born In The USA’, a Las-Vegas based tribute to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, for a 90-minute special that was broadcast live on AXS TV and was free of cost to the in-house audience, as always. 

Like clockwork, doors opened at 7, attendees trickled in, and the stage was set for the event to begin. The VIP gathering upstairs comprised members of tribute bands that have performed on the AXS TV series in the past, enjoying drinks and looking excited in anticipation of the impending dosage of live music. At one point, Mick Jagger, Bono and David Bowie lookalikes were seen interacting with each other and it was entertaining to say the least, truly a sight to behold.

On to the show, then. By 8 PM, the room had filled out reasonably well and Katie Daryl kicked off the show by introducing the band with much enthusiasm. Bruce In The USA took the stage and played an assortment of tunes that brought joy to the congregation of Springsteen fans present here. This band is fronted by Matt Ryan and consists of pedigreed musicians who’ve performed with reputed names in the rock music realm, and each of them, individually and collectively, put on a skilled performance that demonstrated their abilities on their respective instruments. With Fender Squier and Strat guitars at the helm, a saxophone and two keyboards, this brand of rock was certainly a throwback to the 70s, a period during which rock music was created with clean sounds and had a strong operatic feel.

As was befitting to this live television broadcast, Bruce In The USA played tunes that were popular amongst fans who were seen singing along every word as the band played on. The band took a tiny break and left the stage after the song ‘Jungleland’, but since this was a 90-minute set as opposed to the usual 60, they took another break after ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’ before coming out to finish the show with the classic ‘Born To Run’ and the closing tune ‘Rosalita’.

Performance-wise the band seemed to be right on-point, even though having never seen the actual Springsteen band live, I have no basis for comparison. The one negative aspect of this show, something I’ve never experienced at any of these AXS TV gigs before, was the copious amounts of fog inside the venue for the entirety of the set. I’m not sure how it looked on TV, but at times it was so hazy that it was hard to get a proper sight of the musicians on stage, specially from the balcony. My photographer’s shots included here probably give you a fair indication of this.

Other than that, this was an enjoyable evening for classic rock fans at the Whisky courtesy of AXS TV, Bruce In The USA and Katie Daryl, and the band in the hazy spotlight got much deserved attention and applause for their apt presentation of Springsteen’s finest tunes.

Set List:
01. Born In The USA
02. No Surrender
03. Thunder Road
04. Badlands
05. I’m On Fire
06. Hungry Heart
07. Out In The Streets
08. Jungleland
09. Glory Days
10. Dancing In The Dark
11. Secret Garden
12. Pink Cadillac
13. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
14. Born To Run
15. Rosalita

Check out Joe Dolan’s photos of Bruce In The USA below (view them here if you’re on a non-Flash device):

Visit Bruce In The USA on the web:
BruceInTheUSA.com
facebook.com/pages/BRUCE-IN-THE-USA/50714472420
twitter.com/BruceInTheUSA 
youtube.com/BruceInTheUSA 

Visit the Whisky-A-Go-Go on the web:
WhiskyAGoGo.com
facebook.com/theWhiskyAGoGo
twitter.com/theWhiskyAGoGo
instagram.com/theWhiskyAGoGo

Remaining shows in Season 3:
3/31 – Abbacadabra (ABBA)
4/07 – The Nirvana Experience (Nirvana)
4/14 – Bonfire (AC/DC)
4/21 – Mr. Speed (KISS)

Reserve FREE tickets to the AXS TV tribute shows at the Whisky:
GreatestTributeBands.EventBrite.com

Visit AXS TV on the web:
AXS.TV
facebook.com/AXSTV
twitter.com/AXSTV
instagram.com/AXSTV 

Visit Katie Daryl on the web:
facebook.com/Katie.Daryl
twitter.com/KatieDaryl

Comments

comments