Yep.

Halfway to heaven & just a mile outta hell ...

Halfway mark of the Springsteen 2013 odyssey. Four shows down, four to go. Good time to check on the progress of the Top Ten Oz Tour 2013 Questions that are still being answered.

How will Tom Morello's temporary membership in the E Street Band affect onstage camaraderie and, more importantly, the setlist?
Morello's solos on 'Death to My Hometown', 'Shackled and Drawn', 'Ghost of Tom Joad' and High Hopes' are show staples. Morello's Hendrix bit (below) during 'High Hopes' is something never before exhibited during a Springsteen show. 'Jack of All Trades', played opening night in Brisbane, was made perfect by Morello's closing solo. The Nightwatchman provided Rolling Stone with insight into his E Street Band experience: "Every night, there's six to eight songs I have literally about a nanosecond to prepare for. But it's fun. Now that I know that's the gig I'm like, 'Lets go!' Make it clear: I'm not asking Bruce to stump me. I would love to play 'Thunder Road.' But it's been a really fun challenge."

Chomp.

With four studio releases since his last tour, which recent live staples get the chop?
Along with being the first Seeger Sessions song to be played in Australia, 'Pay Me My Money Down' was the highlight of opening night in Sydney. Its presence in the setlist marked the debut of Bruce's 'Your ass is gonna be talking to ya' speech, one that's evolved to include a 90-second guarantee ('Who's got a watch?') and using the proper pronunciation of 'arse' in Australia. He opened the first Melbourne show with an acoustic 'Devils & Dust' and an unforgiving 'Last To Die' but that was due to it being the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Otherwise, no dice.

Does Bruce appease the crowd with a full-on 'Born in the USA'?
He played it the last night in Sydney and nearly blew the roof off Rod Laver Arena with it Sunday night in Melbourne. It was the highlight of my wife's evening.

Bruce shows reverence for Max's final 'Born in the USA' flourish.

What will these Aussie audiences be like?
This subject's been well-covered in this blog and on stage by Springsteen himself. His 'arse be talking' speech is a necessary evil in a country where to be in possession of a seat is taken to mean you won't be doing any standing. Bruce tries to give the audience the benefit of the doubt by refusing to say the words 'get off your asses' but the point gets made, and gets results, especially Sunday night in Melbourne. The crowd may be all white, but in Melbourne there's a decent dollop of soul.

How flexible will the setlist be throughout the 10-show run?
Very flexible, to a point. Show #2 in Sydney was as loose a setlist as I've ever experienced, with Bruce pulling signs willy-nilly from the crowd and blasting a classic 'Detroit Medley' in the encore. But the opener in Melbourne was reasonably conservative and veered towards stadium favourites. Will tonight's second show in my adopted hometown be loose, or is Bruce willing to sacrifice variety for audience participation?

At the conclusion of  'Detroit Medley', Bruce asked for a wet sponge to be squeezed over his head. Nils Lofgren obliged.

Which Aussie politician will get hers/his photo taken first with the Boss?
It's been a tumultuous time for Australia's Labor party since Springsteen & Co. arrived, a development not worth exploring because nothing on this planet is as superfluous as Aussie politics. But at this moment no politician has succeeded at having him- or herself photographed with the One True Boss.

Which member of the E Street Band gets photographed with a koala first?
I've yet to see any member of Springsteen's entourage photographed holding Aussie fauna, though Jake Clemons has tweeted several photos of himself beside Aussie lasses. Good on him.

Does the author of this blog desperately wish the dozens of friends from around the world he's had the good fortune of seeing Bruce Springsteen with over many, many years were here in Melbourne seeing the show with him?
Just as in Brisbane and Sydney ... yes. Yes he does.

Right to ya!

Top Ten Oz Tour 2013 Questions

Writing this on a laptop while flying from Melbourne to Brisbane. Shocked to hear 'Atlantic City' playing on the jet's overhead sound system while boarding. I've amassed tens of thousands of frequent flyer points with Qantas and have neither heard nor seen any reference to Bruce Springsteen on any of those flights. Someone at Qantas is paying attention. (This was proven after I landed and found a Tweet from 'Rach' at Qantas hoping I'd had a comfortable flight. That might be TOO much attention, darlin'.)

Following Springsteen for 35 years means fellow fans and I have been confronted with a constant query: What's Bruce gonna do next? My friend Jeff and I would drive the highways and byways of North Jersey going over the possibilities, the latest studio bootleg blaring in one of our piece of sh*t cars, our brains inevitably stimulated by a post-midnight stop at Burger King on Rt 46 in Denville.

What's next? That's the spirit in which I pose these 10 questions ahead of tonight's Oz tour opener at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. [The questions are in the order they popped into my head and contain a multitude of rash generalisations.]

1. How will Tom Morello's temporary membership in the E Street Band affect onstage camaraderie and, more importantly, the setlist?

It was disappointing to learn 'Miami' Steve Van Zandt wouldn't be making the trip to Australia on this tour. Watching him share a mic with Bruce has been a highlight since the '99 reunion and I've been a sucker for Steven's soulful backing vox since The River. That disappointment has been replaced by excitement for Harvard grad Morello, especially after repeated listenings to his first two Nightwatchman albums, One Man Revolution and The Fabled City. His guitar chops are legendary -- I saw him with Rage Against the Machine at the Big Day Out music festival in 2008 -- but it's his progressive politics that make him an appropriate stand-in for Little Steven.

Morello's contributions to Wrecking Ball will no doubt take prominence live, but how else will his distinctive playing stretch the E Street Band's sound? There's a song called 'Saint Isabelle' on The Fabled City that screams to be played by Bruce & Co. Sadly, it would instigate a mass migration to the toilets or beer stalls, a fate Tom Morello doesn't deserve.

2. With four studio releases since his last tour, which recent live staples get the chop?

Springsteen was once a self-tortured perfectionist in the studio, limiting his output in his early years but providing bootleggers with reams of outstanding studio outtakes. Today Springsteen's a virtual album making machine, and four studio releases since he last toured Australia for The Rising in 2003 gives him a mini-back catalog of songs to debut in Oz. 2005's Devils & Dust and the following year's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions were done solo and with a different set of musicians, respectively, so they'll most likely get little exposure. That's not true for 2007's Magic and 2009's Working on a Dream, not to mention last year's Wrecking Ball. That's a lot of music. How much does Springsteen risk pissing off an oldies-craving audience by restoring recent setlist staples like 'Gypsy Biker', 'Radio Nowhere', 'Working on a Dream', 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes', 'Outlaw Pete', and others?

3. How does Springsteen pay tribute to the late Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons?

The saddest developments on E Street since Bruce's last visit were the tragic deaths of Hammond B3 organ and accordion wizard Danny Federici and the Big Man. I've read about Springsteen's concert dedications to his fallen brothers but have abstained from resorting to YouTube clips. Too moving, too IMPORTANT, to be witnessed anywhere besides in-person. Has Bruce moved on to a place emotionally where it would seem insincere to do extended tributes like he did previously, or the briefer ones of the last year or so? I hope not. I haven't experienced the catharsis described by friends who've shed tears at shows like never before. I've seen Bruce many times without the E Street Band but I've never seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band without Clarence Clemons. It's like Christmas without a crazy-ass Santa Claus. Federici was often called Phantom Dan because of his comings and goings from the stage, but his contribution to Springsteen's sound was the salt air and creosote blowing down the Asbury Park boardwalk. He made it all more real.

Christ I miss them.

What's he gonna do?

4. Does Bruce appease the crowd with a full-on 'Born in the USA'?

As noted in my last post, 'Born in the USA' is far and away the most widely played Springsteen song on the abysmal swamp that is Australian commercial radio. I'm hoping he plays it ... Seeger Sessions style. And if he does it anyway besides anthem-fashion, will the crowd be satisfied?

5. What will these Aussie audiences be like?

Brisbane is not a hotbed of culture. In Upside Down Land it's Miami without a Cuban/Latino influence or South Beach chic or Lebron James or David Caruso removing sunglasses like he's a f*cking genius. It's blessed with remarkable natural beauty, has been hit by a succession of floods since 2010, is a long-time nesting place for retirees and economic escapees from Sydney, is home to the Brisbane Broncos of the NRL and some Aussie rules team nobody talks about, and is just north of Queensland's Gold Coast.

Notice I didn't mention 'is home to bogans of every stripe'. 'Cause I'm in a good mood.

I worked for a tiny ad shop in Woolloongabba for 3 months in the summer of 2009-10 and lived near West End, Brisbane's only neighborhood with a whiff a funk. I enjoyed my time here (no longer in the air -- landed in Brisbane an hour ago) but Queensland's conservativism is ugly and its homogenous blend of people doesn't compare to Sydney or Melbourne. (I imagine that's intentional). So what will the crowd be like tonight? Has Brisbane been inundated by Springsteen tramps from around the world, or at least the Brits and Irish who work here on temporary work visas? What about American ex-pats? Or former residents of Asbury Park?

6. How flexible will the setlist be throuout the 10-show run?

I'm an idiot, of course. Springsteen's doing 10 shows in 18 days in Australia, and I'll be at 8 of them. I'd be a fool to expect variety in each night's offerings -- I've refused to look at setlists from the 2003 tour because however it plays out, I don't want to let history affect expectations -- but of course I'm hoping Bruce remains as ambitious with song selections as he's been since the Magic tour. The advent of social media in the years since I moved to Oz in 2006 has allowed me to follow the Springsteen-related exploits of friends around the world. Exploits that have made me very jealous. I've got making up to do but can't help wondering, am I about to witness 8 identical shows?

7. Which Aussie politician will get hers/his photo taken first with the Boss?

There's a federal election happening in September between two equally inept politicians. Either of them would surely instruct his or her limo driver to mow down a crowd of crippled children for a photo op with Man of the People Bruce Springsteen. Does Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Speedo-wearing-and-possibly-criminally-psychotic Tony Abbott grab that gold ring before the tour's end on Easter Sunday?

8. Which member of the E Street Band gets photographed with a koala first?

A ritual demanded of all visiting dignitaries. Who makes it to social media holding a stinky koala? (When you hold one someday, you'll know.)

9. Will people overseas suggest via social media that those attending a show(s) in Australia 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' or 'have a Fosters' or 'make sure the dingo doesn't eat your baby'?

Yes. Yes they will.

10. Does the author of this blog desperately wish the dozens of friends from around the world he's had the good fortune of seeing Bruce Springsteen with over many, many years were here in Brisbane seeing the show with him?

Yes. Yes he does.

Not Melbourne, but not bad.

A rudimentary audit of antipodean cities would deem Sydney the most scenic, Melbourne the most cultured and Brisbane the most fortunately placed, as it sits between the Sunshine and Gold coasts and is tantalizingly close to the Great Barrier Reef. I was willing to forgo anything resembling a cafe lifestyle up here but have been pleased to discover Brisbane's got pockets of cafe 'hoods. One is West End, a few blocks from my place, where I've become a regular weekend visitor to the Three Monkeys Coffee & Tea House (above). Sprawling haphazardly with table-strewn hallways and softly lit kiosks and decorated like a Moroccan brothel, I half expect to discover a cadre of Middle Eastern men sharing a hookah as I pass through. Maybe next time ...

Market mangoes, South Bank sand & 'Tum Mile' ...

... pretty much sums up my first solo weekend in Brisbane. Above is South Bank Parkland's riverside beach (with Brisbane's CBD looming in the distance), a remarkable engineering achievement that's roughly 500 metres from my South Brisbane apartment. Didn't partake of its cool waters today. But will soon.

Made a mistake yesterday. Busy morning but not-busy-enough afternoon left too much time to miss Aradhna, who's 1700 kms away in Melbourne tending to loose ends and pondering her next career move. Let me correct that: Aradhna doesn't ponder -- she acts. We stay in touch throughout each day but it's not nearly enough, especially when I'm staring into space conjuring images of her loveliness. Today was action-packed (if you consider 8 am laundry & vacuuming 'action') but yesterday had one clear highlight: Discovering West End Markets.

West End is one of Brisbane's few bohemian suburbs but after two 2 years in Melbourne -- where bohemia stretches from the CBD like crude oil from a ruptured offshore rig -- I'm spoiled. So it was cool to discover West End has a hippie-infused Saturday morning market (right) near the Brisbane River, about a 20-minute walk from my place. Handmade crafts, candles, incense, organic herbs, tie-dyed baby clothes & lots of fresh fruits & veggies brought people of every stripe in droves. A stall dedicated to locally grown mangoes was enough to guarantee my continued patronage. Last year at this time I was in Fiji, where mangoes grow everywhere and villagers sell plates of freshly picked fruit along roadsides for pocket change. Tom Robbins once described a mango as a "ripe peach doused with kerosene." One taste of the molotov cocktails of sensual fruit flesh I bought yesterday and anyone debating a trip to Australia would be racking up Qantas frequent flyer points faster than you can say "I just had an indecent thought about a Queensland mango!"

Today's early morning domesticity was followed by a walk to the South Bank beach shown at the top of this post. I'd visited it during the week Aradhna & I spent in Brisbane in early 2007 but forgotten its sublime design. It includes an extravagant kids' section that rivals the priciest of water parks. A fire hydrant is the closest most kids in New York City get to a water park.

Followed South Bank's bougainvillea-draped footpaths to the Goodwill Bridge that crosses the river south of the CBD (right). Veered right at the bridge's end to Brisbane's Botanic Gardens, a lush oasis on the CBD's southeast flank that stupefied me in 2007. Queensland was at critical drought stage then -- the state is still benefiting from record rainfalls that fell in 2008, which means the gardens are even greener this time around. The following photos show a lovely shade tree, frangipani flowers & a bamboo grove:Brisbane is Australia's third largest city but has a paltry CBD. Unlike Melbourne, which salvaged at least some of its gold-rush-financed Victorian architecture, Brisbane's CBD is mostly modern, and therefore largely uninteresting to me. It does have shops, however, and my studio apartment lacks certain amenities. Queen Street's pedestrian mall (left) is another Brisbane landmark that impressed Aradhna & I during our previous visit. Brisbane's universities are popular with Asian students so Queen Street was chock-a-block with pretty, light-skinned girls in short shorts, many carrying umbrellas. Map-clutching tourists walked slowly, like wounded prey (I'm not a pickpocket but know easy marks when I see 'em). Packs of dull Aussie teens added nothing but cheap clothes and bad skin to the streetscape.

Drifted to King George Square down Albert Street, where this church (right} maintains its dignity despite the encroachment of steel & glass heathens. If King George Square conveys anything about that member of the royal family, it's that he was an empty, joyless man. Hate to come off like a Melbourne crank but its Federation Square overcomes questionable aesthetics with a public space that's always buzzing with life. On a sun-kissed Sunday afternoon Brisbane's old Town Hall (left) overlooked a people-less public space. Maybe it's a matter of population: Melbourne has nearly 4 million inhabitants, Brisbane nearly 2 million. Melbourne doesn't have world-class beaches within easy driving distance, however. Who'd want to hang around a paved city square when white sand and turquoise surf are less than a quarter-tank away?

When I miss my wife I watch a Bollywood film and miss her even more. Go figure. Today was no different. Caught Tum Mile at the Brisbane City Regent on Queen Street. From a dour exterior I entered a relic of Brisbane's gilded age. Tables line a wall of a tiny cafe that could be found in a Melbourne laneway. I grabbed a coffee for the film and went up a flight of stairs. What I saw was astounding: A magnificently restored cinema lobby (below) that wreaked of 1920s extravagance & optimism.I downloaded Tum Mile's soundtrack weeks ago so already associated its music with weekends spent in the company of my pajama-clad wife ... but enjoyed the film nonetheless. Ironic that ads for 2012 are splattered across every Brisbane bus stand, as Tum Mile uses Mumbai's devastating 2005 floods as a device to bring a long-separated couple back together. 2012 -- Hollywood's latest CGI-instigated manifestation of a 10-year-old boy's classroom doodling -- is disaster porn. In Tum Mile, the mayhem of a natural disaster doesn't play second fiddle -- it lingers in the hallway, hoping to audition. Unlike many Bollywood romances this one features two believable characters portrayed by young & hungry actors. Well done, but likely to disappoint teenage Indian boys hoping to see chunks of Mumbai washed into the sea.

It was nearly 5 pm when I crossed back over the river via Victoria Bridge, which connects the CBD's north to South Brisbane. South Bank remained full of parents & kids & couples happily sprawled on footpaths and plots of grass as before. These photos begin with a Victoria Bridge-view of Brisbane's 'eye' (apparently a mandatory accessory for every major Aussie city):Late afternoon at Streets Beach, from a different angle.Brisbane CBD from along a riverside footpath in South Bank.The natural beauty of Brisbane is breathtaking. Now only if I had my equally breathtaking wife with me to enjoy it sange sange ...

The Gabba

This painting, found beneath an overpass near the Gabba, perfectly captures the holy trinity of Aussie blokes: cricket, beer & footy.

One of the more remarkable differences between Melbourne & Brisbane is symmetry. Melbourne was planned by a man named Robert Hoddle in the 19th century. His legacy, besides a consistently traffic-choked street named after him, is a magnificent grid that encompasses the most logical of CBDs and corresponding suburbs.

Brisbane, on the other hand, is a city in flux. Clearly developed with little or no masterplan, its current stewards seem keen on instilling order on its hodgepodge streetscape. My 30-minute walk to work takes me from South Brisbane to Woolloongabba. Depending on the route -- a bevy of snaking side streets make my choices seemingly endless -- I pass a string of road diversions, torn-up sidewalks and signs heralding Brisbane's improvement.

Yesterday I took a route that led me past the Gabba (left), Brisbane's largest sports stadium. Its formal name is the Brisbane Cricket Ground, but it's also home to the AFL's Brisbane Lions. The AFL was once called the VFL -- the 'V' standing for Victoria, which is where the game was invented and is as ingrained into the culture as the Queen. Oddly, Brisbane is an AFL stronghold, and I look forward to seeing the Tigers play the Lions at the Gabba when footy season returns.

The photo below is of a painting a few metres from the one shown at the top of this post. Don't know if it's meant to mock Aussie sports culture, but it certainly captures the ethos of this 'tribe'.

Brisbane balcony views.

Despite having her own business to run, Aradhna devoted tremendous effort & time into finding me a place in Brisbane before I arrived on Tuesday afternoon (insert Moody Blues song here). The top photo was taken after Julie, who manages the 6-story, 4-year-old building with husband Steve, gave me the keys. It's looking north towards the CBD, though Brisbane's skyline on the opposite side of the Brisbane River is mostly blocked by apartment buildings. I'm in a great location, with top Brisbane neighborhoods Southbank & West End within easy walking distance.

I also walked to my new employer's office in Woolloongabba yesterday. Takes about 40 minutes -- an opportunity to walk off 2 years of an indulgent Melbourne cafe lifestyle. Bus and train stations are nearby in case of stormy weather (insert pop standard tune here).

Brisbane is 1700 kms (1100 miles) from Melbourne and every bit as different. Typically Australian in that people drive into the city from distant suburbs to work, but its proximity to the Sunshine Coast (north) and Gold Coast (south) means these commuters may reside on or near some of this planet's most spectacular beaches. This alone would explain Brisbane's more relaxed culture, but its tropical climate can't be overlooked. While Brisbane has a higher average yearly temperature than Melbourne, its summers aren't as brutal. Melbourne bears the brunt of northern winds that blow across a continent's worth of desert. The temperatures and winds that led to February's 'Black Saturday' were unlike anything I've ever experienced: pure, searing, heat. In Brisbane you'll sweat; in Melbourne you'll get pan-fried.

Enough weather. Here's a couple of morning views from my balcony, first looking west:
This is looking southwest, with a corner of my building:

Pulse of a nation

As someone who gets paid to create online content, it's important to keep abreast of what people read when presented with choices. Let's have a look at what Fairfax Digital is reporting to be today's most-viewed articles in their Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane dailies:

• Sydney Morning Herald: Surge in families forced to sell their homes

• The Age: Al Qaeda link to car bomb

• Brisbane Times: Beauties brave Brazilian wax

Bet the news editor in Brisbane is considering a career change ... (and if the term 'Tassie Maps' means nothing to you -- read that last article).

Wet & Wild

A month ago, Eastern Australia was smoky with raging bushfires and in the grips of ground-cracking drought. Several rain dumps later and the air is sweet with flowering trees and shrubs and formerly brown grass is a rich, ripe green. Last night brought thunderstorms out of a Vincent Price mad scientist film. Tonight it's back to a cricket chorus and the occasional hoon.

A few more photos from the Brisbane road trip:
Brisbane's skyline amidst tropical abundance.

Surfer's Paradise, a couple hours south of Brisbane along the Gold Coast.

Queensland farmland from a speeding Holden.

An Aussie icon (the banana, not the American) along NSW's northern coast.

Beach day

Off to Newport Beach before starting at Optus in North Sydney on Monday. Here's some photos from the Brisbane trip:

Aradhna dwarfed by the Golden Guitar in Tamworth, Australia's 'Country Music Capital'.
Southern Queensland, a few hundred kms south of Brisbane.
The accidental paradise I found at the Sunshine Coast's Currimundi Beach.
Brisbane's uninspiring skyline.
Mangrove boardwalk at southern tip of Brisbane's Botanic Garden.
Eastern grey kangaroo showing his belly to a torrent of Japanese tourists at Lone Pine Sanctuary in Brisbane.

Sore feet. Caffeine buzz. Fresh sunburn.

Brisbane is what you'd call a 'walkable' city. My sad, gnarled feet are a testament. Spent yesterday taking a route around the CBD that resembled a 4-year-old attacking an Etch-A-Sketch. Today was perfectly planned, but for the podiatric insurrection. Started in the Botanic Garden, where the river's tide was just beginning to push through the mangroves at Brisbane Point. Crossed the river via a pedestrian bridge into South Bank, a formerly rundown waterfront that's been transformed into a safe-for-all-ages promenade. Includes a man-made beach, white sand included, with a clear view of Brisbane's vanilla skyline. Spent a couple hours in the Queensland Museum. An oxymoron. I know neighborhoods in northern NJ more deserving of a gleaming, 3-story museum. Still, it's always cool to see long-dead giant bugs, snakes, wallabies and the like. Over the Melbourne Street bridge and down Ann Street to Fortitude Valley, home to Brisbane's Chinatown. Then back to my CBD hotel via Queen Street.

Bought a box of handmade chocolates for Aradhna -- and not because I was a jerk. Her week's training includes a visit to an abattoir in Toowoomba, where she spent the afternoon. Aradhna's a Hindu who loses consciousness at the sight of blood. I'm guessing her appetite won't be returning from today's outback adventure .....