Live in New York City

It’s hard to separate Bruce Springsteen the institution from Bruce Springsteen the artist. The artist has made brave, difficult albums like Nebraska and Tunnel of Love, the institution is the guy who sells out world tours in minutes. Frankly, we like both, and though this double album, culled from the Madison Square Garden dates of last year’s tour with a reunited E Street Band, is unquestionably a product of the institution of Springsteen, moments of artistry shine through. Peppered amongst predictable (if impassioned) crowd-pleasers (“Badlands,” “Born to Run,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”) are a few rarely heard gems (“Lost in the Flood,” “Don’t Look Back”) and a radically reworked, down-and-out-blues version of “Born in the U.S.A” that’ll straighten out any who still hear the tune as the patriotic, fist-pumping anthem it isn’t. Of the two new tunes, “Land of Hope and Dreams” is among Springsteen’s best writing in years and “American Skin (41 Shots)” is, well, not. Capturing the boundless energy of Springsteen’s live show is a pretty futile endeavor, and to their credit, Springsteen and company don’t try to here, instead they use the album to track where they’ve been over the last 30 years, and more important, where they’re headed.