Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

don't make him angry!! just clap!!

and larry mullen, you do the U2 beat right now, or bono is going to fucking lose his shit. you know the one -- driving 16th notes on the hi-hat...hell yeah

I do know that (for example) Madonna and Janet Jackson (relatively) recently did theatre tours. And Olivia Rodrigo played a place a lot smaller than she could fill. Lil Nas X is doing the same thing on his upcoming tour. But in these two cases they're likely trial runs for the Enormodome. I suspect the problem (as such) is that superstars would no longer able to reach their fans in large enough numbers and thus risk alienating/angering them, not least because the ticket prices would go up even higher than they are already. Any pop star is already a limited commodity compared to demand; there's only one of them that can only play one place at a time. Constrict that accessibility further without lessening demand and you've got a recipe for disaster.

see, i call that "always leave them wanting more", haha

Depending on the hugeness of the star and the smallness of the venue, a huge star at a small venue could be a crowd management nightmare. I mean, ffs, when the Grateful Dead were doing multiple dates at Giants Stadium in the '90s there were still 20,000-30,000 ticketless fans outside trying to get in.

Yeah but where are the deadheads going to go, they have nowhere else to stay

Josh OTM. Ppl would be frustrated/pissed; tickets would be resold for thousands of dollars, etc. It would end up having more of an "elitist" vibe (unless I guess they played 130 club shows in a row or something).

(at the same city/venue)
(and limit of one (1) show per customer - as if that could be enforced)

Residencies are probably the most realistic way of pulling it off. Like Dylan can fill an arena in NYC - first one I saw was at Barclays - but he seems to be much happier doing a week of shows at the Beacon because he's stuck with that format ever since.

But with someone like Springsteen or McCartney, who typically do several shows at any given arena, moving that to a theater would probably mean close to a month of shows. I think McCartney prefers stadiums because he can do less shows, and he likes the enormous crowd. He does do tiny shows, but they're usually pop-ups and one-off surprise shows, probably for the press or to get ready for a bigger show the next night, etc.

FWIW, Beacon sits less than 3000, Barclays can do as much as 19,000 for concerts.

Makes me think of how huge acts sometimes play that smallish venue in Frome ahead of Glastonbury, eg. Paul McCartney this year. But that's a one-off thing like birdistheword says.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/24/sir-paul-mccartney-plays-surprise-pre-glastonbury-gig-in-frome

FWIW, here's a rundown of small shows done by the Stones in Chicago, all "secret" shows:

https://www.audacy.com/wxrt/rolling-stones-secret-show-chicago

One of my big regrets is missing out on the Aragon show in 2002 which was NOT a secret show, just part of the three-show theater/arena/stadium format of that tour. I totally wanted to go but alas it was before I really went to shows on a regular basis and the idea of going to a show was still considered a huge luxury. I'm not sure how easy it would've been to land a ticket though.

I saw Prince at that series of shows he did at the Forum (and elsewhere in L.A.), in 2011... that's a great example of a huge artist doing a long stand at manageably-sized venues in a single city.

This ultimately didn't happen because he died, but Tom Petty had talked about following up his 40th Anniversary tour by going out once or twice each year and just doing 1-2 week theatre residences in different cities, something akin to the Fillmore runs he'd done in San Francisco.

Yeah, he played a three night stand at a smallish theatre here once. But he also tended to avoid arenas, and I honestly have no idea if he could have filled arenas at the end. Probably? I mean, his final show here was at Wrigley.

I think one thing about acts like Prince or the Stones or whomever is that their small shows typically arrived as a surprise, without much fanfare. Whether it was club shows from Metallica or Green Day here a few weeks ago, or surprise smaller shows from Pearl Jam or or Prince or whatever, it feels like tickets are often announced and sold barely 24 hours in advance, not usually for high princes and typically a line-up-and-buy, first come first served sort of deal. Also, sometimes some sort of bracelet to prove you're the one that bought the ticket. Other acts have made sure the ticket holder had a credit card that matched the one that purchased the ticket, but iirc that kind of stuff has backfired a few times.

I'm sure Spotify getting into the action will sort this mess right out: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/10/spotify-starts-selling-live-music-tickets-to-fans-directly/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P81_4B5yNk

Love the part when they isolate the keyboard part right at the point where there's a pretty prominent sour note, also Bruce's thrashy, out-of-tune guitar track is pretty amazing.

Oh wow. Definitely gonna watch that. And I used to think his name was a pseudonym, because "Clearmountain" is what his mixes sound like.

Wild to hear the drums without all the bells and whistles on top.

The raw, unprocessed mix was cool to hear, too. And like Clearmountain said, “These guys mix themselves.”

Heard "Thunder Road" on the radio the other day and amused myself pretending it's about a love triangle between Mary, a man, and his anthropomorphized talking car. It's the car that's waiting outside, making her this wistful, romantic pitch. Then the guy comes along all carefree and over-confident, and his counter-offer is all, hey girl, I can play guitar, and my car's out back, why don't you hop in, the door's open but the ride it ain't free? And the car seizes the moment and talks shit about all the boys in the town, all the boys she's (rightly) sent away, and the car is, like, see? These guys suck and they're going nowhere. It's a town full of love 'em and leave 'em losers, but I'm pulling out of here to win. Ka-chow.

Also, just putting this here:

In case you still refuse to feel old - Bruce Springsteen now looks like Woody Allen. pic.twitter.com/zDt6lHv9Dj

— Mike Rosenkrantz (@MikeRos59) August 31, 2022

Ha, had that discussion elsewhere

Speaking of surprising photos, no, this is not James Murphy, this is Southside Johnny:
http://backstreets.com/Assets/Images/2022/SSJ090422/SSJ_mkrajnak_090422_0V2A1078.jpg

"Little Steven Is Playing At My House"

lol

The Vinyl Me Please "Essentials" title for October is Nebraska! Seems like a crazy high-profile title for them.

Interesting, that was a notoriously difficult title to cut on vinyl, but I imagine they're working off the remastered digital file processed by Plangent, which probably took care of those problems from way back when.

(IIRC, the only way to get around it on the original vinyl was to master it at a very low volume, surface noise be damned.)

OMG at that pic.

XP Deets out: lacquers cut at half-speed from the plangent processed masters.

Makes sense. This will potentially sound a lot better than the original vinyl then.

I always wondered if it was worth re-transferring the original cassette tape and using Plangent to correct any anomalies there rather than use the official master tape, which is basically a work part or a dub made from the cassette just to have something usable in the studio in the analog era. Even if they went through the trouble, it's very possible the cassette tape has degraded over time, but if they still have it, I think it's worth a shot.

Lee Harvey Oswald didn't sell getting shot as hard as these cats are selling "Glory Days” here … pic.twitter.com/Zp3o4VYyjl

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) September 16, 2022

mean

More indications a new album is imminent. Rumored to be soul covers, which is fine with me.

Vinyl Me Please catching heat for splitting the songs between sides differently than before

Yeah, a double LP of soul covers could be hit or miss. I wish he had done it in, say, 1989 or 1990 (when he had some down time and his voice was up to it), but we'll see.

My favorite McCartney album Run Devil Run is still like the gold standard for a covers album for me, but I can't really think of any that approach it. Maybe half of Moondog Matinee?

Bowie?

I'll give it another chance. I actually have some mixed feelings about that album - I don't think it's bad ("Sorrow"'s great), but a lot of it feels too arch. I know Greil Marcus actually cites it as one of his very favorite Bowie albums, but he's not really a fan either and doesn't like most of his classics from that era.

Turn it up tomorrow, September 29th at 10:00 AM ET! 📻 pic.twitter.com/uvu93rgGAo

— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) September 28, 2022

1. Only The Strong Survive - Jerry Butler
2. Soul Days - Dobie Gray
3. Night Shift - The Commodores
4. Do I Love You - Frank Wilson
5. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - The Walker Brothers
6. Turn Back The Hands of Time - Tyrone Davis
7. When She Was My Girl - The Four Tops
8. Western Union Man - Jerry Butler
9. I Wish It Would Rain - The Temptations
10. Don't Play That Song - Aretha
11. Any Other Way - Jackie Shane
12. I Forgot To Be Your Lover - William Bell
13. Rooms of Gloom - The Four Tops
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin
15. Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes

(heavily rumored track list)

"Night Shift"!

I Wish it would rain + what becomes of the brokenhearted = hell yes

Lots of great tracks in that list. William Bell one and Tyrone Davis one. Bell still does gigs and was great both times I saw him.

This could be good if it's recorded relatively raw and live-ish.

I'm fully expecting overproduced glop.

I’m hoping for overproduced glop, tbh. At least half the songs on this list had wonderfully massive and dramatic production.

well, those tiny little snippets teased already sound pretty big, backing vocalists and stuff, but not unlike the seeger sessions. in character. hard to tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usSLCdiRoAw

Short, sweet, sounds fine, just what you'd expect it to sound like.

I think that's violinist Katie Jacoby, who's actually been a highlight of the Who and Roger Daltrey's tours in recent years (she gets the spotlight on "Baba O'Riley"). Also, not an exact match, but the lighting and color makes it look like an homage to Elvis's 1968 TV special.

But yeah, classic sweet soul music - sounds pretty good. Would've made a very nice B-side back in the day.