Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

It was awesome! I can't imagine how exhausted he must be right now. It's crazy because you see him in interviews and his age really shows, so even though I knew this was supposed to be, like, an actual high-energy three-hour Bruce concert, it was hard to believe he could do it. But aside from a few creaky-voiced moments (all on songs from Letter to You) it was like he just willed himself to be 15 years younger and it worked.

It seems like he's got a standard setlist that he follows for this tour, but with a couple of slots that change from show to show. We didn't get "I'm on Fire" but we did get "Trapped," which was pretty awesome.

how awesome that you finally got to witness it!

i think i read that "i'm on fire" was a replacement for "night shift," which he couldn't do because the e street covid variant had left him short on the horns needed to play it. i wonder if "trapped" was added for the same reason?

Yeah, even when I saw Springsteen back in '99 or so I remembered thinking, man, how does he pull it off? And then I thought, wow, imagine what he was like when he was 28 or so.

Tix for Milwaukee next week still hovering around $150 minimum for behind the stage seats. I'd maybe consider if they dropped to ... $50.

I kind of wish I had gone for behind the stage. I went with the only tickets I could afford, which were pretty far away, and people in my section were sitting most of the show and only stood up for the encore. So I do feel like I missed out on some of the immersive quality of a Bruce show. Behind the stage looked a lot more in the middle of things.

Service charges for DC Nats Park tickets that went on sale today were crazy. $35.50 service charge plus $6 facility charge for the $120 tickets. Also high for $59 tickets

Random question: does anyone know what Bruce means by "Valentino drag" in Backstreets?

I would’ve guessed it meant having slicked-back hair like Rudolph Valentino, but that’s probably wrong (would Bruce use that sense of the word “drag”?).

i always thought in the context of the song it was a location - irl drag racing on a road called Valentino

the next line is *where* dancers scraped the tears off the street dressed down in rags etc

so it always seemed like a place but idk

maybe it is just dudes dressed like valentino

One of the main memories I have of him playing Wrigley Field around the time of Wrecking Ball and was in awe of how he could play for three hours and then pull out "Born to Run" and these other high-velocity numbers, with no lagging.

i love how he’d swing around off his mike stand like a pole dancer, like dude pulls out these moves like he’s ~twelve~ it’s so wild

I guy I know from long ago was at that Seattle show and posted these pics.

I think the "Valentino" reference is indeed to a look, not a place. Came across this, which I never knew:

According to Diane Lozito, his girlfriend from 1971 to 1975, Bruce "wrote "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" in bits and pieces and didn't have a title for it. My mom is Rita Lozito. Then he met my grandma. So I assume that's where he put it together." Diane's grandmother's full name was "Rose Lozito"; In that part of Jersey, it's pronounced Lazita, so "Rose Lazita". Also according to Diane, and confirmed independently by her sister, Carol Lisa Lozito, though the song name came from her grandmother, the song was about Diane. Carol also said her sister was Crazy Janey in "Spirit In The Night", Sandy in "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", Terry in "Backstreets", and the girl in "Thundercrack".

the drag racing thing never even occurred to me, i always took it as valentino the actor, and the sexual ambiguity he sadly shed as the years went on

btw "revved up like a deuce" refers to a two-seater hotrod, hope this helps, carry on

for example, a little deuce coupe

no vaginas were involved, carry on

I thought Bruce was just invigorated because he had pooped.

wrapped up like a bruce, another pooper in the night

Deuce Springsteen's Greatest (s)Hits

He wrote this song about the one time he asked a friend to play lookout while he pooped in some dude's car:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/CoverMeSingleFront.jpg

Frankly this is just too easy, and it makes the baldness joeks better by comparison.

Greetings from Assbury Park

Born to Run (in my pants)

The Darkness on the Edge of my Pants

Tunnel of Love (no alteration needed)

(My Pants Are) Goin' Down

You guys are being gross

Josh started it

accident on 57th street

I've posted it before, but his spooky banjo version of that song is one of my faves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WKYtS4JDk

― Josh in Chicago

Cool version! Also that’s not technically a banjo but a guitjo or banjitar. Basically a six string banjo that can be tuned as a guitar but sounds like a banjo.

57 Flushes (And It Still Won't Go Down)

State Pooper
My Father's Outhouse
Atlantic Shitty
Poop It All Night

Tickets may be expensive, but the lols come cheap.

Heard on Sirius XM some of Springsteen and band show from February 16 in Austin. He did a spoken intro to "Last Man Standing" from his Letter to You album about being the last guy left from his early band the Castles after the 2018 death of bandmate George Theiss from cancer. Live he slowed the song down and the drums were more subtle. It sounded much better and more poignant than the album version. He then segued into "Backstreets" and soon followed with "Because the Night." A strong run of songs

He did the same at the show I saw, but there was also a spoken "Backstreets" interlude where he's talking directly to Terry, in which Terry is George Theiss or another of Bruce's friends of that era. It was a really cool bookend to those '78 performances with the spoken interludes where Terry is a girl.

Yeah, I think he started switching to talking about the real life Terry during "Backstreets" after his friend/PA Terry Magovern died in 2007. He's the Terry from "Terry's Song," on "Magic." Terry in "Backstreets" is largely a creation.

This is what guys who pay 15 thousand dollars for suite tickets to a springsteen show look like during born to run https://t.co/114TBtS0vj

— eve6 (@Eve6) March 3, 2023

Born To Run Things

Absolute cheapest I see for Milwaukee tomorrow night is still about $150 (before fees) for the cheap seats, which is too much. I'll make a call tomorrow morning, but weirdly not feeling a bunch of fomo this time around, and already have Unwound and Iggy to distract me this week.

Putting my videos of Bruce Springsteen bangers in one post. Was my first time seeing him (happy birthday mom!) and I highly recommend the seats behind the stage. pic.twitter.com/JuOr5qfZWP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2023

Jesus, even that added MetLife stadium show has mostly sold out - all that's left is resale, platinum and scattered singles.

Milwaukee tix are dipping down to the "tempting" level, but still a bit pricey for the time and effort (and seats). Let's see how low they go in the next few hours.

Screw it, I'm saving my cash for one of the Wrigley shows in several months (maybe) and seeing Unwound tonight instead.

(Rumor has it he is touring stadiums summer '24, which should surprise no one.)

Well...that's promising to hear.

Just reading that November 18, 2022 Rolling Stone interview with Bruce where he talks about the soul music album, box set plans, ticket prices and more.

He says he used to set ticket prices lower than the market rate . But he and his band aren’t getting younger so he went with market rate this time , plus he allowed variable pricing he say’s because this way the band sees some of that money and otherwise non-Ticketmaster scalpers would just make the money because he says they would get hold of the tickets and mark them up

I sorta get that but it’s disappointing Bruce couldn’t push against Ticketmaster more. It’s a shame Ticketmaster though doesn’t block bots and resale and just tries to profit; and that Ticketmaster can charge insane fees, but I wish there was more the artist could do to push against this. Bruce and Taylor and Beyonce need to get the government to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster monopoly on tickets and arenas and limit fees !

Josh posted that interview upthread

It’s a shame Ticketmaster though doesn’t block bots and resale and just tries to profit

The thing is, the bots and resale *benefit* Ticketmaster. If people on the secondary are selling for $500, then TM has no incentive not to sell for similarly inflated prices (especially once you factor in fees, which are basically pure profit). A huge hunk of the secondary market is being sold directly by TM itself, too, though it's impossible to say just what percent of this stuff is double dealing. I've seen a few shows lately billed as "sold out" that still had tickets available. You'd think "sold out" and "tickets available" would be mutually exclusive, but there is so much tomfoolery going on that we'll never get to the truth of it. It's all a shell game where the house always win.

I honestly don't see why the artists can't just sell their tickets directly. It's pretty much all digital anyway.

Show in Columbus tonight is postponed due to "illness." Given that half the band has had covid, and the show went on without them, I can only surmise this means it finally caught up with Bruce, probably the only member of the E Street Band that has never missed a gig.

Another show cancelled/postponed due to illness.

And given that we’re supposed to get a foot of snow (and more in the surrounding areas) Tuesday, I think it’s safe to say the Albany show will likely be cancelled, too.

Albany just now announced as postponed.

No need to be anxious or afraid. Nothing serious. Just a temporary situation. We will all be back in full force very soon. https://t.co/tsxNJRIl2c

— 🕉🇺🇦Stevie Van Zandt☮️💙 (@StevieVanZandt) March 11, 2023

"The pants-droppin', Viagra-takin', Covid-beatin' E-Street Band!"

I suppose there are a lot of things it could be. Covid, RSV, flu, Norovirus, family emergency ... Pretty clear it's the Boss that's been afflicted, though.