Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

He's playing Take It Fucking Easy, for real.

So he did play it, acoustic and slow and supported by fiddle, so it was OK. Highlight of the night might have been Bruce fucking up the intro to "No Surrender" like three times in a row, which had the band in hysterics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h3ubC3PkTo

And, other highlight was "Cover Me," which was weirdly intense and featured a ripping Nils solo.

Chicago show being offered as a free download until Tuesday night:

http://live.brucespringsteen.net

Check out Nils on this around 3:10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO-YZEQRxYM

New York, NY, February 11, 2016 -- Simon & Schuster is proud to announce the world-wide publication of Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born to Run, which will be released internationally on September 27, 2016. The work will be published in hardcover, ebook, and audio editions by Simon & Schuster in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, and rights have already been sold to publishers in nine countries.

Mr. Springsteen has been privately writing the autobiography over the past seven years. He began work in 2009, after performing with the E Street Band at the Super Bowl's halftime show.

In Born to Run, Mr. Springsteen describes growing up in Freehold, New Jersey amid the "poetry, danger, and darkness" that fueled his imagination. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song "Born to Run" reveals more than we previously realized.

"Writing about yourself is a funny business," Mr. Springsteen notes in his book. "But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I've tried to do this."

"This is the book we've been hoping for," said Jonathan Karp, publisher of Simon & Schuster. "Readers will see their own lives in Bruce Springsteen's extraordinary story, just as we recognize ourselves in his songs." Simon & Schuster acquired Born to Run in an exclusive submission from Mr. Springsteen's legal representatives, Allen Grubman and Jonathan Ehrlich of the law firm Grubman Shire & Meiselas, P.C.. Simon & Schuster previously published Mr. Springsteen's illustrated book with Frank Caruso, Outlaw Pete, in 2014.

http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/i/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3AY%5D/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3Am%5D/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3Ad%5D/autobiography.jpg

actually just transcripts of his onstage intros to "Growin' Up" and "My Hometown."

I wonder how many unreleased pictures of Just Woke Up Bruce they have in archives.

the opening paragraph:

"Screen door slams, Mary's dress ..." what? Waves? Blows? No, that wasn't right. Something was missing. Was that something ... America?

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/its-funny-ive-actually-only-been-to-new-jersey-a-c-30611

http://www.theonion.com/article/bruce-springsteen-releases-new-sci-fi-concept-albu-21358

http://www.theonion.com/article/bruce-springsteen-on-fence-about-playing-assads-bi-33727

This excerpt gives a clue as to the ghostwriter:

Then one day this fella Jon Landau said he wanted to be my producer. Well sir, I was ecstatic: the great Jon Landau! I'd been reading him since his brilliant takedown of Cream in Rolling Stone, and his work on the MC5's seminal Back In The USA was, for me, the pinnacle of rock 'n' roll production. Surely, I could give this Springsteen guy -- I mean, surely, Jon could give me a sense of direction, and maybe I could get him to read a few books -- um, that is, maybe JON could introduce ME to some great literature. Yeah, that's what I meant to write, sir. Anyway, without Landau, Born To Run would never have happened. In fact, you could say that I -- I mean, um, he, Landau -- he really kinda wrote the song.

I saw the future of rock and roll and it was ME

Mr. Springsteen has been privately writing the autobiography over the past seven years. He began work in 2009, after performing with the E Street Band at the Super Bowl's halftime show.

Now, *that*'s specific!

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque.com/media/2009/02/boss-slide-animated-gif.gif

Legend aside, I could never imagine the Ramones recording "Hungry Heart." But even beyond the most obvious reason, they would have done a great "I Wanna Marry You."

Our non-"River" portion of the show in Cleveland last night:

Prove It All Night
Lonesome Day
Candy's Room
Because the Night
Youngstown
The Rising
Thunder Road
Growin' Up
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Bobby Jean
Shout

Also, I shot a little video of Bruce crowd-surfing during the last minute or so of "Hungry Heart." He was grabbing audience members' cameras/phones and taking selfies while he surfed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQbhnqx0zSo

I heard he called Cleveland "Pittsburgh." A mortal sin...I didn't think he was capable....

Ain't no sin to forget where you are.

I love how he's playing 10+ songs on top of doing The River in its entirety.

Got tickets for the Wembley gig this morning, although I really need to familiarise myself with the second half of The River.

The River is fantastic, but there are a few duds on the 2nd half. Drive All Night was always my least-favorite Bruce song until Waitin' On a Sunny Day emerged.

Paris show announced finally today, can't bear to look at ticket prices bc I want to go so badly

Drive All Night is interminable. But Stolen Car and Wreck on the Highway are as good as anything on Nebraska, Point Blank a neat dramatic experiment (could be an Elvis Costello song), The Price You Pay kind of a somber rewriting of some Darkness stuff, and Ramrod and Cadillac Ranch two of his most fun barnstormers.

Stolen Car was great the other night, and Point Blank prefigures 41 Shots in an interesting way.

Loved the 4-way guitar/fiddle interplay on Cadillac Ranch with solos from Bruce, Steve, Nils and Patty.

Still think Nils in the E Street Band is a bit like Darryl Jones in the Stones. It probably takes Nils more effort not to play really well than to play really well.

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/ce310d29769629.5602cba90ecf4.gif

Funny, I don't feel tardy ...
https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/springsteen.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&w=1328&h=882&crop=1

:D

As you, my fans, know I’m scheduled to play in Greensboro, North Carolina this Sunday. As we also know, North Carolina has just passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the “bathroom” law. HB2 — known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act — dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use. Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden. To my mind, it’s an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress. Right now, there are many groups, businesses, and individuals in North Carolina working to oppose and overcome these negative developments. Taking all of this into account, I feel that this is a time for me and the band to show solidarity for those freedom fighters. As a result, and with deepest apologies to our dedicated fans in Greensboro, we have canceled our show scheduled for Sunday, April 10th. Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them. It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-04/8/16/imagebuzz/webdr11/anigif_optimized-21065-1460145772-1.gif?no-auto

That is very cool. I'm sure it's not inexpensive to cancel a concert 2 days before. He continues to be, well, Bruce Springsteen.

<3

"Purple Rain" cover from last night.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4ECme6WX0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4ECme6WX0

That's great. Prince was the cat who kept Bruce was his biggest shot at a number 1, but even he's conceded "Dancing in the Dark" to "When Doves Cry."

http://www.backstreets.com/Assets/Images/2016/newsPrinceBruceLA.jpg
They shared the stage once, in LA, in 1985.

Nice tribute version

Secretly quite relieved that he's no longer playing the entire back half of The River.

For sure, it was a one-off experience for me. Setlists in Europe seem to resemble his E Street reunion setlists from the late '90s. I'm sort of on the fence about paying to see him again this August, the day after I get back from a vacation and the night before the kids resume school, but it's tempting. He had originally indicated "The River" jaunt would be pretty limited, and that he was going to take a break from the band for a bit, so I wonder why he changed his mind. He's obviously having fun, or maybe just mortal and recognizing that he can't do it forever after all so he might as well stick with his band (already down two members) while he can.

Ugh, it appears Waitin on a Sunny Day is back in the set.

I don't think he ever specifically said it would be a short tour, he was hedging his bets right from the beginning.

It seems like this is designed to be short — just 22 cities, nine weeks, and done. Is that how you're viewing it at this point?

At the moment, yeah. I mean, could it go a little bit longer? It depends. It depends on… if we're having fun, if it suits itself to maybe a few more shows, we might consider it. But right now these are the only certain things we're doing.

Obviously, you have a very dedicated European audience, and we're hearing from a lot of those fans who have their fingers crossed. Given that the '81 European leg was such an important part of the River era, I know there are high hopes.

Yeah, that was the leg that established us in Europe — the River tour there was a major, major event for us. But I don't know yet, we gotta see — like I say, we initially planned for just a few shows, so I don't know if we're going to be doing a whole lot more than what we have planned, I can't really say.

But he did say he had a solo thing that he wanted to do, which is why he initially wanted it to be short. But now it's essentially a 9 month world tour. Of course, he's the Boss and can always change his mind. And apparently did. And they do seem to be having fun. Steve in particular seems to be happier to be on stage than he has been in years.

Wembley last night was p.good - despite slightly wonky setlist (http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-springsteen/2016/wembley-stadium-london-england-5bfec7f4.html) (including Waitin' on a sunny day, although the kid was good - and it was sunny). Bruce seemed to have a cold though as he had a pretty permanent trail of snot which was amply picked up on the massive HD screens....

I saw him in Glasgow last week and absolutely loved it. It was my first Springsteen show. My g/f is a big fan, so we went early afternoon to queue and got in the front pit. The whole experience was great fun.

http://www.clickhole.com/clickventure/youre-germ-can-you-make-bruce-springsteen-sick-eno-4180#1,

(I know that's a joke, but I think in all these decades that Springsteen has yet to cancel a date due to illness, which if true is insane.)

I wonder if he'll do shows for (presumably) Clinton this fall. If Trump fear keeps rising, I bet he will.

http://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/files/2011/08/lg-kennedy-center-honorees.jpg