Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

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.

There are nasty bugs going around… I’ve been really sick twice this winter (still recovering from a cough right now), and repeatedly tested negative for all the big names.

Could be something too embarrassing to identify like the runs.

Tom, insert pun-free zone here, please!

born to...

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/OblongBitesizedIzuthrush-size_restricted.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwHIs7IafD0

Candy's Restroom

Mister state pooper

Thunder Road

Meet me tonight in Atlantic...

Nah, too easy

Greetings from...

41...

tomorrow night's show, the third impacted, postponed now too

The latest in weird Bruce news is that apparently Bruce only eats one meal a day, and this has prompted Chris Martin to also only eat one meal a day.

https://consequence.net/2023/03/coldplay-chris-martin-bruce-springsteen-one-meal-per-day/

“he looks better than me”
= 100% why i hate this dude

Ugh

tour seems to back on now. Some relatives of mine saw last night's Buffalo show

Who else is going to be at the Brooklyn show tonight?

Yo

Huzzah! I'll be the white guy with a grey beard.

I may actually go to tonight's show! Nosebleed seat, but whatever, if someone I know ends up dropping out, I'm there.

I believe I have pretty rock star seats that my generous friend has been relentlessly apologetic about.

I didn't notice this until Rolling Stone pointed it out, but Steve Van Zandt has lost a LOT of weight! Not an unhealthy amount but he's nearly as trim as he used to look if you ever watch the DVD's or Blu-rays of their 1979/1980 shows.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/bruce-springsteen-and-steven-van-zandt-perform-onstage-news-photo/1462434440

No longer in character as a mobster.

Journalist and Springsteen fan Caryn Rose venting in her substack about the Detroit show she saw and the whole tour:

What this setlist is lacking is any kind of strong thematic or narrative arc. Yes, there are songs about loss and he speaks about his bandmates and “Last Man Standing” but they’re just presented in the setlist without any connection or relevance

“I’m on fire” was on at the bar today. Just gets creepier and creepier

I didn't notice this until Rolling Stone pointed it out, but Steve Van Zandt has lost a LOT of weight! Not an unhealthy amount but he's nearly as trim as he used to look if you ever watch the DVD's or Blu-rays of their 1979/1980 shows.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/bruce-springsteen-and-steven-van-zandt-perform-onstage-news-photo/1462434440

― birdistheword, Monday, April 3, 2023 10:20 AM

I thought for a sec that Gaga had joined Springsteen on stage.

Maybe he's on the same weird diet?

"Put down that hot dog, Stevie! You had your one for the day already!"

But really, I've wanted to know for years what the daily routine of someone like Springsteen is on the day of a show: when they get up, what they do, how they get into the best zone for being onstage for hours.

I assume they don't speak.

What this setlist is lacking is any kind of strong thematic or narrative arc. Yes, there are songs about loss and he speaks about his bandmates and “Last Man Standing” but they’re just presented in the setlist without any connection or relevance.

That is total nonsense; you can get the narrative arc just from the opening sequence. "No Surrender" --> "Ghosts" --> "Prove it all Night" --> "Letter to you;" the titles alone are a thesis statement for the show. Springsteen is reassuring us, telling us that after this gap of years he's still got it, that he knows it's been a long time, he knows we've come through a lot of losses, and he's going to give us the three-hour joyous Bruce show we want and need. I thought "Wrecking Ball" worked particularly well in the overall sequence; the lyrics fit with both the post-pandemic sense of mourning and also the defiant, holding-back-the-dark-for-a-bit-longer energy of it all. "Tonight all the dead are here, so bring on your wrecking ball."

The "Letter to You" tracks flattened the mood a bit, and I don't think "I'll See You in My Dreams" and "Last Man Standing" are particularly strong songs, but I do think they fit in the sequence. It reminded me of the recurring moment in the Odyssey where Odysseus and his companions, having escaped from yet another adventure that's cost them some of their shipmates, stop for a moment to thank the gods, celebrate their survival and acknowledge their losses. "Our precious lives we had, but not our friends." Springsteen has been making space for the dead in his shows for years, but there's something about knowing that everyone in the arena has come through a pandemic that makes these pauses to mourn particularly meaningful.

watching the show now, static or not I think it's a pretty inspired cross section of his career.

I mean, I sort of get her point because it is a bit more jukebox-y than most Springsteen tours, but that seems like a reasonable concession to age, and it's not like it's all big hits. No "Hungry Heart," and three songs from The Wild, the Innocent and the E. Street Shuffle. Sure, it's not one of those tours where you might get Hungry Heart or Sherry Darling or One Step Up or Highway 29 depending on Bruce's mood, but it's still got some interesting choices.