Springsteen played Madrid last night, and performed apparently the longest set in his career: three hours and 48 minutes.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 June 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
Even so, when he finished, most of Madrid still hadn't eaten dinner.
― If There's a POLL Below, We're All Going to Vote (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 June 2012 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
dang yeah vega is 73 according to wiki!
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 18 June 2012 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
After he survived that cave-in at the Mercer Arts Center described in Love Goes To Buildings on Fire he could survive anything.
― If There's a POLL Below, We're All Going to Vote (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 June 2012 17:39 (twelve years ago) link
I think Bruce is basically a little embarrassed by it. It's a fun song, but pretty generic and repetitive, musically. He often jokes about its oral sex implications.
I'd rather hear bruce fooling around w/oral-sex double entendres than intoning righteous platitudes but that's probably why I'm not that into him
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, 18 June 2012 17:58 (twelve years ago) link
"we take care of our own" is nearly unlistenable, sounds like a wheezing self parody to my admittedly jaded ears
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, 18 June 2012 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
I'd rather hear him singing entendres than the overt "Reno"
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 18 June 2012 18:03 (twelve years ago) link
he should do an album of his between-song patter narratives
Having Fun With Bruce On Stage
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, 18 June 2012 18:03 (twelve years ago) link
1) he should have left "downbound train" off of born in the u.s.a. and stuck "pink cadillac" on there
2) like a lot things the boss says, this is faintly embarrassing: "it's good for a laugh, and probably one of my most insightful songs about men and women." bruce has basically cut out the middle man these days: he'll make music, and he'll provide the exegesis too.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 18 June 2012 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
ha -- just last week a friend and I wondered why "Pink Cadillac" is so beloved by Bossheads.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 June 2012 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
Nebraska tape demo of "Downbound Train" is great, it's a Roy Orbison song there. On BITUSA it's a lesser number for sure.
seeing this guy at Wrigley in September, not sure how excited I should be
― Euler, Monday, 18 June 2012 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
Sounds pretty damn exciting to me.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 18 June 2012 19:39 (twelve years ago) link
yeah I think I am! saw him in shite seats in 2000 at a big basketball arena in Indy & it wasn't that great, except for "Youngstown" which rocked righteously.
― Euler, Monday, 18 June 2012 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
If you didn't like him on the 2000, I'm really not sure you'll like him on this tour, unless you really like the new album.
"Pink Cadillac" was a "Nebraska" leftover, too, like much of "BitUSA:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjZ1WO-0YME
like a lot things the boss says, this is faintly embarrassing
Come on, dude is frequently making fun of himself when he calls something his most serious song about men or women or whatever. But then, I love his corniness.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 June 2012 20:02 (twelve years ago) link
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, June 18, 2012 2:03 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/snl-ben-stiller-tells-bruce-springsteen-stories_n_1002406.html
― some dude, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 00:11 (twelve years ago) link
Would buy.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 00:18 (twelve years ago) link
I don't at all agree "Downbound Train" is a lesser track. The album's original sequence requires it: the darkness at the edge of town after the characters in "Working on the Highway" and "Darlington County" force smiles. The part when Bruce sings over nothing but organ = perfect.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 00:24 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that's a pretty haunting moment
i don't agree w/ the thesis but the 33 1/3 on BITUSA makes a pretty strong case that it's his best album because of the balance of comedy and tragedy where albums like Darkness and Nebraska lack levity
― some dude, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 00:31 (twelve years ago) link
The only song I might discard is "No Surrender."
I'm in the BITUSA = best album camp although TOL is close.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 00:33 (twelve years ago) link
i'd happily lose Glory Days. Downbound is one of the top 3 or 4 tracks on the album eeeeeasily.
― Jamie_ATP, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 01:02 (twelve years ago) link
nooooooooo not Glory Days ;_;
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 01:07 (twelve years ago) link
clarence being reduced to hitting a cow bell in the terrible cheesefilled video is the moment where the E Street band of old dies for me.
― Jamie_ATP, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 01:16 (twelve years ago) link
its not even a cowbell though, its a triangle, or something equallynon saxy.
There's a huge swath of Bruce sans much Clarence. Like almost all of "Darkness," for example.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 03:00 (twelve years ago) link
http://i25.tinypic.com/2582vpx.jpg
― some dude, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 03:05 (twelve years ago) link
Man, I'd rather see him like that than sitting in a big chair with an oxygen tank next to him, which is how he was half the time in recent years. Poor Clarence. :(
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 03:07 (twelve years ago) link
even so, I literally kinda freeze up at the thought of seeing Bruce now sans Clarence. I don't know if I could handle it. And if they have a section to honor him, like they did in one youtube clip I saw recently, oh my god I will be a sea of tears
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 03:19 (twelve years ago) link
funny to see the "downbound train" discussion cuz i almost revived this thread this morning just to capslocklyric
NOW I WORKDOWN AT THE CAR WASHWHERE ALL IT EVERDOES IS RAIN
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 06:23 (twelve years ago) link
also yeah have always loved "i'm goin down". cheerfully apocalyptic.
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 06:25 (twelve years ago) link
NOW I WORK DOWN AT THE CAR WASHWHERE ALL IT EVER DOES IS RAIN
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, April 3, 2011 12:36 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 14:38 (twelve years ago) link
doesn't the protagonist of that song have like three different jobs in the course of the song?
how much were the wrigley tickets? are they gone?
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
yeah he has an unspecified but apparently pleasant job at the beginning, and then the downbound train takes him through the car wash to the railroad gang. sobering!
xp heh. well.
― a hauntingly unemployed american (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 23:02 (twelve years ago) link
amateurist, this post of yours about "we are the world" is so otm, whenever i catch the moment of bruce singing in the video, i cringe.
WATW isn't so bad, really. brooce is really embarrassing on it, though. kind of makes you wonder about him.
― amateurist, Monday, August 3, 2009 5:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 23:12 (twelve years ago) link
"kind of makes you wonder about him" lol
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 06:26 (twelve years ago) link
What is it about conservatives and Springsteen. David Brooks just went to Europe to see Bruce do a bunch of shows there. Here's part of his column(much of which is just filled with him marveling over Spaniards singing along to "Born in the USA"):
It makes you appreciate the tremendous power of particularity. If your identity is formed by hard boundaries, if you come from a specific place, if you embody a distinct musical tradition, if your concerns are expressed through a specific paracosm, you are going to have more depth and definition than you are if you grew up in the far-flung networks of pluralism and eclecticism, surfing from one spot to the next, sampling one style then the next, your identity formed by soft boundaries, or none at all.
(Maybe this is why younger rock bands can’t fill stadiums year after year, while the more geographically defined older bands like U2, Springsteen and the Beach Boys can.)
The whole experience makes me want to pull aside politicians and business leaders and maybe everyone else and offer some pious advice: Don’t try to be everyman. Don’t pretend you’re a member of every community you visit. Don’t try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/opinion/brooks-the-power-of-the-particular.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120626
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 13:36 (twelve years ago) link
Pluralist and eclectic kids get off of my lawn
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 13:37 (twelve years ago) link
Any pictures of Brooks trying on jeans like George Will did?
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 13:42 (twelve years ago) link
I'm waiting for a group photo of Will, Brooks and governor Christie all wearing jeans, Springsteen t-shirts and black leather jackets
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 14:38 (twelve years ago) link
They say you’ve never really seen a Bruce Springsteen concert until you’ve seen one in Europe, so some friends and I threw financial sanity to the winds and went to follow him around Spain and France. In Madrid, for example, we were rewarded with a show that lasted 3 hours and 48 minutes, possibly the longest Springsteen concert on record and one of the best. But what really fascinated me were the crowds.
Oy veh
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 14:40 (twelve years ago) link
Is it really true that huge crowds of Spanish youth dig Springsteen? If so, then I at least have to hand it to D-Brooks that he told me something about the world I didn't know.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
Not sure about spain, but it's basically my impression that every rock group that ever released a record on a major label can headline arenas in japan and brazil
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
Springsteen is pretty popular everywhere, but definitely in Western Europe.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
It's weird. It's almost as if he's one of the most famously convincing performers of all time. Hmm, I wonder how Prince fares in Spain or Italy? I have a hunch he does ... well.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 17:52 (twelve years ago) link
Prince was huge in Europe; in the late eighties his records were selling better there than in America.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 17:53 (twelve years ago) link
lol josh otm
― some dude, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
The issue though is whether Brooks is right about the age of Springsteen followers in Spain and why they are younger (if he is correct):
Springsteen crowds in the U.S. are hitting their AARP years, or deep into them. In Europe, the fans are much younger. The passion among the American devotees is frenzied, bordering on cultish. The intensity of the European audiences is two standard deviations higher. The Europeans produce an outpouring of noise and movement that sometimes overshadows what’s happening onstage.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
Well, yeah, but the point is that my impression agrees with Brooks that here in the US of A you would be hard pressed to find somebody 40 or under who was psyched to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert. So if it's different in Western Europe, that's interesting.
last.fm (which I take to be used by a disproportionately young crowd, and which I think also has fairly large European buy-in) has 46m plays of Springsteeen as against 22m of Prince, which I find very surprising. (Gaga gets 168m.)
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
ehhh I dunno. Hell, if you're under thirty and love music, chances are you're going to a Springsteen show. It's the 25 year olds who love BTR and Darkness who are least inclined to love, say, BITUSA
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 19:45 (twelve years ago) link
Do that many younger ones really like Prince though? Like, beyond recognition of the name etc? Or beyond 10-12 hits? His demographic still seems to be around his own age and then 10-15 years younger ie. the younger end being usually the ones who at least remember the hits coming out
Springsteen's surely in that AC/DC, Led Zep, Beatles category now, I'd say he's more fans at either end of the scale, including those older than himself
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
Do that many younger ones really like Prince though? Like, beyond recognition of the name etc? Or beyond 10-12 hits?
that's a lot of hits for anyone to know!
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 20:26 (twelve years ago) link