Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

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.

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

Springsteen is pretty popular everywhere, but definitely in Western Europe.

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.

Prince was huge in Europe; in the late eighties his records were selling better there than in America.

lol josh otm

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.

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.

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.)

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

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

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!

if you're under thirty and love music, chances are you're going to a Springsteen show

Nah, I don't think so.

No, it's not strictly accurate. I take exception to the idea that if you're under 40 you don't listen to him.

I'm 40 and to me Springsteen is the same as the Rolling Stones, a classic rock act -- I respect what he's done, I'll happily sing along on the radio, I'm sort of vaguely aware that he's continued to release albums over the last 25 years, but I would never even think of paying $100 or whatever it costs to go see him play an arena. Who knows, maybe I'm missing out!

^^this ( plus a decade)

Bruce has a lot more young fans than pretty much anyone else who was releasing albums in '75, that's for sure.

Wait, does he really have more young fans these days than Zeppelin and Floyd?

Zep and Floyd have more fervent young fans, that's for sure.

Enthusiasm for Floyd has, like never waned.

Is this the thread were I can talk about the dentist I had once who, whilst I was being held prisoner in the chair, alternated bragging about his restaurant investments with bragging about the super long rock concerts he had attended. It went from Billy Joel at 2h 45m to Eric Clapton at 3h 15m to.... wait for it... c'mon... we know who gives you the longest show...the best show... the most for your money ... c'mon do I have to even say his name...

well i thought we were just talking about people still touring. sure a lot of 60s/early 70s acts still have a cachet with the youth comparable to Bruce, i guess. i just think it's dumb to talk about how old his audience is because it could be quite a bit older, given how long he's been around.

I'm 40 and to me Springsteen is the same as the Rolling Stones, a classic rock act -- I respect what he's done, I'll happily sing along on the radio, I'm sort of vaguely aware that he's continued to release albums over the last 25 years, but I would never even think of paying $100 or whatever it costs to go see him play an arena. Who knows, maybe I'm missing out!

You are totally missing out. Bruce live in 2012 is just about as good as he's ever been; Stones have sucked live for decades. Not to mention the fact that the Stones charge four times what Bruce charges. Pay the $45 for cheap seats then come back with a full report.

Only $45? That's not too bad. But do we have to stay the full three and a half hours? I'll probably develop a crick in my neck and a stitch in my side, not to mention shaky legs that might give in

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.

This sounds more like a lecture to Bruce than a lecture of things you learned from Bruce. Trying to be everyman is totally his thing. Ditto the rest.

So basically all it means is, David Brooks went to Bruce Springsteen concerts and misunderstood them like he misunderstands everything, to suit some convenient bogus narrative.

does Bruce pretend to be a member of the community when he's in Spain and speak in Spanish between songs, or does he talk about growing up in Freehold?

I really wanted to go to the show at Fenway but the only tickets I could find are $100 plus and that's more than I've ever paid for a show.

The former, some dude, only he learned his Spanish from John Sayles, therefore he doesn't use "tu" and addresses everyone as "usted."

It's more like the community he pretends to is Rock N' Roll, and everyone's invited. Which is its own bogus narrative, but a much more appealing one than anything David Brooks has in mind.

That David Brooks quote is probably meant for Mitt Romney, pleading with him to stop pandering to the far right nut jobs and be the moderate that he believes Mitt to be. But there would be a better chance of Bruce getting Steel Mill back together than of having a non pandering Mitt Romney.

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.

I seriously doubt this

like me, for one

How much of an event is it when a huge American superstar makes a stop in your European city? Bruce or whomever frankly doesn't tour Europe as much as he tours the States, and I bet the same is true for other big draws, so I imagine it becomes sort of a must-see thing. But I could be wrong.

The European show I'm going to is sold out (c. 60,000 capacity stadium) and I bet a lot of the others are too. There's a hardcore contingent of Italians and suchlike who take in a bunch of shows. A lot of these people will certainly be under 30, although sadly I'm not.

xp I'd say it's definitely a big deal if you're outside any of Europe's mega-cities (London, Paris, Berlin etc.) where big gigs like Springsteen are relatively common.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/jersey-boys/9019/

Jeffrey Goldberg on how Springsteen won't talk to Governor Christie.

solo piano "Independence Day" from Paris the other night:

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

Lovely version but it still bothers me the way he now sings the slow songs with this pronounced nasal twang and kind of rushes the lines. What is up with that.

Dave Marsh had to give him Woodie Guthrie records and now he thinks he's from Oklahoma sometimes, instead of Joisey

I believe the story goes that Freehold was home to many southern immigrants, so the regional accent is a sort of weird hybrid.

But he's only started affecting it in recent years.

Yep.

Joined by Paul McCartney in Hyde Park, got through a couple of Beatles songs, and then ... curfew cops cut the mics!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80DzsNeNUho&feature=player_embedded#!

fuck the mic policeeeee

Great show last night. But also by a margin the quietest gig I've ever been to. DL of this parish and I were able to speak in whispers and hear each other. Ludicrous sound limiting in Hyde Park. Just don't put on gigs there, Live Nation.

Helsinki last night, 4 hours and 5 minutes. Springsteen's longest show ever.

Still need to read all of that huge New Yorker profile

x-post--Wow

(pre-show acoustic set!)
I'll Work For Your Love
Leap of Faith
No Surrender
For You
Blinded By the Light

Setlist:
Rockin' All Over the World
Night
Out in the Street
Loose Ends
We Take Care of Our Own
Prove It All Night ('78 intro)
Wrecking Ball
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?
Be True
Jack of All Trades
Downbound Train
Because the Night
Lonesome Day
Darlington County
Light of Day
Shackled and Drawn
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Back in Your Arms
The Rising
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
* * *
We Are Alive
Born in the U.S.A.
Born to Run
Detroit Medley
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
I Don't Want to Go Home
Higher and Higher
Twist and Shout

On a late-night whim last night (after listening to Born to Run yesterday on a short roadtrip), I decided to see if the tour's bringing him anywhere near me. And whaddya know, tickets just went on sale for a November date in Louisville, about 4 hours away. And on a Saturday, too. So after some hemming and hawing (of the, is-this-really-worth-hundreds-of-dollars variety) I went ahead and bought two tickets. My girlfriend's never seen him, and even though she's more Bruce-curious than Bruce-committed, I figure she'll have a good time. And I realized I really want to see him doing the big-band thing one more time.

going in a couple of weeks to see him in Chicago, only my second Bruce show (the first was the "comeback tour" with awful seats so it was a wash qua show)

listened to the BITUSA sessions this morning & think its "Born in the USA" is superior to the album edit, because the extra two or three minutes of Bruce shouting & moaning makes more intense what's already a harrowing listen.

That's the thing for me -- no matter how I feel about recorded Bruce these days, I still get a huge buzz out of seeing him live. I know it sounds corny to say but as good of a songwriter as he can be, he was just meant to be on stage. Always. He can make the hugest stadium feel like a tiny nightclub, he can make me standing in the back section feel like I'm right in the first 3 rows.

Maybe that's not everyone's experience of him, especially if you're not a full on acolyte but I dunno if there's another performer that I'd recommend more.

Springsteen in endorsing Obama shocker!