Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZgzF0g9lU

Anyone got tickets for the Broadway run? Sounds incredible:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/oct/13/bruce-springsteen-review-walter-kerr-theatre-broadway-new-york

Hmm. I'm sure it's great, but I don't know about that. Like I noted earlier, he's done solo tours before, behind Devils & Dust and Tom Joad, each with stories, jokes, one-offs, impulsive setlists. This is a set setlist, apparently, with scripted bits from his book and elsewhere. Again, I'm sure it's good, he's an incredible performer, but not sure how this is necessarily better than the aforementioned. If it makes him and others happy ...

True, but I think it's possible to overemphasize how unscripted those earlier solo concerts were. Knowing Springsteen's approach to stagecraft, I'm pretty sure that the stories and jokes in those were fairly well rehearsed. Plus, the review I linked to above makes the point that the bits from the book take on a new life when performed. Finally, this theatre is a lot smaller than any place he played on the D&D/TJ tours, so it'd be worth seeing for that reason alone. Not that I've got tickets...

Earlier in his career, the skinny, junk-food eating star would become so exhausted that trainer, Phil Dunphy, once claimed “they used to have to carry him offstage”.

On this same stretch of 99, I once wrote a story about farmworkers who moonlighted as meth cookers to make ends meet. Bruce Springsteen turned it into a song on his Ghost of Tom Joad album. More than one ballad was about the valley, so he came to Fresno. The William Saroyan Theatre was packed that October 1996 night. Halfway through his solo performance, he interrupted his set to tell us a piggy bank had been set up by the exit to donate money to the “hardworking men and women in the fields.’’  When the concert was over, I took my wife and children backstage to meet him. As we sat down to chat, one of his assistants leaned over and whispered into his jewel-studded ear. Springsteen shook his head and smiled a thin, ironic smile. Then he turned and faced me. “Tell me,” he asked, though it wasn’t entirely a question. “What kind of place is this? Not a single penny was put in that piggy bank.”

Anyway, Broadway run extended to Dec. 15th! I'm seeing it in a couple of weeks.

who’s the quote from?

It's from some epic (but worth your time) reported piece:

https://story.californiasunday.com/resnick-a-kingdom-from-dust

So Springsteen On Broadway was as corny/inspiring/rousing/entertaining as any of his shows, but I was really surprised how big a roll mortality plays in the narrative, as well as the overall sense of sadness. It's a really moving show that hinges a lot on intimacy and vulnerability.

Ugh, role.

saw it too, back in Oct I think. I am not a Bruce obsessive by any stretch, and was pretty unfamiliar with his on-stage schtick. Loved it and was repeatedl struck by the artifice he acknowledges in himself. Thought it was cool that he did that while at the same time making some moving points via the spoken sections. I assume those were lifted from his book?

Some of them are. Some of them were different, some of them were expanded. Also, he's made a few slight changes since then. For example, there is a brief section about the March for Our Lives movement. I was struck by just how personal it seems, even for him. There is a weird balance, between an admission of artifice and what seems to be painful, really close to the bone honesty, a fear of the unknown, but also this strange fatalism. I can't believe he does this every night.

I was really surprised how big a roll mortality plays in the narrative

my friend who i saw it with last week asked me, as we were walking out, "is he dying?"

as corny/inspiring/rousing/entertaining as any of his shows

agree completely with this. his stories about his mother and especially his father, who looms enormously large in this show, left me in puddles of tears. also, in case anyone forgot, dude is an amazing storyteller.

my two nitpicks:

he and patti are terrible harmonizing together. it's astonishing how not-together they still are, more than a half year into the run. it's weird.

about two-thirds of the way through the show, he kind of gives up on the narrative. like he didn't quite finish writing his own play.

but it really is a tremendous performance.

There's an undercurrent of therapy coursing throughout the entire thing. I agree his harmonies with his wife are pretty not good, but given the song selections it feels and looks like two people working through some stuff in real time, in public. The fact that this is a one man show ... except for two (of his best, but still thematically awkward) songs with his wife, who otherwise doesn't even play a small part in the narrative, says a lot. But yeah, after that he drops any real pretense of narrative at all.

yeah, that's the exact point where the narrative ends. the other thing my friend said as we were walking out: "did he mention his kids?" answer: no. which also seemed weird, especially in a show that devotes so much time to processing his memories abnd feelings about his father and mother. but then again, this is his therapy, not mine.

Huh, I'd never seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4P9mU0E374

Still releasing fantastic official versions of all those legendary bootlegs - this time, The Roxy '78

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/

One of my faves. Love the shows that open with a cover.

Yes, and it's a great set. Parts of it used for the 1975-85 boxed set from Back In The Day. Very much worth buying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvGbWO_DIk
classic!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/watch-bruce-springsteens-surprise-three-song-set-with-social-distortion-731579/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6xQGjE6Hdk

mommy's little monster's hair is blue, problem is her collar is too?

Not a Bruce guy but Dancing in the Dark is so great

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,20734/Bruce-Springsteen---The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-10-18-75-The-Roxy-West-Hollywood-CA.html : where that fabulous piano version of Thunder Road on the Live 1975-85 box set came from

Wow, definitely getting this. Had no idea he’d ever played “Goin’ Back”!

The Goffin/King Byrds tune? Although I see many others have recorded as well

I was in a pizza place and I half-heard this song that sounded exactly like Springsteen, only in Italian. I shazaamed it, and it turns out it's by some dude named Ligabue, aka The Italian Springsteen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bv3-eRb0jU

Who knew?

Nice glockenspiel

I don't know when I last listened to "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - I think I usually hear its songs in the context of contemporaneous live recordings - but it's holding up really well right now.

Hmm...should we pre-cover?

“Western Stars” tracklist
1. Hitch Hikin’
2. The Wayfarer
3. Tucson Train
4. Western Stars
5. Sleepy Joe’s Café
6. Drive Fast (The Stuntman)
7. Chasin’ Wild Horses
8. Sundown
9. Somewhere North of Nashville
10. Stones
11. There Goes My Miracle
12. Hello Sunshine
13. Moonlight Motel

I take it this will be another stripped down acoustic Bruce in the desert album.

Hm, maybe not!

The Boss is back with his first new studio album in five years. Western Stars is due out June 14 on Columbia Records and, according to a press release announcing the record, will be largely influenced by the Southern California pop sounds of the late '60s and early '70s.

"This record is a return to my solo recordings," Springsteen says in a statement, "featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements. It's a jewel box of a record."

I dig the idea of AM Gold Bruce.

10. Stones

1. Hitch Hikin’

13. Moonlight Motel

tee hee

I love this picture of dad Bruce next to his boyfriend-smooching daughter:

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/17/12621386-0-image-a-32_1556036048947.jpg

i unreservedly love "hello sunshine" in a way i haven't loved a bruce springsteen song in i can't remember when.

!

More than a few shades of ... Jimmy Webb?

Calling this a solo album, though he made it with many collaborators including his longtime producer Ron Aniello, original E Street Band keyboard player David Sancious, and the multi-instrumentalist and genius song-shaper Jon Brion

!!! Who else is on it?

For others. This is slight but ... maybe not so slight, and lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icJjlg5e6l8

Can see him doing a solo tour next year now.

"You fall in love with lonely, you end up that way"

Great song, and I'm by no means a fan. Glenn Campbell vibes.

Also "Everybody's Talkin'," but yeah, Webb out the wazoo. My wife loved it.

this is great.

best thing i've heard from him in... wow ok it's been a while

i really loved that song he did for the wrestler, this feels quiet and unassuming in the same way but also the way the strings and piano gradually work their way into the mix is p masterful

feels good to hear the boss over production that is not complete garbage, i gotta say

yeah, pleasantly surprised by this song, considering how much i disliked high hopes. it's really lovely.

xpost OTM. This is what overproduction should be! Nashville sound, etc.

glad Jon Brion is involved :-)

Playing Moog and celeste! Did he arrange the strings or was there someone else? I guess we will find out!

wow this sounds great. HE sounds great.