Big Springsteen fan from the 70s here, but after the disappointment of The River have bought nothing other than Nebraska and The Seger Sessions. I think the last time I saw him live was in '80, when on my 20th birthday, on the 20th, I was in the 20th row. Fun times - what I remember of them!
Remember when the familiar line was “I like his music but I can’t stand his voice!”
On the one hand I thought it a tad sad how much effort it appeared to take him to climb on top of the piano. Man, and Little Stevie has been packing it on. And what was Clarence dressed as, some kind of high priest?
But he looked like he was enjoying himself, which carries some weight in my book.
Sure it sucked, but it was a halftime show! Can anyone name a halftime show that DIDN’T suck? To suck is the nature of the beast.
The impression I got at the time was that Springsteen was trying too hard to be energetic and exciting.
At the beginning of the first song when he bent over backwards while on tiptoes I remember rolling my eyes and thinking “Oh, get the fuck up…” (although I was surprised that he could do that and actually get back up given the difficulty he had getting up on the piano beforehand…though now that I think about it, it might be that the piano was wobbly and what appeared to be strenuous effort was actually just caution)
And yeah, his voice has always been hard-edged, but in my opinion it went past that last night and sounded ragged and overdone.
Accoding to what I once read somewhere, Van Zant wears the bandanna to cover unsightly scars from an automobile accident…and that his Sopranos hair was a “pompadour” wig.
I think I might have dated you in college, Spartyfan.
Although I grew up in Pennsylvania, I attended Michigan State U from 1975-1978.
Over spring break in 1975 I went to a party at a friend’s house down on the Jersey shore. Her brother, who was going to Lafayette College, was there, and he brought a record called Greetings From Asbury Park made by a guy named Bruce Springsteen. The kids from New Jersey were raving about him, saying he was fronted the best bar band ever. Springsteen wasn’t even being played on the radio in Pennsylvania yet, but was gathering a fan base in NJ. I quite enjoyed the record and thought it was a shame that he was unknown Michigan. At the time, Seger was HUGE in Michigan and unheard of anywhere else. I think Seger and Springsteen’s careers are actually very similar (although Springsteen made it higher and is now more famous). All my Spartan friends told me that Seger fronted the best bar band ever and it was just a matter of time before he hit it big.
Anyhoo, the week after spring break when I’m up in East Lansing I see that Bruce Springsteen was coming to MSU. Not to one of the field houses, but to a smaller theater (I forget the name of the building). I went and got 2 tickets right then. I asked my boy friend at the time to go with me, and he wasn’t too keen about the idea but went along because I had already purchased the tickets.
He bitched about going, bitched that I should never do anything spontaneous with out telling him, and bitched all through the concert. Which, by the way - absolutely ROCKED. When we left he told me that that Springsteen dude sucked.
I didn’t think The River was all that great either, except for a very few songs. (Katmandu and Turn the Page, for example. ) On the other hand, I adore Tunnel of Love, and that doesn’t seem to be on many favorite lists. To each their own, I guess.
Bob Seger is the one that does that stupid “old time rock and roll song”, right? I hate that fucking song with the burning rage of a thousand suns. :mad::mad::mad:
What were we talking about? Oh yeah. I’m not a huge Springsteen fan (haven’t really heard enough of it to have an opinion one way or another), but I thought it was a decent show, much better than most SB halftime shows. I have heard Born in the USA before, and it’s definitely not a patriotic song. Something about a Vietnam vet who feels abandoned by his country, right? And he cries “I was born in the USA, born in the USA”, in other words, I’m one of you, why are you abandoning me.
I’ve never been lucky enough to see Springsteen live, but I remember watching his performance in the No Nukes concert in '79 and he still had the same energy in front of an audience as he did then. I thought it was a great halftime show and wish he’d come back next year.
And no, he’s not copying Seger. The two aren’t really comparable; check out the lyrics to “Main Street” and “The River”. They think and write differently for all their similarities.
I happen to like Springsteen better but that has a lot to do with one summer when my husband finally and completely burned me out on listening to Bob Seger - with the exception of “Travelin Man/Beautiful Loser” (live version only) and “Roll Me Away” - ever again.
My first Springsteen concert was in 1984 at what was then known as the Rosemont Horizon. I then saw him half-a-dozen times in 1985 as he played huge stadiums throughout the land (Oakland Coliseum, LA Coliseum, Soldier Field, etc.) Each concert lasted a minimum of 3 hours and the entire 70,000+ sang along to every single freaking song. The last time I saw Bruce was in 2003 at US Cellular Field. He hadn’t lost a step.
Ever since the 2005 (I think) Superbowl halftime I avoid their halftime shows like the plague. I don’t know where they get the idea that aging rock stars are the pinnacle of entertainment. What really turned me off was that 2005 show where they had, if I recall correctly, the Rolling Stones featuring Mick Jaegger. All I remember is this scrawny old fart prancing around the stage, screeching some sort of songs that had neither melody, harmony, or a discernable rhythem. I’ve heard catfights with more music in them. And the worst part was that the audience seemed to be enraptured with them. Uck!
He reminds me of one of those middle age guys who likes showing the kids what was cool back in the day. At least he didn’t take himself too seriously, and he looked like he was having fun doing it.
It’s funny seeing Silvio Dante up there playing guitar. I’m old enough to have known of Bruce Springsteen long before the Sopranos, but I’d never paid attention to his guitarist before.
Am I mistaken, or did I see 2 or 3 members of the Max Weinberg 7, in addition to Max himself? I think I’ve seen some of them play with Bruce before, but on Wikipedia Max is apparently the only one who’s listed as an official member of the E Street band.
) On the other hand, I adore Tunnel of Love, and that doesn’t seem to be on many favorite lists. To each their own, I guess. 