Well, then check out the latest eyewitness account in the Magic in the Night section. A guy calling himself "HB" Beverly wrote a long tale about his first show in January 1974 in Norfolk, Virginia. It's one of the best accounts of a pre-Born to Run show I've seen in a while. It takes you right back.
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Not much news this week. It's expected that Bruce will announce a few North American Seeger Sessions dates for September or maybe after the European tour, but nothing is set in stone yet, let alone who gets the shows. Meanwhile, tickets have gone on sale and - in many cases - been sold out in Europe. That includes the show in my own backyard Copenhagen. 20,000 tickets sold in about an hour. Fortunately I was lucky enough to score a few. And when I say I was lucky, it's not just some cliché. I mean, I was really lucky. I had underestimated the interest in this show and figured it wasn't necessary to line up in the ticket queue until three hours before the sale started. As it turned out, I was the last one in line to get tickets, and I only got half of what I wanted. I was almost in a state of shock afterwards. I mean, I would probably have found my way into the show somehow, thanks to friends, but it would have been the first time in my 20 years as a Bruce fan that I hadn't been able to get my own tickets for a show in my own country. That would have caused serious damage on my pride.
So I was really questioning myself that day. Has my hunger for Bruce subsided so much that I have become casual about getting tickets for a show in my own town? In my younger days lining up at 3 in the morning in March was just something you did. This time around, I never considered it for a moment. But I think I have learned my lesson now. As a live artist Bruce is as popular as he has ever been here in Scandinavia, and there's no sign that it's about to change regardless of how old he gets or what band he shows up with, if any. Having the opportunity to see him in concert is still a gift that thousands of people who were shut out envy me. And here I am with 30 plus shows under my belt having become comfortable and forgetting that tickets is still something you fight for and earn by getting up early in the morning and altogether not assuming it will be a piece of cake.
To those of you who live in parts of the world where tickets for Bruce are in fact a piece of cake and where you can allow yourself to pass on nosebleeds because you know something better will show up, count your blessings and think back on the days when even a nosebleed was a miracle and made you dance around your living room with joy. Read more
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Even with new tour dates and tickets going on sale in various European countries, things are slow in the Bruce world at the moment. I guess July is pretty much slow with everything. Well, if you're really clamoring for a little something to read about your hero, check out the Talk to Me section on the main site. I have recently published three fascinating essays by freelance writer Simon A. Moult where he covers the holy Trinity, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, Born to Run, and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Also an excellent essay by Peter Vandenberghe about his trip to the United States to see the last four shows of the Seeger Sessions Tour. Altogether, you can always find something in the Talk to Me section. I dare say with more than 400 Bruce articles it has turned into one of the largest collections you will find just about anywhere. Read more
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Lots of European tour dates announced today. Look at the tour page for a complete list. What strikes you first is the seven shows in Italy alone and five in Spain! What's up with that? He's playing in a town called Caserta in Italy. I never even heard of that one before... which may say more about me than the town, but still. No doubt Italian and Spanish crowds are perfect for this tour with their singing skills, so good for you! I personally can't complain. One of the few shows in Northern Europe that has been announced so far is in Copenhagen, my own local major city. He's actually going to play at a stadium for 20,000 people, which is both good and bad. It means I won't have to be quite as nervous about getting hold of a ticket than if he'd played some 5000 seat venue or something, but on the other hand, isn't 20,000 people a tad too many for this kind of tour? Well, as long as I can get near the front in the GA area I'm not going to worry about that. Happy ticket hunting to the Euros out there. Read more
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Looks like the American part of the Seeger Sessions Tour ended with the who shows in Holmdel, NJ, this last weekend. There have been rumors for a while about more European shows in the fall. In fact, Bruce himself told a couple of European crowds that he would be back in Europe later this year, so there's a very good possibility of this happening. There have also been rumors of more North American shows, but they don't seem to have the same substance. It's very possible that there could have been a second North American leg if the last month of shows had been better attended, and while nothing can be ruled out yet, it just doesn't look good for North American Seeger tour fans unless they want to travel to Europe.
Anyway, this opens an interesting perspective: if the second European leg is going to happen, which by all accounts will be more extensive than the first one, could this be the first time in Bruce history that Europe will get more shows than North America on a tour? As if that isn't unusual enough, the most bizarre thing about it is that the tour is about celebrating American music. Why does that appeal more to Europeans than to Americans? Is it that we here in Europe have a better appreciation for American musical history or are we just less critical and would sell out stadiums just to see Bruce read from the phone book? Something to ponder while we wait for the next official news. Read more
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Well, the news on E Street today... or rumors actually... is that the band will be back in the studio in January and back on the road in the spring/summer of 2007. The information allegedly comes from two unspecified members, and if that's true I guess it might hold some water. But it shouldn't really be much of a surprise. Bruce himself has said that he's got a bunch of songs ready written specifically with the E Street Band in mind, mostly during the Devils & Dust Tour. He has also said in interviews that he wants them out before too long as they are dealing with current issues.
So, I think this is for real. I think we'll see the E Street Band in action next year. Whether it will be a last hurrah before Max Weinberg moves to Los Angeles to be part of the Tonight Show in 2009, and before some of the members (Clarence?) simply get too old for the power house music and exhausting touring, remains to be seen. Read more
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Good to see that Bruce and his people are finally taking advantage of the possibilities the Internet offers when it comes to "spreading the message". On this tour he has made two live recordings available for download on his own site, "How Can a Poor Man..." and very recently "Bring Them Home". None of the songs are available on the Seeger Sessions, but realizing that they are among the most important songs of the night and that people will want to listen to them again and - perhaps more important - tell their friends to listen to them, putting them on the Internet is a smart move. Especially at a time when, as a singles artist, Bruce is practically dead, it seems. Imagine if Bruce had done the same thing with "American Skin" back in 2000 when everybody was talking about it (and very few had heard it). It could have been a monster underground hit and really put Bruce in the spotlight with a younger audience. Kudos should also go to Bruce for making a new video available after each concert on the tour. They can be found on AOL's music site. Still, even though we see some good initiatives, as it's often the case with Bruce, it's too little too late. His own official website is a strange half-hearted effort that doesn't know if it wants to be a mere shop window or an actual line of communication to the fans. And they can't even make a link to the AOL videos! Instead you have to copy and paste the URL. Come on!
I'm probably going to return to this subject some more in the future, as it combines two of my favorite subjects: Bruce Springsteen and web design. But for now, let's just acknowledge that as is generally the case with Bruce these days, he hasn't stalled and there's lots of hope for his future Internet presence. It gets better with every new album and tour. Hell, one day we may even see him on MySpace.com.
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As you may have noticed, I haven't been as prolific as one could have hoped when I started this thing. There is still time for that to change though. However, until that happens (and hopefully beyond) in order to make this blog a bit more lively, I have invited a couple of people to become guest writers. That is, start new topics that hopefully will catch your interest. The first one to debut is none other than Magnus Lauglo, a long-time active member on the GL message board and one of the most insightful, knowledgable and well-articulated Bruce fans I know. He also writes for Backstreets, which really says it all.
So welcome to Magnus. The stage is yours! Read more
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I totally love We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions- I think it is Bruce’s best album in at least a decade - but one of the songs on the new album leaves me feeling a little uncomfortable. The historical figure of Jesse James bears little resemblance to the legend, as promoted in the song that Springsteen has chosen to record.
Jesse James was an outlaw, and whether he is remembered as a Robin Hoodesque folk hero or a ruthless killer depends largely on whereabouts in America you enquire about him. Jesse served as a guerilla in Civil War and spent much of his time in uniform terrorizing the civilian population of Missouri and Kansas that remained loyal to the Union. After the War, Jesse led a group of likeminded souls on a trail of thievery and murder motivated both by his hatred of the North and his desire for money and infamy. Jesse James’ story is as remarkable as it is terrifying. He may have been the product of his times and no worse a man than many of those on both sides of the Civil War, who learned to hate with a passion. However much of the narrative concerning his life and exploits in the song is patently false, and it paints an image of a man very different from the real thing.
I'm more than a little surprised, and I guess disappointed, that Bruce Springsteen chose to record and play the song, especially considering how misunderstood a cultural figure he has been himself. Perhaps now I am a little closer to understanding what it felt like for fans who have found themselves turned off by Bruce’s political stance over the years. Bruce seems well aware that the song is quite untrue, although he may not be aware of the full extent of Jesse’s actions. He usually introduces the song live with a comment to the effect of; “I have no doubt that Jesse James was a real bastard, but this is a great song anyway.”
And damnit, the song sounds great, it is a fun, rousing number and Bruce's scratchy vocals are simply infectious. (If only he could still sing “Thunder Road” with this kind of passion.) If it weren't for the fact that the song advances more or less offensive historic revisionism, it might be one of my favorite songs on the album.
If there is any justification for Bruce Springsteen to push a song like this today it may be something like this: Although the legend that the song promotes is misleading in the extreme, it nevertheless makes for a great story that champions the underdog and explores the character of the outsider, - which is what Bruce Springsteen has been about ever since he sat down and wrote “Growin’ Up”. For all the bad things Jesse James did, he has somehow come to leave us with this legend which we can relate to, and which fits well with the overall message of Bruce's music.
Nevertheless, the song remains problematic to me, just imagine if someone like Jack the Ripper or were somehow to be remembered as a valiant folk hero today, or if the Washington Sniper were somehow to be remembered for anything remotely positive a hundred years from now. And the song’s inclusion on the album is, if not offensive, than certainly puzzling in the extreme. Ideologically speaking, the values Jesse James represented to his contemporaries were just about the opposite from those one might take away from “John Henry”, “Eyes on the Prize” or “We Shall Overcome”.
Did Bruce record the song because he was completely ignorant of the history behind it? Did he do it to throw a little curveball at his liberal fans, who have come to assume that the causes he champions are all ones they will agree with? Most likely, he simply did it because he liked the song. It seems clear to me that as he grows older, Bruce will continue to do whatever the hell he likes, and will surprise, challenge and reward his fans for many years to come. And I couldn’t ask for more than that.
For a more in depth, and perhaps realistic, musical exploration of the life and times of Jesse James, check out White Mansions/The Legend of Jesse James, the latter half of which tells the story of the infamous outlaw through a series of songs, featuring Levon Helm, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and others.
For a great read on Jesse James, try T.J. Stiles Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War Read more
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My memory may play tricks on me, plus I don't hear or read everything, but I've been a part of the Springsteen online community since 1995 when it pretty much only consisted of the LuckyTown Digest and RMAS, and I can't remember a tour that has been so well-received by the fans as the Seeger Sessions Tour. Yes, I mean well-received. I can't remember more than very few fan reviews that completely dissed a Seeger show. On the contrary, most of those who were skeptics in advance came back more or less converted. Some admit they would still take the E Street Band any day, but that they enjoyed it more than they thought they would, while others have been completely ecstatic about what they'd just witnessed. That wasn't the case on the last several tours. Bitching and moaning about the setlists, Bruce's voice, the intensity or lack thereof compared to earlier, Patti's voice, Bruce telling the crowd to shut up, the new songs sucking, Bruce playing a ukulele, etc. etc. have dominated lots of reviews since the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, which was the first tour to be scrutinized on the Internet.
Not so this time. My distinct impression is that there has been very little complaining. If my impression is correct, I think there could be three explanations: 1) the worst bitchers and moaners finally gave up on Bruce and decided to stay home, 2) people have come with much lower expectations than usual, or 3) the shows really are much better than anything we have seen in the last 10 years.
While it may be a combination of all three things, I tend to lean more towards the first and the second explanation. Sure the Seeger shows are wonderful, joyful events, but better than the Rising Tour or the Devils & Dust Tour? Not for my money. As much as I enjoyed the one show I've seen so far on this tour, and as happy and vital as Bruce was, and as well-playing as the new Seeger Sessions Band is, the show is still much more one-dimensional than your average E Street Band show (or the back-catalogue head-dive, multi-intrument tour D&D for that matter), the most important dimension missing - as I also talked about in my Frankfurt review - being Bruce's spine-chilling, invigorating, powerful, legendary own song catalogue. The Seeger version of "Johnny 99" just won't cut it for me.
So while being ecstatic about the Seeger Sessions shows is certainly allowed and justified, let's not give Bruce the crazy idea that we suddenly don't care about the E Street Band or the classic versions of his own songs... or his own future songs that he has in store for us. I will be the first to give Bruce the space to try out other things - I mean, how interesting can it be for Bruce to belt out the same version of "Badlands" year in and year out with the same musicians over and over - but hopefully going down other paths will once in a while also make him want to come back to where he came from and to what he will always do best: playing Bruce Springsteen music that sounds like Bruce Springsteen music. Read more
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