After the usual weeks of rumors and speculations, the new Springsteen album has now been announced on Bruce's official Facebook page, and a detailed entry appears on Amazon.com. The album will be called High Hopes and is slated for released on January 14. It will include 11 songs (although rumors are already indicating there will be a hidden track) that are a mix of cover songs, previously released songs in new versions, and outtakes (probably re-recorded).
Most of the songs are done with the full or part E Street Band lineup... and Tom Morello. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist is featured on eight of the songs, including the re-recording of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" that will no doubt resemble the explosive, guitar-driven live version that has been performed live on several occasions in recent years.
The album also contains Springsteen-penned songs that - although originally recorded for earlier projects - haven't even been rumored to exist, such as "Down In The Hole", "Heaven's Wall", and "Frankie Fell In Love". We also get to hear Bruce's version of "The Wall" that was written for Joe Grushecky, but performed live by Bruce on a few occasions.
Since the Wrecking Ball Tour was wrapped up more than a month ago, it seems like the whole Bruce world - including, I must admit, this newsblog - has gone into standby mode. We still have those Downunder shows to look forward to in February and March, and there are constant rumors of a new album in early 2014 and rumors of more tour date announcements being imminent.
But you don't have to wait for those things to get a little shot of Bruce Juice. On November 1, the Springsteen & I documentary is scheduled for release on DVD and Bluray, and if you don't care about a physical products, you don't even have to wait that long. As early as on Monday, October 28, the producer, Eagle Rock, will give a head start to iTunes users, who will be able to purchase and download the movie to their iTunes gadgets.
Those of us who still like a good old-fashioned disc, in a box, with a cover, will have to wait a few more days. For our Australian readers, however, that wait may be sweetened by the special offer we have for you. Starting today, you can get a special 10% Greasy Lake discount if you order your DVD or Bluray through screenpop.com.au. All you have to do is enter GREASYLAKE when prompted for a discount code. This offer is valid through November 15.
The rest of us will have to wait patiently until November 1. In return, the disc should include the bonus footage shown in at least some movie theaters this last summer: six songs from the infamous Hyde Park Show in 2012. If you for some reason weren’t too fond of the documentary itself, these songs alone should be worth the price of the disc, especially viewed on a really big TV with the sound coming through a stereo.
Here's a little appetizer in case you need a reminder about what Springsteen & I is all about:
The winner of a signed copy of "Bruce Springsteen, Rocking the Wall, The Berlin Concert that Changed the World" by Erik Kirschbaum has been chosen in a random draw among the 26 people who got all the questions right in our trivia contest.
And the winner is: Michael Bechstein from Germany! Congratulations!
The book will be signed by the author and none other than Bruce's manager Jon Landau, who provided valuable information for the research.
And to those of you who are wondering, the correct answers for the trivia quiz were:
Question: How many people attended the East Berlin show? Answer: About 300,000
This was by far the largest crowd Bruce has ever played to. Originally the estimate was around 180,000 people, but thousands and thousands of people without tickets made their way to the concert area, and the real number of attendees was therefore closer to 300,000.
Question: As what did the organizers originally promote the concert? Answer: As a benefit for Nicaragua
Bruce had not agreed to perform a benefit concert, so when he realized the orgainizers were trying to link his name to the Nicaragua cause, he threatened to cancel the show. The organizers quickly obliged and removed the Nicaragua references.
Question: The tv broadcast of the show was marred by what? Answer: Half the broadcast consisted of shots of the audience
This was Bruce's first show to be broadcast on TV, but one of the conditions was that the East German TV couldn't show the full songs. Instead they showed the stage half the time and the crowd half the time.
Two shows, same city, same venue, 25 years apart. One was my first, the other was my 59th. There have been other shows in between at the same place, but 25 years is a good occasion to pause and look at how it started and where it led.
Scene 1: Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 25, 1988: I’m 19 years old, newly graduated from the Danish equivalent to high school - not sure what to do with my life next - and in my third year as a Springsteen fan. Tonight is going to be my Bruce Baptism. It will change my life and lead me in a direction that I’m still following to this date.
Scene 2: Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 14, 2013: 44 years old, but who’s counting anymore? In a steady job as a librarian. For 15 years the head of one of the largest Springsteen communities on the internet. A veteran of 58 previous shows. This is just one of four shows this month.
Despite the different names, Idrætsparken (The Sports Park) is the same as Parken (The Park). The 45,000 seat national Danish soccer stadium had its name changed in connection with a reconstruction in the 1990’s. Most people were already calling it Parken, so it made sense to just name it that officially.
Bruce Springsteen did not perform in Denmark on the Born in the USA Tour, so when his Copenhagen show was added late to the Tunnel of Love Express Tour itinerary, it was major news. Finally, the Boss, the biggest star on the planet, would grace our shores with his presence, and I intended to be there. Being the complete novice that I was when it came to rock concerts in general and Bruce Springsteen in particular, I figured if I just started calling the ticket seller as soon as the tickets went on sale, I’d be fine.
I was wrong.
Half the Danish population had had the same idea I did. The other half had lined up in person at the three or four ticket outlets spread around the country. I was among the thousands in both categories who were out of luck..
After a day of deep depression and vowing never to listen to Bruce Springsteen again, a small hope started to flicker in the distance when it was announced that unclaimed tickets for the show would be sold at the end of the week. I had learned my lesson. I got out of bed earlier than any teenager had ever done before and found myself in a queue in downtown Copenhagen hours before the sale started. My strategy paid off. I left the place, ticket in hand, feeling like I’d won a million dollar lottery.
December, 2012. I’m sitting at my powerful desktop computer. In one window I have the ticket site open, in another one I’m looking at a clock that shows the exact time by one tenth of a second. At exactly 10:00:00:00 a.m. I click the “Buy tickets” button, and five minutes later I’m ready to print my tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s show the following May. I’m very pleased, but even if I’d failed, I knew I’d probably have gotten tickets anyway through one of my friends or connections. In fact, I end up not using these GA tickets at all, but choose instead some seats that I get on a different occasion.
July, 1988: The summer of 1988 went unbearably slowly. Every day I checked my ticket in the drawer to make sure it was still there. It said “Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Tunnel of Love Express”. I loved the sound of that. I thought the day would never come. But finally July 25th arrived. I took the train to the city in the afternoon. I had no concept of what would be a good time to arrive. The ticket bore no indication of where in the stadium I would be located. You could go and sit or stand wherever you fancied. It was all one big General Admission. For no particular reason, I chose to sit in the stands. It was nowhere near the stage, but being close to the stage wasn’t even on my mind. I was overjoyed to be anywhere inside the stadium. Having never been to a rock concert before, I was a little concerned about how my hearing would be affected, so I figured it would be better not to be too close to the huge speakers.
Showtime was still three hours away, so I settled down in my seat and started absorbing the atmosphere. Reading a Bruce Springsteen special newspaper section over someone’s shoulder, I found out that Bruce had made a surprise performance on the main shopping street in Copenhagen two days before. This was the first I’d heard of this famous event that was made even more famous by a tourist with a camcorder.
May 14, 2013, 7 p.m: Having enjoyed a relaxing meal at a restaurant while friends text me live updates from the soundcheck, my wife and I arrive at Parken about an hour before showtime. We quickly find our seats in the lower tier close to the stage. The wait is spent texting friends located in the pit and elsewhere in the stadium and being annoyed by the already rather intoxicated people in the row in front of us. I’m already making unfavorable comparisons to the Swedish fans I had experienced in Stockholm ten days earlier. Nothing beats the Swedes when it comes to Bruce appreciation.
July 25, 1988, 8:15 p.m: The moment Bruce entered the stage to the intro of “Tunnel of Love”, everybody around me was not only on their feet, but standing on their chairs! I had to follow suit in order to be able to see anything. This was the moment I had dreamt of ever since listening to a cassette recording of “The River” three years previously. This was real. This was actually Bruce Springsteen moving around down on that stage. A tiny dot all right, but Bruce Springsteen nonetheless. The big screen next to the stage clearly showed his familiar face with the curly hair and big underbite.
A few weeks previously I had listened to the broadcast of the July 3 show in Stockholm, so I felt well prepared as the first set of the show progressed. In the beginning, roughly the same songs were played as in Stockholm. And yet, it sounded different. It was loud. My concern for my hearing had been justified. Especially the saxophone was ear-splitting. But the loudness was also life-affirming and dangerous in a good way. It was rock ‘n’ roll. Not like the pop music I used to listen to on my cassette player. The sound was as tangible as the punches of the drums and bass on my chest.
As the first set came to a close with a roaring version of “Born in the USA” that made the crowd down on the field surge forward, and then a beautiful song I’d never heard before and that months later I would learn had been a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom”, I knew that this was already the best night of my life.
May, 2013: Being familiar with all the stage workers’ routines and tasks from years of watching them, I know that when I see the camera woman on the right take her position, the show is within a minute of commencing. Tonight is no exception. The band enters the stage to the usual roar of approval from the crowd. Most people in my section stand up. No one climbs up on their chair though, but then again, an usher would probably come running and tell them to get down, just like they tell people to put out their cigarettes (which the intoxicated fans in front of us had already experienced, much to my concealed satisfaction).
After a couple of songs, most of the middle-aged crowd are sitting again. For me personally, being the pit pig that I usually am, sitting down during a Bruce show seems as unnatural as eating dinner standing up, so I remain on my feet. There are two business-type guys behind me who are engaged in a conversation while paying no attention to what’s happening on the stage. I’ve already phrased my answer to them if they tell me to sit down: “I’ll sit down when you shut the f*ck up.” But I don’t need it. They couldn’t care less about their view being blocked. Halfway through they show, I notice they are gone.
Within the first five songs I count my first personal premiere. “Loose Ends”. In my 57 previous shows, I’ve never gotten that one. Not a bad start. Except for the sound. The sound is a muddy mess.
July 25, 1988, 10:30 p.m: The show was well into the second set. During the 40 minute intermission, darkness had fallen over Copenhagen and our little world of light inside Parken. The steady beat of “She’s the One” was echoing between the concrete stands while huge stroboscopic lights flashed to the rhythm. All 45,000 of us were now one big organism. I didn’t know a soul around me, and yet it felt like they were my best friends. People who until tonight had never seen each other now grabbed each other’s hands and danced around between the rows of chairs and on top of the chairs.
This was the point where I lost track of time and what was being played when. It all flowed together and became a big blur of sound and light and short glimpses of Bruce - Bruce on his knees screaming his pain, Bruce leaning back on Clarence towering above him, Bruce dripping with sweat - glimpses that right then and there were burned into my memory forever, and changing me as surely and thoroughly as anything had ever done in my 19 years of living.
May 2013, 9 p.m: As I had predicted when he opened the show with “We Take Care of Our Own”, Bruce decides to perform the Born to Run album in full. This will be my third time experiencing that, most recently in Stockholm a few weeks earlier. Many people in my section must not be familiar with or realize the significance of the Born to Run album, because it seems like they lose focus. Some leave their seats to get more beer. When Bruce tries to recreate the 1978-style interlude during “Backstreets”, one of the most intimate things he has ever done, the whole stadium is abuzz with loud murmur that almost drowns out Bruce’s tender whispering, ruining a moment that has been known to make grown men weep, including myself only two shows earlier.
“She’s the One” is also played as part of the Born to Run album. Not many in my section react to it. People are watching like they were in a movie theater or in a pub.
July 25, 1988, sometime after midnight: When I came back to reality I found myself walking down an unknown street in Copenhagen. I needed to find a train station, but I had no map and no idea where I was. Besides, getting home was merely a physical instinct. It didn’t really seem all that important in the elevated state of consciousness I was now inhabiting after what I had just experienced. The sound of “La Bamba” and a stadium full of people singing along was still ringing in my ears, the achingly beautiful acoustic “Born to Run”, the rock ‘n’ roll crescendo of “Light of Day”. They seemed like recollections from another life. It felt like there had been a life before tonight and one that had just hatched now. And then in between the two, a life that in Earth time had lasted only about four hours, but had taken place in a different dimension with a different concept of time and consisting of 45,000 people, a lit stage, and a man in a t-shirt soaked in sweat.
May 14, 2013, 10:30 p.m: It takes a while for Bruce to crack the nut that is the audience at Parken on this night. But he does it. Of course he does. He even manages to surprise me when he breaks the recent pattern and does one more song after “Twist and Shout”. “Raise Your Hand” brings the last skeptics and passive onlookers into the fold. The light is on in the roof-covered stadium. Bruce is on top of the piano ridding himself of his shirt and then taking it the final step by running through the trench between the stage and the pit high-fiving the ecstatic fans. This is rock ‘n’ roll heaven. This is ferocious and dangerous. This is one of those glimpses that I know I will take with me.
A few minutes later, Bruce and the band have left the stage. I exchange a few text messages with friends and connections. We agree it was a solid show if not a top 10 candidate. Semi-rarities like “Light of Day” and “Brilliant Disguise” make it an above-average setlist if a bit too many songs from Born in the USA during the encores. Then my wife and I head out of the stadium. Despite walking among thousands of other people, we soon find the street that will take us to the train station and home. I have to get up early to go to work the next morning. And in two days the next show awaits.
July 25, 2013: It’s been 25 years. July 25, 1988, still stands as a highwater mark of my life. There have been others since, of course. But although I lost all sense of direction trying to get home that night and had to call my dad to come and get me, the show gave me a new direction in life and a new outlook on just about everything. I knew that Bruce Springsteen was now more than just good music to me. He was a guiding light and a means of finding purpose and content in my existence. I wanted to communicate what I experienced that night, and I wanted to re-experience it.
And communicating and re-experiencing it is what I’ve been trying to do ever since. Thus, although no one had even heard about the internet back in 1988, Greasy Lake is a direct result of that night 25 years ago. And seeing Bruce 59 times since has been my feeble attempt to take myself back to how I felt standing on my chair among 45,000 of my best friends singing along to “Twist and Shout” on a beautiful Copenhagen summer night. Sometimes I’ve been close. Other times not so much. And still other times I’ve felt what seemed even better. But never quite the same. And that’s probably the way it should be. Not to mention, it would be impossible. Times are different now. More individualism in society. Less inclination for strangers to morph into that one big soul. Bruce is different. He’s no longer that 38-year-old desperate man playing four-hour shows, because he couldn’t face his real life off stage. And I’m different. Halfway through my life. Mostly content. And a little harder to impress.
But just a little. The next show I saw, two days later, in Herning, was the best one ever. Some things never change.
Twenty-five years ago today, July 19, 1988, Bruce Springsteen went on stage in front of an estimated 300,000 people in East Berlin, East Germany. It was his first show behind the Iron Curtain in the then Soviet dominated Eastern Europe, his first televised show, and last but not least it was the biggest crowd he had ever faced. The show would have a profound effect on not only the thousands of people in attendance, but also on the millions of TV viewers and on the East German society as a whole.
As readers of this site should already be aware (if not, check out some of the recent stories on this blog), Erik Kirschbaum, in his new book Rocking the Wall, makes the claim that Bruce Springsteen’s East Berlin show played an important part in bringing down the Berlin Wall. The power of rock ‘n’ roll helped change the mindset of the East German population and started a lust for freedom that could not be reversed.
Do you find the claim a little far-fetched? Well, reserve your judgment until you have read the book. And now you don’t even have to shell out money for it. You can win a copy right here, and not just any copy. This one will be signed by Erik Kirschbaum himself and none other than Bruce’s manager, Jon Landau, who was also interviewed for the book.
All you have to do to get a chance to win the book is fill in your name and email below and answer the three questions correctly. Then your name will be in the hat from which a random winner will be drawn on August 4.
The Springsteen community is a proud one. We are proud that we sell each other tickets at face value, we are proud of our charity work, we are proud of our friendships and our connections to each other. It's not like we're some kind of monolithic cult but on the whole, we're a pretty good bunch.
So it's not surprising that I went into the Springsteen & I screening somewhat concerned for how my tribe (at least on alternate Tuesdays) was going to look through someone else's eyes. I had already read an interview with director Baillie Walsh where he said he wasn't at all familiar with Bruce's music. I only knew one person who had sent something in for the movie, and I am acquainted with a pretty large group of Springsteen fans. So I went into this slightly guarded.
It's tough to evaluate this movie because everyone is going to react to it on such an individual level, depending on how much you resonate with the stories of the people who were chosen to represent us -- because that is exactly what this film is purporting to do. I found that I liked a lot of the stories and the people and there were definitely a handful I would love to sit (or stand) next to at a show and chat with: there's a young Asian woman who works as a truck driver because she couldn't get a job after she graduated college; there's a woman in a small town in Denmark who talked about how she wasn't the kind of fan who knew Bruce's shoe size but didn't miss a concert in her country; I was touched by the couple who had never been able to afford to see Bruce live, dancing in their kitchen as "Radio Nowhere" played on a boom box.
There are great moments in there, things that you as a fan might know about, like the guy dressed as Elvis who came onstage in Philadelphia, or the kid in Canada who had just gotten dumped by his girlfriend and brought a sign reading HI BRUCE I JUST GOT DUMPED PLAY I'M GOIN' DOWN, which resulted in some advice and a hug, or the guy who busked with Bruce in Copenhagen in 1988.
But here is where I get defensive. There were moments that I think did not make the fans look their best and I didn't think that was fair. There was laughter at moments I am not sure should have been laughed at, that if I was the person being laughed at I would have been hurt by. I don't think the director went in with any kind of agenda at all and believe him to have been totally sincere. But I felt kind of betrayed when the Danish woman's lovely speech about how she is touched by Bruce's love for his wife and how she loves "Red Headed Woman" as an example of that, was then juxtaposed with the most explicit version possible of the "Cunnilingus Intro" for "Red Headed Woman" on the Joad tour. I didn't think that was right or fair to do that to her, but it got a big laugh from a lot of the audience. There were a few other stories in the movie where I didn't think the people were portrayed with the dignity I would have liked to have seen given to them; on the other hand, several of them were at the screening and when interviewed, were ecstatic and incredibly excited to be part of it. So, again, some of it is perception, and what you resonate with.
On the other hand, as someone who deeply, truly believes that no one can possibly make fun of my Springsteen fandom because I make fun of myself first, there is certainly room for laughter here. The woman whose three words were "Poet. Comfort. Gluteus Maximus." or the long-suffering Springsteen spouse who, when asked if he had anything to say to Bruce, said, "Make your shows shorter." (And yes, I very much appreciated that after all the years of advice to male fans about how to handle your wives, that the spouse-in-agony here was the husband.)
After the premiere in New York Thursday night, the director took questions from the audience, and during the Q&A noted that because he wasn't a fan, he didn't come to the project with preconceived notions. So he didn't have favorite songs or moments and he let the fans show him where to go: "The fans informed me," said Walsh. Out of 2000 submissions, these were the ones he chose; another group would have informed him in another direction and it probably would have been another, very different movie. And the truth is, this was an impossible task and there was no way he could have made a film that was truly representative of every single one of us.
So for me, this is not the film that I can send to my father and say, "Here, see why I was running around Europe the past two summers." This is not a film that I would ask friends who are music fans but not fans of Bruce to watch as representative of what I see as this community. But it is highly likely that there are those who will see it and feel completely the opposite; they will see themselves or their friends and love every single second of it. Your mileage, as they say, will vary.
The director noted that Bruce had seen the film, and had not asked for any changes or omissions; he had no control over the final product, and that the organization did everything they could to help the film and were behind it 100%. There is some pro-shot footage (both things you know, like Live In New York City, and things you don't, like the advice to the lovelorn in Hamilton, Ontario) but that the objective was that this would be a film by the fans and so they only used pro-shot when there wasn't fan-shot available.
It is a film by us; it is a film for us; but it does not, I believe, achieve the goal of being about all of us, and all that we are.
When I settled into my seat at Thursday night’s premiere of the new film, Springsteen and I, I had the uncanny feeling I was sitting among the famous. I overheard a woman seated somewhere behind me identify herself as “Mrs. Philly Elvis,”— wife of the Elvis impersonator Bruce brought onstage during one of his final four shows at Philadelphia’s Spectrum. A few seconds later, someone else said, “MagikRat is here,” and I wondered “THE videotaper who took such excellent footage of that same four-night stand?
Okay, so maybe these folks wouldn’t be famous to your average reader of TMZ and Celebitchy, but to those of us who frequent the Springsteen fan boards, these fans are famous—or infamous—in their own right. Since the subject of Springsteen and I is fans and what makes them tick, it was only fitting that some of the Springsteen obsessed got their chance to shine at the premiere. Held last Thursday night at Manhattan’s Sunshine Cinema, the screening was preceded by a two-hour on-the-premises Sirius radio program co-hosted by Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh and E Street Radio host and producer Jim Rotolo, and followed by a question and answer session with some of the folks featured in the film.
Produced by Ridley Scott, Springsteen and I explores the intense relationship Bruce Springsteen’s fans have with the man and his music. Director Baillie Walsh interspersed homemade videos in which fans explain their Springsteen obsession with concert footage, some of it crowd-sourced, and some of it from Springsteen’s own archives. In November, when filmmakers put out the call for fan testimonials, they received 2,000 submissions. (If you submitted a clip and weren’t included, there’s still hope; Walsh says an outtake reel might make it onto the eventual DVD release.)
Some of the fan testimonials found in Springsteen and I prove quite moving, as in the case of the young female truck driver who describes the impact of listening to “Atlantic City” while driving through the desert, then explains how Bruce’s songs help her to take pride in her job. Another memorable sequence features a couple who have never been able to afford to attend a concert, but who take obvious joy in simply dancing to Bruce’s music in their kitchen. We hear from parents who have schooled their kids in Springsteen’s music from birth onward, from a few of the kids who share their parents’ love of that music, and from Philly Elvis himself who describes his moment onstage with Bruce as the realization of a lifelong dream.
Other fan statements are quite funny; my favorite of these was the interview with a long-suffering man whose significant other drags him to Springsteen concerts around the world. He says he enjoys the travelling, but the concerts “tend to spoil it.” Asked what he would like to say to Bruce, the man replies, “Shorten your concerts.” And some of the film’s humor comes from Bruce himself, as in the segment in which a brokenhearted guy holds up a sign that reads “Hi, Bruce, I just got dumped.” Bruce brings him up onstage for a hug, asks “What happened, Bro?” then tells the audience, “I got dumped plenty of times myself. They’re regretting it now.”
At Thursday night’s preview, the audience contained quite a few of the fans featured in the film, and the crowd’s reactions were definitely part of the fun. At times people cheered when their friends and family members appeared on the big screen. At other times the audience laughed, obviously recognizing some of their own Springsteen obsession in the on-screen testimonials. And sometimes the laughter became uncomfortable, particularly when a fan movingly describes what Bruce’s music and persona mean to him, then bursts into tears, allowing the camera to watch him cry for an astonishingly long stretch of time. While many of us might freely admit to being moved to tears by Bruce’s songs and performances, there is something unsettling about watching as those tears actually fall.
In Springsteen and I, fans admit to losing their virginity during “Thunder Road,” or describe bonding with strangers standing beside them at a show. One young woman recounts her “Courtney Cox moment,” being pulled onstage for “Dancing in the Dark.” As a hard-core fan myself, I found all of this very entertaining and affirming, but I had to wonder if Springsteen and I will speak as loudly to non-fans. Will it provide a valuable public service to the obsessed, helping us to convince our skeptical spouses, children, co-workers and friends that our ticket-buying habits aren’t quite so excessive after all.
For me, the answer to that question is no and yes. As touching and entertaining as the film’s fan testimonials are, I think they will speak most loudly to tramps like us—the already converted. But the footage of Bruce himself is another story. Though some of it is grainy and some of it recycles song clips from official releases, the live footage nonetheless captures the raw energy and excitement of a Springsteen show, as well as the humor and humanity of the man himself. An especially thrilling sequence comes at the end: a montage of “Born to Run” in performance, spliced from different eras of Bruce’s long career, illustrating how the man is still as vital a performer as he was forty years ago.
After the documentary screening, director Walsh and a handful of the fans featured in the film were brought to the stage for a question and answer session moderated by Rotolo and broadcast live at rollingstone.com. Asked whether Bruce has seen the film, Walsh replied in the affirmative, adding, “He really enjoyed it, because it’s a love letter, basically.” Though Walsh himself is more of an admirer than a hard-core fan, and though the original conception behind the film wasn’t his, the task of convincing Bruce to cooperate in the project fell to him. Asked how much control the Springsteen camp had over the final film, Walsh replied “None. Bruce was really, really trusting.”
Following the question and answer session came a “cinema exclusive” showing of highlights from 2012’s London Hard Rock Calling festival concert—infamous for being cut short when Bruce exceeded the city’s 10:30 curfew. Footage of “Thunder Road,” was particularly powerful, giving the impression that even more than usual Bruce was really feeling every word of that song’s lyrics. The sequence also featured “Because the Night,” “Shackled and Drawn,” and “We Are Alive.” When Paul McCartney comes onstage for “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Twist and Shout,” it’s clear that Bruce is absolutely stoked to be playing with Sir Paul. The sequence includes the moment when the city of London pulled the plug on the show and Bruce accepted it with good grace, appeasing the crowd with a few bars of “Goodnight Irene.”
The Springsteen and I premiere wrapped up with outtakes from the documentary, in which some of the featured fans were given a meet and greet with Bruce, who comes across as down to earth, sincere, and generous as his devotees would hope. “These are all my new best friends,” Bruce tells the camera, adding, with a nod to the guy who complained about his girlfriend’s concert going, “I tried to shorten my show for this man….”
Springsteen and I is now showing in selected cities. For more information, visit www.springsteenandi.com.
April Lindner is a novelist, a poet, and a professor of English at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Read more at www.aprillindner.com.
Did Springsteen help bring down the Berlin Wall with a record-breaking concert in East Berlin in 1988 -- almost exactly 25 years ago? That's a question that I've been wrestling with for the last 11 years and it's the topic of a book that I've just finished called "Bruce Springsteen, Rocking the Wall, The Berlin Concert that Changed the World". Unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky 300,000 people who crowded into a meadow on July 19, 1988 in Communist East Berlin to see the biggest and probably most important Springsteen concert ever anywhere. I didn't even hear about that East Berlin concert until 2002. But that concert has been a big part of my life for the last decade and I've been talking to scores of people who were there as I researched the ins and outs of what went it and what came out of what I would argue was the most important rock concert of all time. Springsteen's concert helped spark a revolution in East Germany even if that's not what he intended to do.
That's certainly quite claim. Yet many who believe in the energy of rock 'n' roll and many more who believe in the power of Springsteen have subscribed to that theory right away even though there are some skeptics who had doubts whether his four-hour show and his stirring anti-Berlin Wall speech could have really triggered the upheaval in East German that followed it. The book has nevertheless convinced some of those initial doubters - in fact a colleague who first thought it was a totally exaggerated claim to say Springsteen helped bring down the Wall with that concert has just finished translating my book into German and is now an unabashed believer that Springsteen's once-in-a-lifetime concert to the people of East Berlin did in fact play an important role in fueling the revolution in East Germany that less than 16 months later toppled the Berlin Wall.
So I think it is time for historians to take a new look at the end of the Cold War and acknowledge that Springsteen's July 19, 1988 concert in the heart of East Berlin, where he sang and talked from his heart to the hearts of a generation of young East Germans hungry for freedom, might have had a role in bringing down the Berlin Wall and bringing the end of the Cold War to a speedy and unexpected conclusion on Nov. 9, 1989.
“You couldn’t be at that show and not feel that hope for a change,” Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager, told me in one of the interviews he gave me for the book, which was released on June 19 by Berlinica Publishing Company in New York and will be released in German in mid July. “The effect that the speech and then the song ‘Chimes of Freedom’ had on the audience was spectacular. It was a moment none of us will ever forget."
It is almost exactly 25 years to the day when Springsteen was on a stage in the middle of Communist East Berlin and pulled a crumpled note out of his pocket to deliver what I would argue was one of the most powerful – and most underrated – appeals for freedom made during the Cold War. He had already been playing for more than an hour to an audience fed up with the Stalinist government and its aversion to reforms. He was really angry that the local East Berlin organizers tried to put a Communist spin on his concert by labeling it as a benefit for Nicaragua.
He stepped up to the microphone and said: "I'm not here for or against any government. I've come to play rock 'n' roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”
The crowd roared because they had never heard anyone say anything like that before – an American rock star coming into their isolated country and telling them he was playing this concert, the biggest in their country’s history, for them in the hope the hated Berlin Wall could be torn down. To ensure that message got to those on the fringes of the grounds, spread out over a meadow the size of 50 football fields, Springsteen rammed the point home by following his stirring anti-Wall speech with “Chimes of Freedom”.
It was a stirring moment in East Germany, sort of like Woodstock times 10. Almost everyone in East Germany between the ages of 18 to 45 saw the concert live, watched it on a delayed TV broadcast, heard about it or read about it. That generation still raves about it today.
It was so much more than just another rock concert. It was, as the book shows, a catalyst for the tremendous change that swept East Germany over the ensuing 16 months that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. That magical four-hour concert did more to shake the Communist country than anyone has until now realized or understood.
I've spent two years talking to people who were at that concert as well as experts on East Germany for my book "Rocking the Wall". It is about that extraordinary day when ordinary life in East Germany came to a standstill. Those who witnessed the concert still have a glow in their eye about it and scholars agree that Communist East Germany was a different place after Springsteen unwittingly helped fuel a rebellion.
“It sent a strong message to people all over East Germany,” said Jochen Staadt, an expert on East German history at Berlin’s Free University I talked to about the impact of the concert. Staadt, a musician himself, was persona non grata in East Germany but watched the concert on East German TV from West Berlin. He was in awe at the size and enthusiasm of the crowd -- something rarely seen in tightly controlled East Germany. “It was amazing that the East German regime had let all that happen.”
For the book I also talked to music and cultural experts like Craig Werner, a professor of music and cultural history at the University of Wisconsin. Werner believes the concert helped change the course of history. “Music can play a significant role in supporting a movement that is already there. And East Berlin in 1988 was exactly the kind of place where music could support and inspire people who are active or potentially active. Springsteen’s concert by itself didn’t cause the Berlin Wall to fall. But it was a significant piece of the mix.”
East Germany and its FDJ youth organization were worried they were losing an entire generation and so they took a gamble by allowing Springsteen in with the hope that could improve sentiment. That strategy backfired and the concert only made East Germans hungrier for more of the freedoms that Springsteen symbolized. That he also had the courage to speak out against the Berlin Wall while standing the middle of East Berlin – a far bolder act than what John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan did with their famous speeches from the safety of West Berlin -- only added to the euphoria.
"Bruce walked off the stage after the concert, and we said -- you know, just personally to each other -- that we had a feeling a big change was coming in East Germany," said Landau, who patiently answered all my myriad questions about the concert and provided a wealth of previously unknown details about how the concert got off the ground and was saved at the last minute despite East Germany's pro-Nicaragua tricks. "We both sort of felt the system, these people in the crowd, our audience, they were just busting out. They were just ready for change.”
So why did I want to write this book for so long? Good question.
Back in 2002, I was riding home in a taxi when the driver suddenly started chattering on about another Springsteen performance—in East Berli in 1988. The taxi driver just wouldn't shut up about that concert. “Yeah, I know,” I said, trying to close my eyes and relax. I had just filed a Reuters news agency report on Springsteen chastising George W. Bush for bullying countries like Germany that were opposed to invading Iraq. “I’ve seen lots of Springsteen concerts too, and they’re always amazing.”
No, you don't understand, the taxi driver siad. "You don’t understand.” That East Berlin concert was really different. There was never anything like it. More than 300,000 people watched it live, and millions more saw it on television. The whole country was shaken up. The Berlin taxi driver’s uncontain- able enthusiasm about that concert was contagious, and he got me wondering: Had there been something really special about that Springsteen show in Communist East Berlin?
The more I delved into it, the more I wanted to know. It was fascinating, for instance, to find out that Springsteen had the courage to deliver a short anti-Wall speech in East Berlin. It was also incredible to read about the size and unruliness of the biggest- ever East German concert crowdand how countless thousands without tickets simply stormed the gates to get in.
And then it dawned on me—its date: July 19, 1988. That was less than sixteen months before the Berlin Wall fell. Was there be a direct line between Springsteen on July 19, 1988, and the Berlin Wall bursting open on November 9, 1989
It seems clear to me now that there must be a link between that Springsteen concert and the shifting sentiment in East Germany that led to the Berlin Wall’s collapse. Whether Springsteen deserves credit for helping end the Cold War depends on whether you believe in the power of rock ‘n’ roll. What is beyond doubt is that Springsteen’s 1988 concert is an incredible example of the influence that rock ’n’ roll can have on people who are hungry and ready for change.
The book, Rocking the Wall, is now available from Amazon.
Erik Kirschbaum, a native of New York City and long-time Springsteen fan, has lived in Germany for twenty-five years as a Reuters correspondent. “Rocking the Wall, Bruce Springsteen: The Berlin Concert That Changed The World” is his third book. Guest writers' views don't necessarily reflect those of Greasy Lake's staff.
No, it's neither Bruce Springsteen himself nor yours truly who will show up in your local movie theater. It's the movie called "Springsteen & I" that was announced a few months ago and that features nothing but Bruce fans talking about their idol and what he's meant to them. Many of the people who participate were recruited through fan communities such as this one, and altogether, "Springsteen & I" is a movie for fans by fans, but with some seriously wonderful editing as the below trailer will prove.
"Springsteen & I" is now only about six weeks from getting its first public showings in movie theaters all over the world. And unlike most of Bruce's own world tours, this movie will actually appear on more than two continents. Australia, South Africa, and Russia are among the many countries where you will be able to attend a screening. It all happens on July 22, and tickets for most countries are on sale now. However, tickets for US theaters won't be released until Friday, June 14.
You can find out if you live in or near one of the lucky towns where "Springsteen & I" is scheduled to be played by visiting the official movie website www.springsteenandi.com.
Along with the ticket announcement today came the official movie poster that includes more than 350 images of Bruce fans holding up their favorite album. An interactive version of the poster can be found through this link, but you can also see a few samples right here:
Better late than never. We have finally drawn the winner of a copy of "Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll", and the winner is Tom Messenger! Congratulations to him.
Tom correctly answered that Marc Dolan refers to "Working on a Dream" as "god-awful" in the new chapter of his book. Yes, it was a hard question, and you just had to make your best guess. However, most of you did pick "Working on a Dream". After all, of the three options, it is probably the least popular song among fans. Both "Jack of All Trades" and "Rocky Ground" have been met with much more praise than the oddly simplistic and light-weight title track of the Working on a Dream album. Apparently, Marc Dolan was in line with the general attitude of the Bruce community, although some of us have trouble referring to any Bruce songs as "god-awful".
Anyway, Tom has been notified and will receive his book as soon as possible. Thank you, everyone who participated.
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After a day of deep depression and vowing never to listen to Bruce Springsteen again, a small hope started to flicker in the distance when it was announced that unclaimed tickets for the show would be sold at the end of the week. I had learned my lesson. I got out of bed earlier than any teenager had ever done before and found myself in a queue in downtown Copenhagen hours before the sale started. My strategy paid off. I left the place, ticket in hand, feeling like I’d won a million dollar lottery.
July 25, 1988, 8:15 p.m: The moment Bruce entered the stage to the intro of “Tunnel of Love”, everybody around me was not only on their feet, but standing on their chairs! I had to follow suit in order to be able to see anything. This was the moment I had dreamt of ever since listening to a cassette recording of “The River” three years previously. This was real. This was actually Bruce Springsteen moving around down on that stage. A tiny dot all right, but Bruce Springsteen nonetheless. The big screen next to the stage clearly showed his familiar face with the curly hair and big underbite.
It is almost exactly 25 years to the day when Springsteen was on a stage in the middle of Communist East Berlin and pulled a crumpled note out of his pocket to deliver what I would argue was one of the most powerful – and most underrated – appeals for freedom made during the Cold War. He had already been playing for more than an hour to an audience fed up with the Stalinist government and its aversion to reforms. He was really angry that the local East Berlin organizers tried to put a Communist spin on his concert by labeling it as a benefit for Nicaragua.
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