The Afterword

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Move over, The Boss – There’s a new Queen in town!

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We’re all aware that Bruce is the acknowledged master of the stadium show, making such a vast space somehow intimate and personal, but he’s gonna have to go some this year to match the standard already set by Taylor Swift as she has begun her mammoth Eras Tour this weekend. Her show is a colossal, Springsteenesque three hours and (very important, very Taylor) 13 minutes long and incorporates forty-four songs, almost all being full versions. As reported, there are dazzling, dizzying changes of set and costume to complement each distinct section of the performance and unsurprisingly the production values are absolutely top-drawer. But the most special aspect to me is how Taylor connects at a profoundly emotional and inclusive way at an individual level at the same time as leading such a mass communal catharsis. Her live performances have always boasted these elements, but not at this immense scale. I know I’m in the minority round these parts, but I feel that these shows will demonstrate beyond any residual doubt or prejudice that she is an artist of real substance who will be recognised as one of the greats. Roll on next year and the UK Eras Tour…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9be0CgP4Ec

Count the band in, then kick into overdrive

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After an almost six-year break, the mighty E Street Band were back in action last night for the first night of Springsteen’s 2023 (and probably 2024) tour. Kicking off, maybe a little surprisingly, with ‘No Surrender’, the fairly tight 28 song set came in well under 3 hours suggesting that the days of epic shows may have gone the way of crowd surfing, knee slides and leaping off of pianos. Which is probably not a bad thing really. A good bit of ‘new’ in the set too – although nothing from Western Stars which is a bit of a shame.

Anyway, as we all know, our heroes aren’t going to last forever so it’s nice to see Bruce and the band back together doing what they were put on earth to do. Long may they run.

Bruce’s Ghosts

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Here’s the second release from Bruce Springsteen’s new record with the E Street Band. If you like the E Street Band live experience, you’ll love it. If you don’t you’ve probably already made up your mind!

I generally prefer my Bruce to be a little more subtle than this but there’s no doubt it’ll sound fantastic in arenas and stadiums. That’s if we ever get to hear music in arenas and stadiums again.

ATM – Alexa

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Greetings, Afterworders. Long-time lurker, first-time poster, so be gentle with me. The tax dodgers recently delivered one of their fiendish Alexa devices, so I’m sure Mr Bezos is listening to every word I say. He must be so bored! Anyway, I’m having great fun with it by trying to find tracks the damn robot doesn’t know. It’s quite happy to play Too Drunk to Fuck by the Dead Kennedys in its unexpurgated glory, although she says Too Drunk to Bleep when she repeats the title.

However, If I ask for A Song for Europe by Roxy Music, or Incident on 57th Street by Bruce Springsteen, Alexa draws a blank, although she will play these tracks if you ask her for the albums on which they appear (Stranded and the Wild, the Innocent…). So my ATM question is…why? Is it my accent? Does Alexa insist on playing Stranded in its entirety or not at all? Any thoughts, Afterworders?

Bruce 70

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Bruce Springsteen is 70 today. I’ve spent half my life being a big fan and it seems the older I get the better he becomes. More and more depth and nuances are revealed to me.

Not sure how many times I’ve seen him live, but I’m guessing roughly ten. He is, of course, impossibly good live. He’s one of those you don’t grow out of, quite the opposite.

So bring us your favourite songs and why not go for something that deserves more attention?

My choice The Missing was written for Sean Penn’s The Crossing Guard as a thank you and good luck after Penn loosely based his directorial debut The Indian Runner on Springsteen’s Nebraska song Highway Patrolman.

Happy birthday, Bruce!

My Mum says…

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My Mum is 90, lives on her own in a very well appointed “retirement village”. She’s OK, physically fragile but mentally alert as ever. She has her daily routines, which take up most of her time. I’ve been staying with her over the Christmas/New Year period (I sleep in my late Dad’s bedroom seeing you asked).

Anyway she offered this wonderful piece of wisdom the other day –

“I don’t get bored here on my own, I’m happy to do what I have to do and read my books and watch a dvd in the evening. What REALLY bores me is if I have to go somewhere and there are people talking and laughing about nothing”.

YES Mum, I feel your pain. And I’m the same. And I hope I can express that so brilliantly before I get to the age of 90 (which is, um, a few years away)

Merry Christmas from The Boss

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Just in time for soundtracking your present wrapping – and as it’s Springsteen you better have a lot to wrap – the final show of 2009’s “Working On A Dream” tour has been made available

Notable for complete performance of Greetings From Asbury Park and the final appearance of Clarence Clemons with the EStreet Band.

Merry Christmas, baby

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,15506/Bruce-Springsteen—The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-11-22-09-HSBC-Arena-Buffalo-NY.html

Get Those “New” Bruce Tracks Free

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If, like me, your local library gives you 5 free MP3 downloads a week through Freegal, you may be pleased to see that the Brucie Book companion compilation is available from today and the 5 previously unreleased tracks match the weekly entitlement exactly. Result! If only they did audiobooks as well….

Concert Etiquette – The Do’s and Don’ts Of Gig-Going

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I was listening to the magnificent Goodbye Cream LP today (on vinyl, natch) and as Eric, Jack and Ginger brought the mammoth 9 minute white hot solo of I’m So Glad to a screaming, shuddering halt, steam coming off the brake pads and rivets straining on the engine room boiler, a few people actually began to applaud during the few moments of ensuing silence. Yes APPLAUD. What were they thinking? Didn’t these lightweight fans know that this was just a temporary halt in proceedings before the band launched back into the main theme of the song and the closing vocal verse?

All of which brings me to concert etiquette. Have you ever noticed that there are several levels of gig-going fans? There are those who applaud the instrumental introduction to a song, presumably to show how clever they are. Then there are others who wait until the opening vocal line before the penny drops, at that point it’s safe for THEM to applaud. Still others wait until the very END of the song to clap, which is just as it should be,

Alternatively, some people like to applaud specific passages of a song. For example, Dylan’s It’s Alright Ma, » Continue Reading.

See in 1981 with The E Street Band

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The latest live archive release from the Springsteen vault – freshly mastered from the tapes comes Nassau Coliseum from 31st December 1980. Another old bootleg bites the dust.

Well worth yer $12 or whatever

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,12284/Bruce-Springsteen—The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-12-31-1980-Nassau-Veterans-Memorial-Coliseum-Uniondale-NY.html