Bruce!

That infamous footage of Bruce and Clarence fooling around in the intro to Growin’ Up from the BitUSA tour stayed in my head and I eventually tracked it down. Bruce and Clarence tell a story which includes bears in the forest:

http://youtu.be/-f_6HsH5MPo
Part 1, Los Angeles, 1985

http://youtu.be/PdKEgZBVJX4
Part 2, Los Angeles, 1985

 

Four years after we saw Bruce in Sheffield, he released 2 albums on the same day, and toured with a non E Street band, the only member of the E Street band who performed with him was Roy Bittan. We, as in Chris, Carol and I went to see the show in Milton Keynes. Carol and I got very close to the stage which was fab although we were also fairly squashed. I had a cheap Stars and Stripes flag draped round me! I was so lucky that the people who mean the most to me both loved Bruce. 

My favourite performances and songs

	My Beautiful Reward     “Walked from the mountain to the valley floor, searching for my beautiful reward”.
	Manifesto, by Victor Jara     I first remember hearing about Victor Jara back in the early 80s. The film Missing was about a journalist who was murdered under the Pinochet regime and Jara, a singer and activist was also killed at that time.
	When I Leave Berlin, song by Wizz Jones     Bruce sang in East Berlin to an audience of 300,000 in 1988. I went to East Germany several times with my parents in the 1970s and saw the wall from both sides so this makes a connection for me. Bruce in East Berlin, 1988
	Frankie, Philadelphia, 2012     I’ve always loved this song, and I love the interaction between Bruce and Soozie Tyrell here. Still hoping I’ll see him do this one day!
	Thunder Road     This is the 1975 live at the Hammersmith Odeon version.
	Lift Me Up     In loving memory of darling Chris.

October 2017

Bruce is now doing a series of shows on Broadway in a small theatre, just him, his guitar, a piano and his missus for about 800 people per show. Even though TicketMaster and Springsteen management tried to make it a fair system for tickets, it still wasn’t and still full of cock ups. To me this smacks of a vanity project, hard on the tails of his autobiography and seems a million miles and millions of dollars away from “man of the people”. Obviously he will just do what he wants to do and mostly he makes decisions that please me but this one doesn’t. His current solo projects are a bit too much on the me, me, me level whereas when it’s Bruce and the E Street Band even though it’s still all about him, he’s the MC and gives space to other performers and members of the band and even the audience. However, if someone gave me a ticket I would of course go like a shot!!

Millworker