Full albums at Giants Stadium?

According to Nj.com, Bruce will be playing full albums at his upcoming shows at Giants Stadium. And not only Born to Run, but also Darkness on the edge of town and Born in the U.S.A.

Read the full article and more details at NJ.com

Bruce sings with Elvis

Bruce Springsteen was the guest on Elvis Costello's "Spectacle" last Friday. The taping took place at the legendary Apollo Theatre in New York and lasted nearly four hours. The show (abbreviated to 1 hour) will be broadcast at a later date on the Sundance channel.

Costello interviewed Springsteen for hours, talking about life, social justice, music, old tours and albums, influences, movies and all kinds of things. They reminisced about the Roy Orbison special they contributed to (A Black and White Night), talked about Pete Seeger and Sam & Dave, and had time for some fine musical performances. Springsteen had help from Roy Bittan and Nils Lofgren for most songs, plus Elvis Costello and his band, The Imposters, who opened the session with a very fine version of "Point Blank". Nils Lofgren was the first guest, and sang a duet with Elvis (Nils' "Like Rain"), followed by "She's the One".

Bruce came onstage a bit later, along with Nils and Roy, and surprised with "Wild Billy's Circus Story" (a request from Costello). Next were "American Skin (41 Shots)" and another unexpected surprise: "Galveston Bay". Bruce also sang a beautiful "The River", but was aborted before it ended.

One of the highlights was Costello, Springsteen and The Imposters sharing the stage for a great performance of Sam & Dave's "I Can't Stand Up for Sitting Down", plus a short "Oh Pretty Woman", again left incomplete.

Later on the taping Elvis Costello sang, with Bruce and Nils helping on vocals and guitar, Patti Scialfa's "Black Ladder", plus "Brilliant Disguise". Next Bruce took the lead again, to end the show, along with the full ensemble (Nils, Roy, Elvis and The Imposters), with a brilliant "The Rising", different to the well known version, and sung with passion and intensity, followed by a strong "Seeds" and a final medley formed by Costello's "Radio, Radio" and Bruce's "Radio Nowhere", ending the show just seconds before midnight. In the audience at this special show were Allen Toussaint and Jesse Malin.

U2 sing 'She's the One'

U2 played Giants Stadium in New Jersey last night. It was September 23rd and they were on Bruce's home turf. They celebrated Springsteen's 60th birthday singing "She's the One" (singing 'he's the one' in this occasion).

60 years down the road...

Today is Bruce Springsteen's 60th birthday. He was born Sept. 23rd 1949 in the hospital of Long Branch, New Jersey.

Happy birthday, Bruce. May you stay forever young.




photos:
1953, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1970 (top)
1973, 1978, 1984, 1995, 2009 (bottom)

The Big Man interview

Rolling Stone magazine has published in its website an interview with Clarence Clemons, where you can read the questions and see the answers on video.

Check it out at rollingstone.com

Sept. 21st: Des Moines

Lots of "Happy Birthday" signs were visible last night at the show in Des Moines (Iowa), just a couple of days prior to Bruce's big 60th birthday. The show opened strongly with "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" followed by rousing versions of "Badlands", "Candy's Room" and "Two Hearts". Later, and for the third night in a row, Bruce went down into the audience during "Hungry Heart" and circled the pit.

"Youngstown" was a welcome comeback to the show, right after "Johnny 99", and featured the usual magnificent guitar work from Nils. But it was the 'sign-request' part that brought the finest moments of the night. "Satisfaction" was played for the second time only, followed by "Cadillac Ranch" and the tour debut of Dion's fantastic "The Wanderer". Want more? Because there was more.

Some magical piano notes brought a fabulous "Incident on 57th Street", and yes, for the first time since Dec.29th 1980's show at Nassau Coliseum, it was inmediately followed by "Rosalita". A holy-shit moment that was followed... you guess it... by "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" (wouldn't this one work better in the encores?).

The show also featured a rare "Into the Fire", and lots of greatest hits in the encores, ending with "Glory Days".

In the morning of the same day Little Steven had time to visit Chicago's WXRT studios to be interviewed and do some DJ work. You can hear, and see him, at WXRT's website.

See complete set list.

September 20: Chicago

As promised, Chicago got the full Born to Run album performed in its original album order. And that brought substantial changes in the set list. The show started with the powerful "Seeds", followed by "No Surrender", "Johnny 99" and "Cover Me". Later came "Outlaw Pete", "Hungry Heart" and a disastrous "Working on a Dream" ("That was the sound of the E Street Band fucking up! And it was not pretty! Yeah, it can still happen even after all these years!", said Bruce, who just a little later corrected himself: "It wasn't the band fucking up, it was the bossman fucking up!").

After that, the full Born to Run arrived, performed in the album's order, the highlights being "Backstreets" and the duo "Meeting Across The River"/"Jungleland". For "Meeting" Bruce had two guests musicians onstage: Curt Ramm (Seeger Sessions Band) playing trumpet, and Richard Davis playing upright bass (he's the one playing in the original studio version, and already guested in the same song during the Milwaukee March 2008 show).

Those sublime 40 minutes were followed by the less than sublime "Waitin' on a Sunny Day", a real lowdown, and the usual end-of-the-main-set songs, this time finishing with "Badlands", ala Magic tour.

New changes arrived in the encores. After "Hard Times", the band started playing the "Raise Your Hand" riff while Bruce picked up sign requests. And those signs brought a couple of tour debuts: The Crystal's "Da Doo Ron Ron" (another song written by the late Ellie Greenwich, along with Jeff Barry and Phil Spector) and "Rockin' Robin" (written in 1958 by Leon Rene and recorded by Bobby Day, Gene Vincent, The Hollies and The Jackson Five).

"I'm Goin' Down" (another sign request), "American Land", "Dancing in the Dark" and "Rosalita" closed a great show in front of an enthusiastic audience, that even sang "Happy Birthday" to Bruce during the encores, for his upcoming 60th birthday.

See complete set list.

Tonight: full BTR album in Chicago

Bruce Springsteen will deliver an unusual show tonight in Chicago: as announced weeks ago, Bruce and the E Street Band will perform (among other songs) the full Born to Run album. It is yet unknown why he choose to play the album in full at only two shows on this tour (Chicago and Nashville) but there's no doubt this is a big incentive for tonight's attendees. There's only one precedent: the benefit show for the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, in May of 2008, when Springsteen also performed the full Darkness on the Edge of Town album.

And exactly 31 years ago, Springsteen was playing at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, exhilarating versions of some of the songs from the Born to Run album, including the title song. Those were the days:

Springsteen will join Elvis Costello on 'Spectacle'

Elvis Costello has got his own TV program, named "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...", in the Sundance channel. The taping for its second season is starting this next week, and it's been officially confirmed that Bruce will be on the program's guests, being interviewed by Elvis, and possibly performing live too. The taping will take place on Sept.25th at New York's Apollo Theatre.

Springsteen joins Autism benefit show

It'll be on Nov. 17th, at the fabulous Carnegie Hall in New York City, when Springsteen will make a guest appearance at the "Concert for Autism Speaks" gala. The show will benefit Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization. The host will be NBC's David Gregory and the show will be headlined by Jerry Seinfeld. You can get now tickets and VIP packages, ranging from $250 to $100.000.

Jole Blon, Backstreets, The She Kissed Me

Sept. 16: Satisfaction in Greenville

Tremendous show in Greenville last night. Springsteen and the band delivered a fantastic concert (with Jay on drums once again), where they played the first ever live E Street Band performance of the classic Rolling Stones tune "Satisfaction" (previously performed only at a private rehearsal for the 1978 tour), plus "Double Shot of My Baby's Love", this time with the very own Swingin' Medallions onstage with The E Street Band, a historic moment and one of the highlights of the show.

The show kicked off with "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", and also included "Ramrod" and "This Hard Land" (both sign requests), "Atlantic City", "Backstreets", "Detroit Medley" and "Glory Days".

The original handwritten set list had a great surprise: "Wreck on the Highway", a gem off The River, finally not performed and substituted by "Atlantic City".

See complete set list.

Sept. 13th: Ft. Lauderdale

The tour continued in Florida yesterday with a show in Ft. Lauderdale. With his voice back in full shape, Springsteen and his band delivered an stunning performance, with a sublime "Backstreets" being the highlight of the show. But there was more: "Working on the Highway" was an unusual opener, followed by "Badlands", "Night" and "Cover Me", setting the tone of the night. Later would come an unexpected "Sherry Darling", with Charlie, Roy and Nils on accordion (after tuning with snippets of "Lady of Spain" and "Hava Nagila"), plus "Factory", and special sign requests that brought "Be True", "Cadillac Ranch" and "So Young and In Love" (only for the second time this year).

"Then She Kissed Me" was the first encore (a song co-written by the late Ellie Greenwich) and the closing song was "Thunder Road". The original set list included the not-performed "Atlantic City" and "Saint in the City". For this leg of the tour Max is on the drums.

See complete set list

Sept.12th: Tampa

Back to Florida to begin the last leg of the current tour. With a hoarse voice (which Springsteen apologized for: "Sorry about my voice. Too much time off!") during the first part of the show, the performance was very good, with a varied set list that included some old gems ("Point Blank", "Racing in the Street", "Growin' Up", "Rosalita" and "Thunder Road"), tour standards (with "My Lucky Day" back in the set), and a couple of interesting tour premieres during the sign-request segment: Human Touch's "All Or Nothing At All" and the classic Cajun "Jolè Blon".

See complete set list.

Sherry Darling / Take 'Em As They Come

"Sherry Darling". Udine, Italia July 2009, with 3 accordions.




"Take 'Em As They Come". Originally published on Tracks, written in 1980 for The River, covered here by Jimmy EatWorld.

Magic in the Night

Published in the UK on June 25th, by Souvenir Press, Magic in the Night - The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen, by Rob Kirkpatrick, is a complete discussion of Springsteen's career from Greetings from Asbury Park to 2009's Working on a Dream. In this book Kirkpatrick describes how Springsteen's music and own intellectual life has developed; how a man steeped in popular culture became the political conscience of a nation, how his studies in literature, photography and history led to albums with such a resonant vision as Nebraska and The Rising.

Rob Kirkpatrick reveals Springsteen's evolution, exploring the cultural, biographical and musical influences on each album's songs (and many unreleased songs) in chronological order. The book offers a detailed and competing analysis of Springsteen's art, life and the changes America have gone through during his life.

The Big Man book arrives October 21st

It's official: Big Man, the 368-page autobiograhy written by Clarence Clemons (with help from Don Reo), will be published on October 21st by Sphere. The legendary E Street Band sax player will tell all about his life and musical career. The foreword to the book has been written by Bruce Springsteen.

This is the design for the hard cover:

Bruce's 1975 house on sale

The house at 7-1/2 West End Court in Red Bank, New Jersey, where Bruce Springsteen lived between 1974 and 1975 is now on sale. You can get a piece of real history for only $299,000. This is the house where Springsteen wrote the songs for his classic album Born to Run, a house that is featured on the DVD documentary Wings for Wheels. Read the full story at the Red Bank Orbit website.