Bruce on Broadway

At playing Pong or masturbating?

 

I would so yell “play Freebird!”

 

Saw it last night and sad to say that I came away a little underwhelmed.

As a hardcore fan, I’d heard all of the stories and I read the book. I sort of got what he was trying to do but I think I would have enjoyed it more as a casual fan. Obviously any one man retrospective is going to be a bit mastubatory, but this seemed to be a little too much of Bruce telling the legend of himself.

Having said that, the sound was amazing and he certainly was in fine voice. I just don’t love tightly scripted Bruce, even where the stories add to the context of the songs.

 

A one man show of Bruce just telling stories would be great, but mixing it with a concert is problematic to me.

 

Maybe it was fresher for those people who have been to less than 100 of his shows.

 

I took the friend who got me into Bruce 30 plus years ago and both of us thought that our spouses would have appreciated the show more.

 

He's OK, I guess. "Born to Run" is one of my favorite albums by anyone -- and Jungleland is one of my favorite songs -- but most of the rest of his stuff leaves me cold. Just kind of dull and tedious, other than a few tunes here and there. I have seen him twice -- when I was 17 (1988) in the 13th row at the old Philly Spectrum -- great show, but mainly because it was the first time I ever sat that close to a major-league rock attraction and the whole spectacle was just so impressive. And about 8 or 10 years ago at Gillette Stadium -- fun enough night. But I just don't find him generally interesting or exciting enough to want to hear 3 hours of his music. I've had opportunities to see him plenty of other times but just didn't feel motivated. As far as the whole heartland rock thing goes, I'll never understand why he's so much more revered than, say Tom Petty (until his death -- and death will do that for anyone) or even John Mellencamp (I'd put his mid-80s to early-90s output up there with most of what Bruce has done and his recent stuff is pretty good too).

Also -- I'll give the Big Man his due, but the saxophone is just not a rock instrument in my humble opinion. Except in rare cases, it's a dealbreaker. Whenever I see it, I think of the Muppets or Quarterflash.

 

Man, who hardened your heart?

 

On Disney...

I've never understood the fascination for Disney, their products or their theme parks.

Always liked Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry or woody woodpecker more than any Disney offerings.

Disney movies? Meh.

Theme Parks are okay, I suppose. Six Flags has better rides. Legoland wa far cooler than Disneyland.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a Disney movie in my life.