Happy Birthday to the Boss

I wonder if he will tour with the ESB again. The Big Man is well past 60, has 2 fake hips and can barely move. Not to mention the fact that he hasn't had his A game since at least 1985. It wouldn't be the E Street Band without him, even if he is, by far, the weakest link. The other guys have made their money for the rest of their lives in the past 2 tours and I wonder how many of them want to kill a year of their lives when they are pushing 60.

 

I didn't know Springsteen and I had the same birthday, for some reason.

That means we're New Year's Eve babies, by the way.

 

As you probably know, he's given up that battle. He refers to himself, sarcastically, as "the boss" onstage quite frequently. Usually drawing big eye-rolls from Patti. : :

 

I don't like doing top 10 lists, but if I did one for Bruce, American Skin (41 shots) would be in there.

 

The first live concert I ever attended was Springsteen at the Met Center in Bloomington in 1988. My senior year of college. He played two two-hour sets. Just amazing. Pretty much ruined me for concerts after that.

Overplayed or not, the live version of Born to Run is one of my all-time favorite songs.

 

Better late than never...

1. Thunder Road
2. Johnny 99
3. One Step Up
4. Atlantic City
5. My Hometown
6. Racing in the Street
7. Growin' Up
8. Badlands
9. Nebraska
10. Born to Run

 

I can't pick a top 10 or a top 5 because if I did, I think I would keep changing my mind.

Chris L, as far as Bruce preaching, a lot of his songs have a message so just playing them is a message.

My Hometown hits a chord with me. If you lived in areas where there were real racial/ethnic/reglious differences - and not in a suburb where almost everybody was white - you know exactly what he is talking about.

Born To Run is about things in New Jersey. I may be biased being from the Garden State, but I always thought people from New Jersey had a more special understanding because we can see the roads in our minds and memories.

But the ultimate thing is how well he does cover versions of songs. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town is a silly holiday song - and I don't mean silly in a bad way - but in Springsteen's hands it is magic.

 

I really, really wish that the "No Nukes" concert would get released on DVD (I'm guessing it'll never happen, because of artists releases and other legal stuff.) But his performance there -- especially the "Devil With the Blue Dress" medley, where he does the James Brown faint -- is terrific.

And since he hadn't appeared live in a long time prior to it, the crowd was nuts.

 

Bruce has said in interviews that he has an album's worth of E Street Band material written. Just a matter of making time to get the band into the studio to record and then tour. My guess is this time next year we'll be talking about how the E Street Band tour is and my guess is that next year (or 2008 at the latest) will be the final E Street Band tour in its current incarnation. Once Conan takes over for Leno and the show moves out west, Max won't have the liberties to take large amounts of time off to tour with Bruce like he has now. As you've said Clarence is getting way up there too. Bruce knows time is short for the band as fans know and love it and will tour one more time with them.

 

But Bruce uses basically the same arrangement as the Crystals on the "A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector" album. Yes, it is a fun/silly holiday song but Bruce brings the song to a new level and makes it special. He also closed the encores with it the first time I saw him in concert - Sept. 1, 1985 at Giants Stadium.

 

Agree Ace - There are so many -- picking 10 is hard.

If I had to pick 5 I would go with these as my favs:

1- American Skin ( 41 Shots)
2- Into The Fire
3- Philadelphia
4- Your Missing
5 - Rosalita

Has anyone ever heard bootleg version for "Free Bird" that Bruce does? It would be in my top 5 if if was not a cover song.

 

It resonated with me because I too grew up in a dying former boomtown where factories were closing, jobs were disappearing "and they ain't coming back."