Bruce on Broadway

[cjericho]

Actually, I am a little in awe of the guy who has gone to Disney 8,000 days in a row. I mean, not my thing. But I'd love to head somewhere every day to play Atari Pong and masturbate. I am just not good enough, or dedicated enough, to make it happen.

Can't you do that every day at home? Where would you go, Arcade/Peep Show Booth?

 

[britwrit]

Of course, for the real Springsteen die-hards, they're going to get every last show on whatever the equivalent of bootleg is these days, anyway. Somewhere on the edge of the black internet there's a site with with song lists and reviews for every show.

If he was going to play a selection of song from his days with the Castiles [his high school band,] they'd trek to New York. For songs off The River, which they've heard a million times, they'll leave that to the tourists.

 

[Pilot]

50 shows? 100 shows?
I am not trying to criticize - the best parallel I can come up with is this Disney freaks who have gone to Disneyland 1000 times, and have achieved certain Disney statuses, have Disney character tats, etc.

Not sure how I can explain it. It's a family thing for them? Almost religious? When she lived back east they wouldn't go to every single show possible, but definitely a handful within driving distance for every tour. From central NJ, I think they'd hit a few NYC shows, a few in Philly. I think they road tripped to Buffalo once or twice, and maybe Toronto. My family went to college football games every weekend and travelled long distances to bowl games. It's probably not all that different.

My wife and I don't live on the East Coast now, so it doesn't feel insane to catch him every time he comes through town, which has so far been twice in five years.

I've been to those two shows, and to one in Philly soon after we met. It doesn't do nearly as much for me as it does her, obviously. Most of the crowd, of course, seems to know all the words to every deep track. I know some of the words to Born to Run. And I'm never blown away by the performance or anything like I have been by other concerts. But, I enjoy it enough that I'm happy to go with her.

 

[Pilot]

She did jump at the chance to analyze the Broadway setlist this morning. She approved. I nodded along.

 

[Riptide]

1. Growin’ Up
2. My Hometown
3. My Father’s House
4. The Wish
5. Thunder Road
6. The Promised Land
7. Born in the U.S.A.
8. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
9. Tougher Than the Rest
10. Brilliant Disguise
11. Long Walk Home
12. The Ring
13. Dancing In the Dark
14. Land of Hope and Dreams
15. Born to Run

Can’t Afford to See Bruce Springsteen on Broadway? Here’s The Boss’ Setlist

 

[poindexter]

He's going to play Born to Run!?!?!

 

[jr/shotglass]

And here I thought 30 bucks was outrageous for a concert ticket.

It stunned me the day I realized that is not remotely the case. But it's been a while.

Hell, you might pay 30 bucks today to go see Steve Forbert.

 

[Neutral Corner]

My first real rock show was Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac. I paid eight bucks for floor seats. 'Course, that was four decades and change ago...

 

[BTExpress]

Sounds like 1973.

Which means, based on inflation, your ticket today should cost $44.36.

 

[Webster]

I’m at 106 shows and counting. It’s hard to explain (and frankly often embarrassing) but the best way to put it is that the show makes you feel more alive. I leave each show wanting to hop in a car and catch the next one.

I’m going next Friday. Spent more than I did for Hamilton and approaching the show with a bit of dread as faux-Okie accent self-referential Bruce is not my favorite.

 

[Huggy]

I have seen eight shows, the first one was in 1981 in Toronto and the price was $12.50 according to the Brucebase archive. Last time I saw him was 2012 and I probably paid 10 times that.

 

[Webster]

Until this Broadway show, Bruce’s ticket prices have been pretty decent. And he never jacked up the prices for the premium seats until this run. That’s actually what is so disappointing to me — the $700 and $400 seats. I would have preferred a flatter pricing structure — it was going to sell out in a minute regardless.

Now, you’ve got a bunch of private equity guys and surgeons from Upper Saddle River in the front every night.

 

[Webster]

The set list is pretty much what I figured. I would have thought a nod to his fatherhood would have been there — maybe Long Time Coming or Living Proof. And I guess Long Walk Home serves a couple of purposes, but I thought that something like We Are Alive or American Land would have been included for the political.

 

[Riptide]

If I paid 60 bucks a song to watch Springsteen perform a live acoustical set in an intimate setting and he didn't offer up "The River," I would be massively disappointed. Does the setlist change from show to show?

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Saw Bruce once at FedEx Field in like 2004. That was enough. His popularity is one of modern society's great unsolved mysteries.

You have said many things on this board that have offended others, but never me. Until now.

This is an outrage!

 

[trifectarich]

I can't imagine seeing the same act 50 times or more. I've seen one band (Rolling Stones) twice and I've never left a concert thinking I need to repeat the experience ASAP. I probably listen to E Street Radio as much as anything else when I'm in the car, but I decided many months ago I'd probably never see him in concert just on the chance I'd have to endure a 15-minute lecture on political discourse between songs.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Actually, I am a little in awe of the guy who has gone to Disney 8,000 days in a row. I mean, not my thing. But I'd love to head somewhere every day to play Atari Pong and masturbate. I am just not good enough, or dedicated enough, to make it happen.

At playing Pong or masturbating?

 

[dooley_womack1]

I would so yell “play Freebird!”

 

[The Big Ragu]

At playing Pong or masturbating?

Yes.

 

[Webster]

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.