(Source: popdose.com)
Bruce Springsteen takes someone’s cell phone in the middle of “Spirit In The Night,” sings it to it, & then THROWS IT BACK INTO THE CROWD.
NOT COOL.
Dude, I know you don’t like the phones being shoved into your face, but you just cost someone several hundred dollars who already paid over a hundred dollars to attend your show. Plus, most of the people at the platform didn’t have phones & cameras up, so being disgusted is kind of like Old Man Yells At Cloud. There is absolutely no excuse for this.
![That’s none other than Georgia Hubley of @TheRealYLT, Yo La Tengo, as an extra in the ‘Glory Days’ video filmed at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ.
(Not in picture: me standing outside on the sidewalk. I had moved to Hoboken a few months before.)
These are the kind of tidbits you will learn from Jesse Jarnow’s fantastic Yo La Tengo book, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock, which I am only 1/3 of the way through but am so far completely digging the melange of indie rock history, baseball trivia, and YLT biography. The winning factor in this combination is Jarnow’s approachable writing style, keeping things polished and professional but interesting and highly readable.
[I was sent a review copy of the book, yadda yadda]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ek7vsWW51qz4w94o1_1280.jpg)
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That’s none other than Georgia Hubley of @TheRealYLT, Yo La Tengo, as an extra in the ‘Glory Days’ video filmed at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ.
(Not in picture: me standing outside on the sidewalk. I had moved to Hoboken a few months before.)
These are the kind of tidbits you will learn from Jesse Jarnow’s fantastic Yo La Tengo book, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock, which I am only 1/3 of the way through but am so far completely digging the melange of indie rock history, baseball trivia, and YLT biography. The winning factor in this combination is Jarnow’s approachable writing style, keeping things polished and professional but interesting and highly readable.
[I was sent a review copy of the book, yadda yadda]
WHY THE 78 PROVE IT IS SUCH A BIG DEAL
“Prove It All Night,” live from Barcelona, 5-17-12. Or, as the fans are calling it, “Prove It 78”
Why is this such a big deal?
This is how Bruce used to play the song when it first came out, back in 1978. He hasn’t done this since 1978. When people were reporting “Prove It w/78 solo” no one believed them. This is one of the Holy Grails for Springsteen fans.
Yeah, but why is this such a big deal?
Because most of us were either not around, don’t remember (I saw 2 shows, I’m lucky I remember anything much less specifics) or if we were there and do remember, are delighted to have the superior arrangement of the song back. It was the time before stadiums, the time when Bruce was our secret.
Why is it a superior arrangement?
well, first, use your ears. But if you need it spelled out: Because it highlights the strengths of the E Street Band: the keyboards, the percussion, the monumentally balls out, fierce guitar solo (everyone forgets sometimes that Springsteen is an excellent guitar player and was actually first best known for his guitar playing before his songwriting and band leading).
“This one’s for you, ma, let me come right out and say it”
1) Fantastic organization by the Prudential Center staff. They had barricades of ample length lined up and numbered clearly when I got to the venue around 2:30 to get my number. It boggles the mind that other venues do shit like mark a tiny box with chalk on the sidewalk and then it takes 10 times longer to do the lottery because they have to keep moving the lines back. Venue staff were courteous and polite. This is a comfortable venue that’s easy to get to via public transit, I hope Bruce never goes back to the Meadowlands again.
2) This was the second show on this tour where I went for the GA lottery. It had the best odds, and we didn’t hit it, nor hit the top of the second group to get anywhere near the second barricade. I really do appreciate endlessly that we’re not having to fight scalpers for $5000 front row seats on eBay but I have to say that there was at least three minutes of bitterness when I saw the same faces in the front of the crowd last night that I have seen at countless other shows. Those who game the system but hang back in the crowd I have less problem with, although it’s a kind of thieves’ honor because they’re still getting three wristbands and gaming the system. There were 600 people in the pit last night out of 900 something wristbands given out so some of the frequent fliers could have been legit, but then again I did see several people leaving the venue with wristbands as I was getting mine but yet these same people were nowhere near me, so I doubt it. I’m hoping we do better in Europe the old-fashioned way because my bad luck is starting to wear on me, especially when wall street dudes show up 10 minutes after the show starts and stand RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME without any apparent awareness of personal space, even in a concert setting. (This is when I bust out my best version of “Death To My Hometown” as loud as possible.)
3) We met two German fans who came in for this show, and the best thing about it was not having to spend the time before the show having inane conversation about how many shows have you been to and what is your user name on BTX and do you go to Light of Day and we went to the Joe Grushecky show in Pittsburgh this year and it was just great. Instead they wanted to talk to us about the American political system and economics, with a discussion comparing the Yankees and the Mets to various German football clubs. It helps that Glenn speaks more than passable German but their English was of course outstanding. They were most befuddled by being limited to buying only two beers. They just could not understand it.
4) Why do Bruce fans get their noses in a snit when I say that we don’t go to Light of Day? I try saying “It’s not really our scene” and they start explaining it to me like I don’t understand how it works. I say, “I don’t usually like any of the bands who are headlining or if I do I’d rather spend that money to see them play a headlining set in New York” and they act like I am speaking Mandarin. I say that “I think Bob Benjamin is amazing and it is a great charity but I just don’t want to go to the concerts” and it is as though I am saying that they are terrible people. This only fucking happens with Light of Day, and if you like going so much I don’t understand why it matters whether I go or not. If someone tells me something isn’t their cup of tea I just nod and move on. It’s not like I say that it sucks or that it’s terrible, I just say “not my thing.” When I say this in a normal conversation about other music with normal people, they drop it and either ask questions or move on to another topic.
5) People keep asking me about my camera and I will point out that I get decent shots not because of my camera but because I know how to take photos at a show and I know how to increase my chances of getting good photos. I do have training as a photographer and worked as a freelance music photographer decades ago but the things that make me successful are simple and can work for everyone: one, I take a lot of photos. I don’t wait for the one moment, take one shot, and then get upset when it’s blurry. I just keep shooting. two, I know the show well enough to know what the things are that I am likely going to want to photograph and I will make sure I am ready to do that. Like, Bruce hanging backwards off the mic at the Garden, I was ready and focused on the mic and then all I did was keep shooting when it happened. I got one good one and that was all that I needed. Make a list of the things you would most love to have a photograph of and focus your attention towards getting that one photo, instead of having your camera out all night shooting and shooting. three, I use the available light as much as possible. If you don’t have a pro camera you have to work with what you have and you might as well give yourself a chance by shooting when the lights are up or at their brightest. Unless I am hella close I am not trying to shoot in low light. Yes, this means that you are going to miss out on those once in a lifetime unpredictable moments but, you know, you are still there and they are still in your head. I also do a bunch of other stuff with how accessible my camera is to me at a show (I don’t put it back in my purse in its case at the bottom so I am having to dig it out every time, for example, and I bought a model that allowed me to program NO FLASH once and never have to program it again), but I am a crazy woman who auditions different notebook sizes and types of pens so I can easily document what I need without it taking away from my ability to be in the moment. (And for those who say, “Why don’t you just put that away, tut tut, HAVE FUN,” this IS fun for me, thanks ever so much.)
The glockenspiel parts from “Born To Run”. Even the songs that didn’t have glockenspiel… they do now
Springsteen showing relatives around the stage, posing for photos, playing “For You” acoustic last night in LA
SUPER close up video of Bruce dancing with his sister Pam in LA last night during “Dancing In The Dark”. @rockiepie258, mustve been right next to you!
“Something In the Night” from LA, tour premiere
