BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CONCERTS ARE THE BEST PARTIES I HAVE EVER BEEN INVITED TO

A great party has to have a great host, great company and great entertainment so for a concert to be a great party the singer and his band must be beautifully singing and brilliantly playing great music and they must be looking after their guests well enough to make every single one of them feel special.

I was fortunate enough to get into Bruce Springsteen in 1976 not long after he began his career in 1973 and just as he was finally getting the recognition he deserved at least in the USA although it took another few years for him to catch on in the UK. My first Springsteen album was his seminal Born to run (1975) and I remember where and when I bought it and the first time I held my own copy of the heavy white cover with the incredible photo of the Boss and the Big Man on the cover.

Springsteen had however already released 2 great albums, Greetings From Ashbury Park and my personal favorite, The Wild the Innocent and E Street Shuffle at either end of 1973 and he still had 2 more classics, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River to release in 1976 and 1978 respectively.

During the 80s and 90s Springsteen continued to release average albums in a wide variety of styles from the solo acoustic Nebraska to the pop Born in the USA before a return to (better) form in the 00s with the Rising, Springsteen’s response to 9/11, Magic and most recently Working on a Dream.

Springsteen’s reputation for live performance has been one of legend for the past 40 years when as a 24 year old he began to play his own music but commercial success was not easily come by until he released Born to Run and its tracks became the foundation of his live shows from that day until this.

It may sound like I think Springsteen peaked over 33 years ago and I suppose on one level that is true both in terms of his studio and live work but the reality is that he set such a high standard with his first 5 albums and early performances that it would never have been possible to top it or even maintain it. That said he remains a great songwriter and performer even to this day.

I first saw Springsteen live in 1980 at both his gigs at the Manchester Apollo, tickets for which I had queued for 48 hours from Friday morning to Sunday morning. Well I was 19 and it seemed like a fun thing to do and was well worth it not just for the tickets but also for the banter in the queue.

£6 got me a 4 hour show the like of which I have never witnessed before or since and there are not many singers and bands I have not seen in the past 33 years including Springsteen about a dozen times. A Springsteen show is really the greatest show on earth.

I do not know of any singer who has evoked youth culture better than Springsteen save for perhaps Paul Simon in his early years with Garfunkel and not even Simon talked about it in quite such a frank and brutally honest manner. Listening to Springsteen’s first 5 albums is like a documentary on teenage life in the 60s and post Vietnam America.

On one level Springsteen’s songs are bleak and depressing as the youngsters he portrays are typically at odds with their parents, unemployed, involved in things they should not be, trying to make relationships with the opposite sex and with a feeling of abject helpless and hopelessness. However at the same time he makes you realize how exciting these times were in these youngsters lives as they begin to break free of their parents, get jobs, learn right from wrong and form relationships and decide on their futures. Springsteen also emphasises the fun that can be had on the journey through this period in life, driving fast cars, partying on the beech and making out with the opposite sex, getting a first job and beginning to settle down. It is a journey that Springsteen has been through himself and he is happy to show you the scrapbooks he kept along the way in the form of his albums or to let you in for an actual taste of the action at his concerts.

I will take a look at Bruce’s scrap book another time so why do I suggest the concert is a party to which one has been invited rather than a gig one has bought a ticket for.

As I said earlier it is Springsteen’s life and the lives of the ordinary people around him in the 60s and 70s being performed and for that you have to be allowed in or invited. We know that the entertainment (the songs) is good and it is an accepted fact that the members of the E Street band are unsurpassed in their individual and collective brilliance. So if the host is good we certainly have the makings of a great Party and as a host there is no one better than Springsteen.

Springsteen is the only musician I know who is ready, willing and able to forgo his own enjoyment of his own party to ensure each and every one of his guests is having a good time and he has to work hard on this as he often has up to 100,000 guests at his parties. Springsteen encourages you to get up and dance when normally you are too shy or lazy to do so, he cajoles you into singing along despite you having a terrible voice and he encourages, enables, frees you to have a good time whether or not you are in the mood for it, have a stressed out life or are normally a wall flower at parties. Fans do not need to try to have a good time as it comes so easy, fans do not need a drink to free them from their inhibitions they are just uninhibited and fans do not need to be asked twice for a dance as they always say yes the first time. Why, because it is Springsteen himself asking each and every fan to dance with him and it is Springsteen who goes around everyone in the audience making sure that they are having the best time they have ever had and if necessary to help free them from their inhibitions and the stresses of the life they inhabit.

Attending a Springsteen gig is a life changing privilege and one of the most enjoyable and unique experiences it is possible to have. That’s what turns a Springsteen ticket into a invitation and a Springsteen concert into a party and it is Springsteen who makes every one of his shows the greatest party ever.