A few weeks back I was interviewed on another Newstalk ZB show, Total Recall, about pop songs that have a message and a conscience. As someone who loves popular music and the possibilities of the format (including when it’s being highly socially charged) this is one of my favourite topics. In the clip below (approximately…
Category: Bruce Springsteen
Top 20 Photos From Bruce Springsteen’s Auckland Concert, Feb 25 2017
I’m not going to lie, these images are unlikely to win any awards in the field of concert photography, not least because even with a 30x zoom and a reasonably flash Lumix camera, I was still much further from The Boss than was ideal this past Saturday night in Auckland, New Zealand. That said, they hopefully can give…
What Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Independence Day’ Is Really About
Happy 4th of July with a very sad song! The song is Bruce Springsteen’s Independence Day which seemingly makes it the perfect song to refer to on this day, though analysis of Bruce’s lyrics reveal a different subject matter altogether. Written in 1977 but left off 1978’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Bruce reportedly felt that album was…
The 40th Anniversary Of Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’ LP – The Oddly Beautiful Piano Playing Of The Boss
Bruce Springsteen in the mid 1970s. A quick post to acknowledge two things: firstly, an all-time hero of mine is marking one of the more important anniversaries of his career*. Secondly, sometimes I feel there’s little I can add analysis-wise to one of the most analysed recording artists ever. And then something pops into my…
Why Bruce Springsteen Delayed The Release Of ‘Independence Day’
Happy 4th of July with a very sad song! The song is Bruce Springsteen’s Independence Day which seemingly makes it the perfect song to refer to on this day, though analysis of Bruce’s lyrics reveal a different subject matter altogether. Written in 1977 but left off 1978’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Bruce reportedly felt…
Where Bruce Springsteen And The Bee Gees Meet
Bruce Springsteen, Barry Gibb. Writing this while waiting for my cab to take me to Auckland airport en-route to LA, here are some thoughts solidifying the links between the Bee Gees and Bruce Springsteen. At the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday I’ll be seeing the final date of Barry Gibb’s acclaimed Mythology tour – a two…
Barry Gibb’s Boston Concert: A Springsteen Cover, Bee Gees Songs Never Performed Live Before And Hit After Hit
Reading the reviews for Barry Gibb’s first American Mythology concert, last night’s show in Boston, I’d rate this the strongest collection of songs in the tour to date. Looking at the material chosen and the length of the show (2 1/2 hours) – this is not an artist dialing it in, going through the motions….
Bruce Springsteen Concert Review: Auckland, March 2014 – The Extraordinary Live Appeal Of The E Street Band
UPDATE MARCH 10: I don’t know if this is some kind of record, but a week after Bruce Springsteen played to 80,000 fans across two nights in Auckland, he has no less than seven albums in the New Zealand top 40. What’s more, he has three in the top 10 and five in the top…
Bruce Springsteen Covers The Bee Gees At His Epic Brisbane Concert
This is why I love Bruce Springsteen. Last night in Brisbane he played for more than three hours*, performed an entire classic album mid-set and opened with a cover of the Bee Gees. Bruuuuuuuuuuuuce! Can’t wait for Saturday night in Auckland. In the meantime, here’s his Stax-like cover of Stayin’ Alive – chosen for the…
‘Valentine’s Day’ By Bruce Springsteen – One Of His Most Underrated Ballads
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Here’s one of the great underrated Bruce Springsteen ballads, Valentine’s Day, from 1987’s Tunnel Of Love. It’s a reflective, melancholy piece with some spiritual themes too. This has always been my favourite verse: They say if you die in your dreams you really die in your bed But honey last night I dreamed…
My Dream Bruce Springsteen Concert Setlist
Bruce Springsteen, 2007. In August Bruce Springsteen wasn’t only in the news for announcing his largest ever Australasian tour (for February and March 2014), but because Bruce himself sent out his first ever tweet. Obviously one of those stories made more headlines than the other, but nevertheless, when @springsteen said on August 20th: “Bruce here… looking…
Why Bruce Springsteen’s Never Released A Real “Greatest Hits” Album
Bruce Springsteen in the mid-70s. Bruce Springsteen is coming back to New Zealand for the first time in just over a decade so I thought I’d use this opportunity to sort out my hero’s track-list for a compilation which has oddly never been released. Throughout a 40 year recording career which has given him critical…