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…
Tag: 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…
Barry Gibb: ‘You couldn’t step out like Phil Collins was able to step out of Genesis’ – In The Now With Tim Roxborogh Part 4
Barry Gibb With just two days to go until Barry Gibb’s first solo album since the 80s is released – In The Now – here is part 4 in my series of transcribed extracts from the interview we did together at the start of September. I’ve pulled these sections of the interview with the biggest…
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…
Barry Gibb: “I’m the man who does it all or nothing” – Analysis Of His New Recording ‘The Home Truth Song’
Barry Gibb. Originally published this time in 2015, as fans countdown to the release of Barry Gibb’s first album project since 2005’s Guilty Pleasures collaboration with Barbra Streisand, here’s the article again: Sandwiched between a couple of classic early-period Bee Gees recordings, Barry Gibb unveiled a spirited new song during his 12-song set at the…
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…
Barry Gibb Unveils Autobiographical New Track: ‘The Home Truth Song’
Barry Gibb. Sandwiched between a couple of classic early-period Bee Gees recordings, Barry Gibb unveiled a spirited new song during his 12-song set at the Miami Beach Centennial concert last week. Following the soul of perhaps the most covered Gibb song To Love Somebody* and before the Beatle-esque foot-stamper Lonely Days, Barry inserted a track…
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…