Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 thought this might be of interest for those attending the Bruce concerts this tour. the other thing i'd suggest is read the autobiography. quite extraordinary. no secrets and someone who really does not seem to have much of an ego at all. Bruce Springsteen: ‘This is the only thing I’m qualified to do. It matters how I do it’ Ahead of his shows in Australia, the Boss explains the art of performance and never taking an audience for granted Bruce Springsteen: ‘This is the only thing I’m qualified to do. It matters how I do it’ Ahead of his shows in Australia, the Boss explains the art of performance and never taking an audience for granted Bruce Springsteen: ‘You’re dealing with the alchemy of yourself and your audience, and that’s a swirling, changing experience from moment to moment.’ Photograph: Jon Super/Redferns You must feel an incredible sense of power, standing in front of 80,000 people. And with great power comes great responsibility, as Spider-Man put it. Do you feel that responsibility, too? Well, you’ve got to look at it … you go out on stage each night as if, one, it’s the most important thing in your life you can do, two, it’s only rock’n’roll. You’ve got to be able to keep those conflicting points of view in your mind at the same time without letting either of them drive you crazy, or taking either of them at 100% face value. That’s sort of how you live with it. But it is something you asked for. You can’t get around that part of it. You just do your best with it. Your show is about delivering to the audience moments of transcendence – it’s something you’ve spoken about. When you go on stage do you have any idea where those moments might fall, or where you want them to fall? Can you pace a set like that? You can’t predict it. Every show is so organic. I’ve never played two shows that are the same, in all the years we’ve been playing. You’re dealing with the alchemy of yourself and your audience, and that’s a swirling, changing experience from moment to moment. I go out and I both guide and allow myself to be guided by the audience. And those moments happen … There’s a structure to the show that builds to certain points, it ebbs at certain moments, but there’s always a moment of surprise – those moments will come up and surprise me during the course of the evening, and you’ll just play something where I’ll just look at Steve [Van Zandt] and we’ll go, “Yeah, that. We got that.” We’ll just look at each other and go, “Wow. That was a great moment.” How, mentally, did you adjust to how ageing has changed your performance, the fact that you could no longer jump from the piano, or if you did a kneeslide, it might take you five minutes to get up from it … I’m probably not going to do three running somersaults at this point. But the basic thing, the only thing that I notice as I’ve gotten older is that you have certain structural weaknesses in your body that arise, and you’ve got to manage your physical self so it can do the essential and important things. So you can deliver your message and create the evening you want to create. So you curtail a few of the other things that at this point aren’t as necessary – you have the possibility of busting your back or your neck. You can remove the adornments from a cathedral, but it’s still a cathedral … Yeah, exactly! Those are the only adjustments I’ve had to make. Energy wise, I don’t feel anything different. Physically, I don’t feel anything different. We’ve played some of the longest shows of our career [in 2016], so there are a few small things, but not too much. The hunger in you that drives you to throw everything out there … would be the same in front of an audience of one Does it feel different to play to 70,000 people as opposed to 150 people? The machine, the inner workings of what you’re doing is exactly the same. You’re still working as hard to impress 150 people. The hunger in you that drives you to throw everything out there, amazingly enough, I believe would be the same in front of an audience of one. Because you’re trying to start a conversation, to fire up a conversation, fundamentally with one other person, which then extends itself, to 50, to 500, to 5,000 to 50,000. But the act itself is profoundly the same. You have to learn some different elements of your craft to play a bigger crowd, you have to have a certain talent for it. But the inner alchemy is basically the same. Bruce Springsteen: ‘You can change a life in three minutes with the right song’ Michael Stipe of REM told me he was happy to play a full room of any size, but once it wasn’t full he had a problem with it, no matter whether it was a club or a stadium, because that’s when the insecurities would come out. Really? That’s interesting. My approach was a little different, in that I always looked at it as: I’m here to play for the people that are here. And we go round the States and we don’t sell out all the time. We’ve played arenas that are three-quarters full. We still sell a great amount of seats but you’re not going to sell out every show for the rest of your life. I still come out on stage with the same presence of mind as if the place was full. The stakes are still the same. You’re always happy to see a large group of faces staring back at you. And I’m used to playing full houses, so I’ve been spoiled a little bit by that over the years. It’s not that you wouldn’t have second thoughts, “Hey! Where is everybody?” – of course you would. But still, the fundamental act is the same. You’re trying to talk to who’s there. You have a window of opportunity where you have some influence, and you try to use that window well. Go home, put your head on the pillow, and sleep well that night. What do you recall about making the steps from arenas to stadiums in 1985? You are initially intimidated by the space. But it’s all mental. You have to be mentally prepared for the larger environment. If you can mentally project yourself to the last row, you’ll be fine. It’s all about making that initial connection with the audience. If you do that, the folks at the back will feel it, the folks in the middle will feel it, the folks at the front will feel it. If you go out there and you can’t imagine that connection, it’s not going to happen, and then you’re going to have a miserable few hours. That’s when you think, “OK. I’m a fraud.” Are there shows where you don’t feel you make that connection? The key is you have to take each audience on its merits. No two audiences are the same. If you go and play a show in Spain, it’s not the same as playing in Hyde Park [in London]. It’s not the same as playing in the States. Every audience has its own characteristics. You can’t expect the audience to conform to your expectations. You have to come out and say, “OK, I’m meeting someone new tonight. First let me meet them and learn a little bit about them.” So you have to come out, start playing, and get a feel for the audience that evening. They may be quiet. They may be wildly boisterous. They may overwhelm you with their energy. You may feel there’s a particular crowd where the energy is low. But you can’t have preconceptions – if the energy is low, people may simply be listening. Or they may be experiencing the music in a different way. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen review – inside the mind of the Boss This highly anticipated memoir is as rich in anecdote as it is in anguish. From shameful behaviour to life in therapy, the musician lays out his search for meaning Read more I’ve had circumstances where I’ve seen somebody in the front row who appears completely stone-faced, not enjoying the show at all. I’ll see ’em at another show – “Gee, that guy wasn’t having much fun at the other show, what’s he doing here?” And then you bump into them in the street, and the guy’ll go, “I’ve been the biggest fan of yours for the last 25 years.” You can’t read what people are thinking or how they’re experiencing what you’re doing. So you have to have faith in what you’re doing, and you have to have faith in the audience when you come out. Then you have to go about your business until you can feel the connect happening. But it’s very important not to come out with a set of preconceived notions about who the audience is. At the big outdoor shows, there’s also the fact of geography: diferent songs work in different ways in different parts of a huge crowd. Sometimes, at your shows, I’ve found ballads work well at 120 yards away, because people have to be quiet. Whereas up close, the big numbers steamroller you. Geography matters at those gigs. It certainly does. The sound will shift every hundred yards or so. So the audience has to mentally prepare themselves also. You find your place where you’re located and you find your way into the show as it’s being presented. So the audience has work to do also. ‘Whenever you’re going out in front of a crowd of any size, your body knows it.’ Photograph: Jon Super/Redferns Do you still get the same adrenaline rush from performance? It varies from night to night but whenever you’re going out in front of a crowd of any size, your body knows it. This is what I do. This is the only thing I do. This is the only thing I’m qualified to do. So it matters how I do it at night. There’s a lot of anticipatory anxiety which then translates into a raw shot of adrenaline once you’re out there. We come out to press our case very hard, about what we think about everything, I suppose, and life itself. And so it’s challenging nightly. But how do you find meaning, night after night, in Born to Run, for example? Nils Lofgren said he does it by remembering that while he plays it 150 times a year, the crowd don’t hear it 150 times a year, so he finds that person in the crowd for whom it’s the big event of the year and feeds off them. Yeah. It’s like if you’ve written something … You work on an album in a hermetically sealed environment. One of the most frightening things is playing it for someone else. For the first time you’re hearing it through their ears. They’re just sitting there, but you’re hearing the thing totally brand new through their ears. And you’re recognising all its faults and all its strengths. So the thing about coming out in front of an audience every night is that I’m hearing what I’m doing through that audience’s ears. That’s what Nils was sort of explaining. I may have heard it 100 times, but that guy’s only hearing it that night, that’s all. Part of my job is to have a foot on stage and a foot in the audience. To have one ear to the band and one ear to the crowd. And if you’re doing that correctly you experience the evening through their ears as well as your own. Do you never get lonely being the leader of the band, being their employer, the Boss? It’s been that way for so long that I don’t really think about it much anymore. While you feel the fullness of what you’ve accomplished, you also do your best not to dwell on it very much when it doesn’t serve you to do so. Everyone needs a degree of anonymity, a degree of freedom of movement – at the end of the day, a big piece of you is still who you were previous to when you picked a guitar up, or before you started. You need to feel that person still close by. You can’t live inside your work; your work has got to live inside you. Are you still friends with the E Street Band members in the way ordinary people are friends? If you’re in the same place at the same time, would you call up and have a beer? Bruce Springsteen's Hyde Park show proved artists aren't the best judges of venues Oh yeah, very much. Everyone has families and lives in different places. But if I get out west, I’ll see Roy [Bittan]. If I’m in New York, Steve and I will make a point of bumping into each other as much as possible. There may be long periods where you don’t see the guys. But I’m happy to report that the E Street Band is still filled with people who actually like one another. We may not have everything in common, but there’s a deep mutual respect and I believe a real love between the band members that projects from the stage and is very real. At times when your status has ebbed, as it does for all artists at some point, have you found that hard to deal with? Not really. Everyone has their moments when they think, “Gee, why isn’t everyone listening to this record I made?” But I take the ebb and flow of my work life, after 50 years of doing it, as a natural part of the dynamic of your career. But whenever you put something out there – particularly if you believe in it completely – you want to to be understood, you want it to be well received. You want to grab people’s ears – that’s my business. If not, you’re going to be disappointed. • Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour Australia and New Zealand between 22 January and 25 February 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGlass Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Ken, I have to say thanks for this. It inspired me to look at tickets for my mother as birthday present (she has always loved him) and it turns out he is playing in Brisbane on her birthday. That's this years present sorted. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lotusguy Posted January 13, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted January 13, 2017 Meh - I'd rather go see U2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bummy Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Seeing The Boss for the first time in February with the wife & 10 friends @ Hope estate Huntervalley & with 20,000 others! ,can't wait a great place to see bands & smoke great Cigars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 10 minutes ago, bummy said: Seeing The Boss for the first time in February with the wife & 10 friends @ Hope estate Huntervalley & with 20,000 others! ,can't wait a great place to see bands & smoke great Cigars. saw him there last tour. great fun but good luck with the cigars. a few of us went to the cafe across the road the next night - almost totally empty - and sat outside listening and i got to hear bruce live with a couple of cigars. brilliant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Lotusguy said: Meh - I'd rather go see U2 we welcome all opinions here, no matter how misguided. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 1 hour ago, MrGlass said: Ken, I have to say thanks for this. It inspired me to look at tickets for my mother as birthday present (she has always loved him) and it turns out he is playing in Brisbane on her birthday. That's this years present sorted. stunned any tickets left. they must have held some back. she will be forever grateful. are you at the first or second one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZCUBAN Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Counting the days my friend, although being late to the party as to speak (Bruce wise) I have certainly made up for lost time lol missed the presale for the first Perth gig but got really good seats for the Friday show ,which is the last one for Perth so hoping it will be the best one ,as Bruce is in Perth for the whole week ,which is good as most artist give Perth the flick so thank you Ken, if you having done nothing of use on this forum ,you have put me on to Bruce and for that I am thankful enjoy your show in feb in Brisbane see if you can convert Ayala lol cheers Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 40 minutes ago, OZCUBAN said: Counting the days my friend, although being late to the party as to speak (Bruce wise) I have certainly made up for lost time lol missed the presale for the first Perth gig but got really good seats for the Friday show ,which is the last one for Perth so hoping it will be the best one ,as Bruce is in Perth for the whole week ,which is good as most artist give Perth the flick so thank you Ken, if you having done nothing of use on this forum ,you have put me on to Bruce and for that I am thankful enjoy your show in feb in Brisbane see if you can convert Ayala lol cheers Steve my great pleasure. and you know ayala. no matter how brilliant the night, the stubborn bugger will never concede. but i have no doubt that bruce will prevail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 and yes, that is quite likely the only thing of use that i have done on the forum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGlass Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 On 1/13/2017 at 6:51 PM, Ken Gargett said: are you at the first or second one? Second one. Should I keep an eye out for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oliverdst Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 On 13/01/2017 at 8:19 AM, Ken Gargett said: and yes, that is quite likely the only thing of use that i have done on the forum. Ken, kind of obvious question but are there lots of pics in the book? I asked because If not I will Kindle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 2 hours ago, oliverdst said: Ken, kind of obvious question but are there lots of pics in the book? I asked because If not I will Kindle it. oliver, not a single pic. bar the cover. all text. fabulous stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 2 hours ago, MrGlass said: Second one. Should I keep an eye out for you? i am but a wallflower at these things. impossible to spot! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foursite12 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I can't say I'm surprised by either the freely given, unvarnished insights or the lack of ego and pretense. Thanks, Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 On 1/13/2017 at 8:18 PM, Ken Gargett said: my great pleasure. and you know ayala. no matter how brilliant the night, the stubborn bugger will never concede. but i have no doubt that bruce will prevail. I am just thrilled that I will be spending Valentines day with Di.....and You ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 15 minutes ago, El Presidente said: I am just thrilled that I will be spending Valentines day with Di.....and You ! it would be funny if it was the first time we spent valentine's day together. sadly, it isn't. and you know i am sitting between you and Di. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 18 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said: it would be funny if it was the first time we spent valentine's day together. sadly, it isn't. and you know i am sitting between you and Di. You know there's a precedent there, Rob? What would you do without Ken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 4 minutes ago, JohnS said: You know there's a precedent there, Rob? What would you do without Ken? john, a few years back, five of us went fishing in chile. four were married, including one of our mates dubbed the serial groom, plus me. rob did all the arranging. i asked him if all was okay. why wouldn't it be? you do realise that we are leaving at 5am on valentine's day. the wives okay? rob went completely pale and uttered words unacceptable on this forum. we hit santiago in time to head out to their most romantic restaurant. five fishing blokes and endless couples of beautiful people. i reckon we had more fun than the lot of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Great story, Ken...had me 'in stiches'! Isn't Di wonderful to go out with the both of you on Valentines Day to a Bruce Springsteen concert? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 24 minutes ago, JohnS said: Great story, Ken...had me 'in stiches'! Isn't Di wonderful to go out with the both of you on Valentines Day to a Bruce Springsteen concert? john, at least two of us will have a great time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZCUBAN Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Hopefully he will play FIRE just for occasion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PigFish Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 9 hours ago, JohnS said: Great story, Ken...had me 'in stiches'! Isn't Di wonderful to go out with the both of you on Valentines Day to a Bruce Springsteen concert? Seeing Ken said all opinions are acceptable, let me just add to the quote above... If the music sucks, you might as well be in good company!!! -LOL -the Pig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave001 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 saw the boss many times over the years mostly at Madison square garden starting all the way back in the 1980s besides Paul McCartney no one puts on quite a show like the boss its a special treat everytime you see him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZCUBAN Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Here's the first set list from the first concert here in Perth ,Bruce is here for the whole week I think he might have fell in love with our beaches not hard to do by the way spotted in Cottesloe as he was last time any how here is the list can't wait till Friday New York City Serenade Play Video Lonesome Day Play Video Darkness on the Edge of Town Play Video No Surrender Play Video Out in the Street Play Video Land of Hope and Dreams Play Video Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? Play Video Growin' Up Play Video Spirit in the Night Play Video Lost in the Flood Play Video Kitty's Back Play Video Incident on 57th Street Play Video Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Play Video The Ties That Bind Play Video Darlington County Play Video Working on the Highway Play Video The Promised Land Play Video American Skin (41 Shots) Play Video My Hometown Play Video Candy's Room Play Video She's the One Play Video Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover) Play Video The Rising Play Video Badlands Play Video Blood Brothers (Sign Request - for Matty) Play Video Born to Run Play Video Dancing in the Dark Play Video Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out Play Video Shout (The Isley Brothers cover) Play Video Bobby Jean Play Video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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