Unless you were whisked away by aliens for the past six months and didn’t return until this morning, you know Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band performed the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl.
As a huge Bruce fan and a huge music fan, I was looking forward to seeing the Boss’ performance. When the opening piano notes of Tenth Avenue Freeze Out I was clapping along, grinning, and wishing that I was in Tampa with a front row seat for the event.
In terms of energy, Springsteen and company delivered. They came out with the full energy of a Giants Stadium, New Jersey, mid-summer performance. Bruce was in command and control from the opening notes and he was fired up. Rousing the crowd with his signature style of hand slapping, strutting, singing, and grooving, he got the place up in a matter of seconds.
For song selection, there wasn’t much to complain about. 10th as an opener was a huge surprise. Born to Run, was expected and always enjoyed. Working on a Dream, made sense as they are promoting a new record and that song is the latest single, and Glory Days made for a good closer.
Regarding sound, the quality was crisp and clear. It sounded like they practiced a lot this past week and it showed. The sound was impeccable; the band hit every note and delivered each song flawlessly.
As for the decision to play half of each song, this is the one complaint I have. I know there may have been some sort of time constraint, but when Tom Petty played the Super Bowl (two years ago), he played full songs. And he managed to get 4 of them in. If time was the issue, then Bruce should have opted to play 3 songs, dropped 10th as the opener (as much as I loved it) and slid Born into the opening slot with everything remaining the same. Doing half a song and pulling out the middle section is like watching the first and last quarters of the football game. Yeah, you would still see the exciting ending, but you wouldn’t know how the heck anyone got there. I question the decision by the band and management to perform the songs this way, and as a fan, this was my one and only complaint.
What about you? Did you enjoy the performance? Would you rather have seen les songs, but performed in their entirety, or were you happy with the way it was done?
And for those who don’t already know, Springsteen tickets go on sale this morning. 9:00AM (for NJ area performances) 10:00AM (all other areas).
Comments are open. Feel free to post some.
2 comments:
BRUUUUUCCEEE!!!!!
Who would've thought the most impact Bruce would have would be his junk flying at the HD cameras!
Now I've gotta go sell a kidney for tickets to one of the upcoming shows...
I loved Bruce and the band's performance. Of course I love anything that man sings. In fact, even though I blog about books, I found a way to post about him after the Innaugural concert when he played with Pete Seeger.
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