My apologies to Jersey Jack...The Boss is a helluva performer!!

[BigVoiceTenor]

Well for those of us who have been here for a while....we all know that Jersey Jack is a proud supporter of the one and only Mr Bruce Springsteen. And he takes a lot of flack over the Boss and his vocals.

 

With that aside I just finished watchin The Boss in concert filmed in June 2000 at Madison Square Garden, and it was electric. This man could invent his own religion and the swarm of followers would trump many churches out there today!

 

The Bosses stage presense is above all and second to none. I'm not a fan of Bruce, but I kinda am now (in a live setting).

 

So for all the flack we've given JJ, I think he's been humble in his fondness for The Boss! You had The Bosses back man!

[grace_slick]

I've always quite like Bruce...I don't see why people would give anyone flack who liked him.

[ido1957]

He's not my fav but I did cover a few of his songs in the 80's. I think he could be considered one of the harder working performers.

[romvert]

There's something electrically charged about the way he approaches a song... that's where the magic is. Bon Jovi stole that from him, although he can't do it quite as well.

[Jersey Jack]

Well, it's about time! I've seen Bruce upwards of 30 times now (with three close encounters--including last month about 10 feet away in Giants Stadium) and there has never been a dull moment.

 

Now being from Jersey, this may be hometown bigotry--when we're not whacking each other or extorting kick-backs, we praise Bruce. It's in the DNA. Still, the guy continues to be amazing--and at 60!!!

 

Sadly, this may be the last tour with the E-Street Band--a force of nature if there ever was one. If you still have a chance to catch Bruce this time around don't miss it. If not, check out the Barcelona DVD from the last tour. It's the most recent concert recording and the next best thing to being there.

 

I like all of Bruce's work--the Woody Guthrie-esque solo stuff and the Seeger Sessions are to my mind as good as the E-Street stuff--so I'm not despondent about the impending demise of the E-Street Band. But it is the end of an era.

[indytoons]

I've always loved Bruce! Being a Garden Stater I could do no less...I'm just trying to figure out why he's trying to sound like Woody Guthrie these days...

[OverdriveDeluxe]

Saw my first Boss show in '85 when I was 13. Since then, I've seen him about 20 times, 4 times on this tour alone. I was at Giants Stadium too... the first BITUSA show... Magic... not the album, the voodoo. haha

 

As far as singing goes, Springsteen is one of the greatest singers in rock history without a doubt. You might not prefer his emotive style but regardless, 30+ years of 3 or 4 hour shows, gazillions of albums sold and integrity second to none... a true artist and a true living legend.

 

For the technical singers out there, Springsteen is 60 now and still rips it up. However, in the 80's when he was at his physical peak he probably had a 3 octave voice easily. Just because a guy doesn't scream like Robert Plant all day long doesn't mean he can't if he felt like it. haha

 

Take care everyone.

[BigVoiceTenor]

Well since I started this thread again I have to comment.... I'm in awe. The Boss did play a 3+ hour concert....unheard of today by any solo or legit band.

 

I will say this about his voice....it's "what it is". It's not a sweet voice or a clean voice...it's "gravelly" to me. Well hell it is, but it's Bruce. That's him and his uniqueness.

 

Hewey Lewis once stated he didn't understand how people thought he was a good singer with his voice....I put Bruce in a similar category...HOWEVER the soul, passion and energy with Bruce which I have never really been akin too...is truly AMAZING.

 

I'm a fan of the Boss with his LIVE stage performance. It was awesome.

[grace_slick]

This might be lame, but my fav Bruce song is Dancing in the Dark. LOVE IT!!

*80s child*

[Jersey Jack]

For the technical singers out there, Springsteen is 60 now and still rips it up. However, in the 80's when he was at his physical peak he probably had a 3 octave voice easily. Just because a guy doesn't scream like Robert Plant all day long doesn't mean he can't if he felt like it....

 

When my mid-life crisis hit and I decided that I wanted to learn how to sing I started paying close attention to Bruce's melodies--:poke: and I was amazed at how high he goes. There's something about the grit and dark tone of his voice that has always made it seem like a baritone, but in fact he is a classic tenor. He'll regularly go up to a high G or A but still sound like he's lower. When I go up that high, it really sounds like I'm up in the stratosphere.

 

In fact, though I'm generally not much interested in expanding range, I do insist on nailing down Bruce's upper range--I can't stomach the fact that someone who sounds like a baritone to me has a higher range. But I'm just about there now!

[MusicalSchizo]

I actually blogged about this before I even had a blog, and I'll share it with you all:

 

Boss can't lift the jugs! Okay, I need to vent... I went to see "The Boss" last night at the Jacksonville Veterans' Memorial Coliseum (for free with GOOD seats...it's nice working in radio). I met Little Steven, hung out a little, drank a beer, and watched the show. One phrase kept ringing in my head the whole time: "I just don't get it." I just don't understand why people think Springsteen is one of the greatest of all time. Sure, he sometimes writes some reasonably good lyrics, tells good stories, but almost all the songs he played at this show were similar-sounding - almost to an AC/DC degree - and the stage was pretty much a cluster{censored}. The annoying tremolo vocal style (think Aaron Neville, only a white chick) of Patty Scialfa was really hard to take, and there were so many guitars going at once it was extraordinarily difficult to make out what any single one was doing. Of course, with my "trained ears" (cough, cough), I could make out that Nils Lofgren is a badass, though, and Bruce is a much better guitarist than I thought. I mean, sure, Bruce was reasonably fun, personality-wise, and he is a good frontman (very active), but the music was boring and self-indulgent. You'd never know it by the way the crowd was reacting, though. They thought it was great. It makes me feel like an alien or something. Ever wonder why his concerts are so damn long? He plays each song for about 10 minutes. Constant vamping at the end of each tune while he does his little shake and runs around to the crowd. Twice during the show (I was counting because I was trying to find something interesting to do during the show, as I had grown tired of looking at the 40 to 50-year-old women who think they're still as hot as they were when they were 20), he did this LONG slide across the front of the stage, which had obviously been prepped for just such a thing. It was sort of neat, I guess, but in a cheeseball "hey, look at me" sort of way, with people all trying to touch him while he did it. Sort of like a cheesy 80s video or something. He played but two hits during the time I was there, "Glory Days" (probably my personal Bruce favorite), and "Born To Run" (which I like considerably less). He played his new song "The Rising" to start the show, which seemed to go on FOREVER - I mean, RISE, ALREADY! All told, I know this sounds like an extraordinarily negative review, but I like to think of it as more of a plea. Someone, please explain to me why you think he's so great. I mean, I lived in New Jersey for a while, and still have remnants of the accent I picked up when I lived there, so I really don't think it's a Jersey thing. I did give it an honest try, though...everyone I know said that you have to see a Bruce show to understand it. I still don't, and I stayed for over two hours. On the positive side, the band was tight, and when you could make it out, they had some cool interplay. I left the show even more confused than I entered it, though. I wanted to "get it" - I wanted to know the joy that people who love "The Boss" experience. I failed. Miserably. He just didn't move me at all. In the end, not a single goosebump that wasn't caused by air conditioning.

 

Pretty much sums it up for me. I like the dude - I think he's a good guy and definitely a prolific songwriter, but I was just not all that impressed by the show after all the hype I've heard. The endless vamping drove me insane.

 

Sorry, Jack.

Brian V.

[Jersey Jack]

IPretty much sums it up for me. I like the dude - I think he's a good guy and definitely a prolific songwriter, but I was just not all that impressed by the show after all the hype I've heard. The endless vamping drove me insane. Sorry, Jack. Brian V.

 

Not at all....More room for me and my bevy of 50-ish smokin' babes! (Actually, as one approaches 50, 50-year-old women DO start to look hot. Go figure. This was one of the pleasant surprises of getting older. I like to see women my age still shaking it, though I understand this how practice appears to younger people. )

 

And your review was particularly interesting in that I can understand ALL of your points. Bruce does vamp, his songs do go on forever, Patti does have an annoying vibrato, etc. (I don't necessarily agree about the sameness of the songs--if it's true, it's no more true for Bruce than anyone else.) It's just that for me this stuff adds up to joy, not boredom.

 

Again, go figure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[romvert]

 

Well since I started this thread again I have to comment.... I'm in awe. The Boss did play a 3+ hour concert....unheard of today by any solo or legit band. I will say this about his voice....it's "what it is". It's not a sweet voice or a clean voice...it's "gravelly" to me. Well hell it is, but it's Bruce. That's him and his uniqueness. Hewey Lewis once stated he didn't understand how people thought he was a good singer with his voice....I put Bruce in a similar category...HOWEVER the soul, passion and energy with Bruce which I have never really been akin too...is truly AMAZING. I'm a fan of the Boss with his LIVE stage performance. It was awesome.

 

...by the way, I think Huey quite a bit better pure singer than the Boss... LOL

[Jersey Jack]

...by the way, I think Huey quite a bit better pure singer than the Boss... LOL

 

:confused: NOOOOOOOOO! :cop:

 

Oh, okay, pure singer--I'm cool with that.

[MusicalSchizo]

Not at all....More room for me and my bevy of 50-ish smokin' babes! (Actually, as one approaches 50, 50-year-old women DO start to look hot. Go figure. This was one of the pleasant surprises of getting older. I like to see women my age still shaking it, though I understand this how practice appears to younger people. )

You have to understand, I really DIG older women...just not the ones who don't OWN their age and be sexy with that, instead of dressing like their teenage daughters and trying to look 17 again, like a lot of the ladies at this particular show.

 

And your review was particularly interesting in that I can understand ALL of your points. Bruce does vamp, his songs do go on forever, Patti does have an annoying vibrato, etc. (I don't necessarily agree about the sameness of the songs--if it's true, it's no more true for Bruce than anyone else.)

That's a very good point. His songs are no more the same than any other artist with a very specific "sound". I think the vamping just kind of threw me and added to that perception, you know?

 

It's just that for me this stuff adds up to joy , not boredom.

I think that's the big difference. To most Bruce fans I know, it is truly the JOY you talk about, and that's what I was hoping to "get" when I went to the show. Just didn't work out for me.

 

Again, go figure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Sorry if it was a little harsh...just being honest. I did write it back in March of 2003, and my appreciation for Springsteen has grown at least a little since then.

 

I will say that Little Steven was really cool to me when we chatted before the show. The whole reason we got to go was that he recorded his Underground Garage show at our radio stations and we helped him out.

 

Setlist from that show (I found it on Bruce's site - we bailed after "Born To Run", not expecting ANOTHER encore):

March 4, 2003 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Coliseum

1. The Rising

2. Lonesome Day

3. The Ties That Bind

4. Prove It All Night

5. Empty Sky

6. You're Missing

7. Waitin' on a Sunny Day

8. Better Days

9. Worlds Apart

10. Badlands

11. She's the One

12. Mary's Place

13. Tougher Than the Rest

14. Countin' on a Miracle

15. Thunder Road

16. Into the Fire

(encore)

17. Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go

18. Glory Days

19. Born to Run

 

20. My City of Ruins

21. Born in the U.S.A.

22. Land of Hope and Dreams

23. Dancing in the Dark

[romvert]

:confused: NOOOOOOOOO! :cop: Oh, okay, pure singer--I'm cool with that.

Thanks for understanding. Huey has better range, pitch and timbre/tone; besides, he can play harmonica like a mofo.

The Boss is all about emotion and a state of mind.

[OverdriveDeluxe]

 

Thanks for understanding. Huey has better range, pitch and timbre/tone; besides, he can play harmonica like a mofo. The Boss is all about emotion and a state of mind.

 

 

Hi - I'm sorry to be a drag but I have to dispute one of your claims. I can accept the pitch and timbre/tone part because that is opinion. In my opinion Huey has a nice, rich voice but he is bush league compared to Springsteen. Also, Springsteen plays the harmonica like a "mofo" as well but I'm not surprised you don't know that. haha

 

I have to disagree with the range thing because you are just plain wrong. It is a scientific face that Springsteen has a significantly wider range then Huey.

 

I saw Huey at our local casino a while back and he couldn't hit half of the "high" notes. High notes for him are at the bottom of Bruces range.

[romvert]

 

Hi - I'm sorry to be a drag but I have to dispute one of your claims. I can accept the pitch and timbre/tone part because that is opinion. In my opinion Huey has a nice, rich voice but he is bush league compared to Springsteen. Also, Springsteen plays the harmonica like a "mofo" as well but I'm not surprised you don't know that. haha I have to disagree with the range thing because you are just plain wrong. It is a scientific face that Springsteen has a significantly wider range then Huey. I saw Huey at our local casino a while back and he couldn't hit half of the "high" notes. High notes for him are at the bottom of Bruces range.

 

You have a point. However, I'm talking singing voice, not a straining belt that sometimes sounds like you're working on your last {censored} on Earth!...LOL Between those two it's a matter of how much one's willing to compromise to get that emotion out. Have you ever heard of Scream Therapy? It's used in psychiatry and ... theater; a lot of people swear by it, but it doesn't mean it's vocally good for you.

And Huey is at jazz level with the harmonica; I doubt Springsteen is anywhere close, although possible... naaaaah...