music friday: road diary: bruce springsteen and the e street band (thom zimny, 2024)

A present for Bruce fans, but probably of little interest to others. The angle here is that we see Bruce and the Band behind the scenes as they prepare for a new tour. Each band member gets a chance to say a few words, and there is nothing so interesting it makes you pause. The musical numbers are not presented in full, which I always hate, but since I kept crying my eyes out at my favorites, I guess Zimny included enough of them.

Percussionist Anthony Almonte tells about finding Bruce in the gym the morning after a long concert, and marvels at his leader. Each day, Bruce would tell him, "You haven't seen anything yet. Wait till we get to Barcelona." It's a recognized truth that in later years, Bruce is more popular in Europe than in the States, and Barcelona stands tall in that legend. In 2002, he recorded an entire concert in Barcelona and released it on video the next year. It was, and remains, a revelation. Springsteen is a legendary live performer, but until that time, some of us were disappointed in the official output. The gigantic box set Live 1975-85 was treasured, but it was a composite of various shows over the years. In 1993, he and "The Other Band" put out an album of their appearance on MTV Unplugged, but the song order was butchered and it mattered. Live in NYC has plenty of memorable moments, but once again, a single concert was presented out of order. It wasn't until Live in Barcelona that we got what we had wanted and needed all along: a full concert. And it had that Barcelona crowd.

I post this video a lot in various places, and I always say to watch the faces of the people if you want to know what it's like for us to see Bruce. It occurs to me now that this video, more than anything else in the 20+ years of this blog, is a personal expression of who I am.

We first saw Bruce on October 31, 1975. This video is from 19 days later. It's the first song of his concerts on that tour, and it's still how I remember that first sight of him on stage. This is where it began.