... The Words I Could Never Come Up With
Over on Facebook I just posted my five favorite bands and five favorite songs; number three on the bands was Bruce and the E Street Band.
I know a lot of people who don't care for Springsteen for any number of reasons, but to me he's one of the few rock veterans I completely relate to (a few others: Tom Petty, Pete Townshend and Joe Jackson); his story and the role rock music plays in it is so like my own. Were that I had his ambition and dedication to developing his talent back in the day and maybe now I would be his peer rather than just another fan.
So leave it to Bruce to explain something that I've been trying to figure out about live performing for my entire life: I give this to you the night before I take yet another stage, and I try to be in the "now".
From Springsteen's web site and his "Super Bowl Diary".
"All I know is if you were standing next to me, you would be. I feel like I've just taken a syringe of adrenalin straight to the heart. Before we came out, I had two major concerns. One, something might go wrong beyond my control. That completely disappeared before we hit the stage. Tonight our fate is in the hands of many, so no sense for useless worry. Two, I was worried that I would find myself 'out' of myself and not in the moment. My old friend Peter Wolf once said 'the strangest thing you can do on stage is think about what you're doing." This is true. To observe oneself from afar while struggling to bring the moment to life is an unpleasant experience. I've had it more than once. It's an existential problem. Unfortunately, right in my wheel house. It doesn't mean it's going to be a bad show. It may be a great one. It just means it might take time, something we don't have much of tonight. When that happens, I do anything to break it. Tear up the set list, call an audible, make a mistake, anything to get "IN." That's what you get paid for, TO BE HERE NOW! The power, potential and volume of your present-ness is a basic rock and roll promise. It's the essential element that holds the attention of your audience, that gives force, shape and authority to the evening's events. And however you get there on any given night, that's the road you take. "IS THERE ANYBODY ALIVE IN HERE?!"…there better be."
I know a lot of people who don't care for Springsteen for any number of reasons, but to me he's one of the few rock veterans I completely relate to (a few others: Tom Petty, Pete Townshend and Joe Jackson); his story and the role rock music plays in it is so like my own. Were that I had his ambition and dedication to developing his talent back in the day and maybe now I would be his peer rather than just another fan.
So leave it to Bruce to explain something that I've been trying to figure out about live performing for my entire life: I give this to you the night before I take yet another stage, and I try to be in the "now".
From Springsteen's web site and his "Super Bowl Diary".
"All I know is if you were standing next to me, you would be. I feel like I've just taken a syringe of adrenalin straight to the heart. Before we came out, I had two major concerns. One, something might go wrong beyond my control. That completely disappeared before we hit the stage. Tonight our fate is in the hands of many, so no sense for useless worry. Two, I was worried that I would find myself 'out' of myself and not in the moment. My old friend Peter Wolf once said 'the strangest thing you can do on stage is think about what you're doing." This is true. To observe oneself from afar while struggling to bring the moment to life is an unpleasant experience. I've had it more than once. It's an existential problem. Unfortunately, right in my wheel house. It doesn't mean it's going to be a bad show. It may be a great one. It just means it might take time, something we don't have much of tonight. When that happens, I do anything to break it. Tear up the set list, call an audible, make a mistake, anything to get "IN." That's what you get paid for, TO BE HERE NOW! The power, potential and volume of your present-ness is a basic rock and roll promise. It's the essential element that holds the attention of your audience, that gives force, shape and authority to the evening's events. And however you get there on any given night, that's the road you take. "IS THERE ANYBODY ALIVE IN HERE?!"…there better be."