Spiringsteen

[eFestivals]

I reckon he does believe that Springsteen was bland, but after seeing the reaction he got when he said it he must have thought he would carry on so to keep up traffic. Otherwise he wouldn't be acting so god damn thick!

Yes, I really do think he's bland .... and as this thread proves, so do many other people. Get over it.

If me thinking him bland makes me thick in your opinion, the one that's really the thick one is you.

[dtox]

I reckon he does believe that Springsteen was bland, but after seeing the reaction he got when he said it he must have thought he would carry on so to keep up traffic. Otherwise he wouldn't be acting so god damn thick!

[eFestivals]

If one is to troll their own forum for the purpose of keeping up traffic, is it not best to at least use a sockpuppet? Being rude and irrational while being the face of your business can't be good for keeping people coming here long term, surely.

ahhh, does little baby expect a life of people agreeing with him/her cos it's good for business? Maaaan, you have one hell of a shock coming if you ever find the real world.

I'll say what I think thanks, and idiots of any kind won't stop me. If that means you chose to go elsewhere so be it.

Elsewhere (just about everywhere! - certainly other festival websites and major music publications - I now and then get emails meant for them sent to me by mistake) you can spend your time reading total bollox where the publication has been paid to write nice things about utter crap, and you can then get a nice warm glow inside that you're reading (say) a nice review of Bruce because one of Bruce's people has paid that publication to write nice things. How every nice - so much integrity, and so so honest!!

This website will always say it as we find it. Perhaps that's why this website has come out of nowhere to be the UK's 2nd biggest specialist music website, and starting to scare some of the big boys.

[HandFedFred]

I kept a massive distance from Springsteen at the fest, and after watching the footage on iplayer am very glad I did so., bored me sh*itless (apart from the irish jigg song)

(and admin should really split this topic if he wants to have a good old bicker about whatever, I belive it has gone off topic )

[Jules007]

I really enjoyed it from the back, my husband was at the front and loved it too.

We're both not massive fans.

He writes good lyrics.

[albietrue2]

I'm not sure what's the saddest aspect of all this.

The fact that E-Fest sincerely believes from the top of his bionic bonce to the tip of his curling toes that the entire musical legacy of Springsteen can be classified as bland or me coming on here to defend Springsteen's pedigree against a complete and utter nut job who patently possesses the musical appreciation of Tony Blackburn [save for To's Motown bent, of course]

Actually, thinking about it a tad more it's a no contest.

[eFestivals]

I'm not sure what's the saddest aspect of all this.

The fact that E-Fest sincerely believes from the top of his bionic bonce to the tip of his curling toes that the entire musical legacy of Springsteen can be classified as bland or me coming on here to defend Springsteen's pedigree against a complete and utter nut job who patently possesses the musical appreciation of Tony Blackburn [save for To's Motown bent, of course]

Actually, thinking about it a tad more it's a no contest.

What's saddest of all is you thinking that I'm not allowed my opinion, and that it should be shouted down and the opinion dismissed as less worthy than your own.

[albietrue2]

What's saddest of all is you thinking that I'm not allowed my opinion, and that it should be shouted down and the opinion dismissed as less worthy than your own.

[eFestivals]

Can't believe I'm responding but here goes.

Kindly refer to the contrasting bookends of his 40 year career I posted in my earlier response. The first bookend from circa 1971, the second from 2009

Blinded By The Light

sample lyric to make point

...in the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat....

IS NOT A BLAND way of describing an extremely popular and widespread adolescent act

The Wrestler

...My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display...

IS NOT A BLAND way of representing the utter despair and hoplessness felt by a broken man [down and out wrestler]

These are but two brief snatches of a Springsteen lyric to make a point regarding blandness. They attain a level of non-blandness most other artists would kill their neighbourhood website administrator to have written. There are literally thousands more of a corresponding standard. Hence the chagrin of so many within this thread who follow the work of this rare artist/performer. Unlike your goodself who knows jack shit about him yet feels justified in maintaining a pathetic and unfounded stance of derision of the fella's reputation and artistic ability.

First off: 'Blinded...' was 1973. Some afficianardo you are. Seems like I know more than some of his fans.

(PS: 2009 - 1973 = 36 years. Wow, who'd have thought the Springsteen fans would have been over-stating things by saying 40 years? )

But anyway, if I'd wanted just words I'd have read a book - and one saying something far more interesting. Songs are not just words. Put with Springsteen's music, all I get is is ... yes, you've guessed it ... bland.

Do I have to know his career history to reach that VALID opinion of him? Nope. I just have to hear the songs and draw my own conclusions.

Is your opinion any more valid than mine just cos you're such a mega-fan that you'd be cheering a set of him farting for three hours if that's what he did on stage? Nope, 'fraid it's not.

As for you quoting "deep and meaningful" lyrics at me, have these back at you...

Next time you're feeling blue just let a smile begin Happy things will come to you

IS NOT A BLAND way of telling someone how to deal with depression.

The Smurfs

[5co77ie]

Mind you Kylie's much more of a deep wordsmith check this out imagine it on the Pyramid....

I'm looking in the space

This time, this void

I'm making my way through the muddy minutes

[eFestivals]

no, I mean when he actually played a U2 record.. the Oasis opening was amusing, but really, Jay-z looked a bit of a tit with that guitar 'round his neck, completely unable to recognise the difference between one note and another

he did. He knows he did. IT WAS A STAGE ACT - A PERFORMANCE, and nothing more, as he was quite happy to state in countless interviews.

bleedin' 'ell...

there's no fact about it..

what 'fact'?

the strength of one performance against another can be measured by the crowd's reaction to both.

OK, it wasn't the exact same crowd. But they both had Glastonbury crowds, and crowds made up of a large number of people unfamiliar with their work. One act carried that crowd better than the other. That act wasn't Bruce.

I'm not trying to claim them as exactly comparable, and neither am I saying Jay-Z was shit hot. I'm simply pointing out that Bruce seems to not won over the crowd - which if he was as good as you'd like to think, he would have done. Far less rated acts have carried the crowd far more - in fact, some (to the Pyramid crowd) barely-known acts have carried the crowd far more.

[eFestivals]

or a younger audience is more likely to enjoy Jay-Z than Springsteen... you really are chasing your tqil here, trying to prove the unprovable

so if Talking Heads performed to a nursery school, where a Punch and Judy show was appreciated better, you'd say they were out-performed?...

or maybe some audiences like different things..??

can you please tell me what stage that Punch and Judy act were on at Glastonbury this year?

Or are you simply talking far more bollox than me?

[eFestivals]

I didn't mention anything about them being on at Glastonbury... did I miss Talking Heads then..?

I'm not talking bollox

As you obviously know, Talking Heads are my favourite band.

Can you call them crap if that's how you think of them? Go ahead.

So if you're not talking bollox, please allow me the same for your own god and then shut the f**k up.

Or are you really just talking bollox?

[eFestivals]

who?

As one example that's come to mind: Manu Chao last year.

I'd be hugely surprised if there were greater numbers in the Pyramid crowd who knew them than Bruce had for his set who knew him.

[TheSeventhOne]

I thought the strength of live appearances was subjective but ho-hum. Neil's word is law.

[eFestivals]

... you said it was 40 years

only repeating back what "the boss"es plebes had been posting at me. I didn't do the maths until just now.

FFS, over-sensitive, Bruce fans? Nah, never.

[eFestivals]

I thought the strength of live appearances was subjective but ho-hum. Neil's word is law.

But my word is that it's subjective.

It's the Bruce fans who are trying to lay down the law and say he can only be fantastic. Read the whole thread and you'll see I'm simply standing behind my opinion, and not allowing those Bruce nutters to shout it down by saying (and you can see the posts in this very thread!) that only handful of people thought him very poor. There were a huge number that thought him very poor, and they can't live with that.

[ml1dch]

There were a huge number that thought him very poor, and they can't live with that.

[Kyelo]

I know, the number of suicides this thread has caused amongst Springsteen fans is a genuine tragedy.

I would say that if you sit 50,000 people in front of pretty much any artist or gig then a huge number aren't going to like it. Why is this going to be any different?

The majority liked it, a minority didn't. Still a huge number, but still a minority.

I don't think that anyone would really disagree with that would they?

[eFestivals]

get a grip..... at least try and understand what I'm saying

I'm trying to understand how you think you can prove that one act is better, or performs better, than another. If you don't understand what you're saying, then I'll stop trying

We got onto this tangent because you claimed that no one could do better than Bruce did with so many curious but non-fans there. So it was YOU who was first claiming to be able to say one act is better.

I simply ran with the idea you'd already put forwards, and via your own idea, I say Jay-Z carried it off better. My own experience of chatting to randoms hugely bares this out, because nearly everyone I asked came away from Jay-Z having found some of it enjoyable, while the same simply wasn't true for Jay-Z.

And just to back this up....

the point is (as I've said) no-one will ever get as many curious fans as Bruce did. It was inevitable that many would leave after they'd seen some of him.

to which I replied:-

sorry, but I don't think that's true. Jay-Z must have had many more "curious" attendees than Bruce did, yet seemed to hold onto the crowd far better, and IMO turned off far less with his performance than Bruce managed.

[Kyelo]

is that it? you don't like the fact that some people think he's the best live act in the world???

[thegremlin_1999]

i appreciate i'm a bit late to this convo, but...

i have to say i loved it, i'm in no way a bruce fan, but the man put on a SHOW and i really enjoyed it. was also suprised by just how many songs i actually DID know...

[sifi]

sample lyric to make point

...in the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat....

IS NOT A BLAND way of describing an extremely popular and widespread adolescent act

The Wrestler

...My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display...

IS NOT A BLAND way of representing the utter despair and hoplessness felt by a broken man [down and out wrestler]

These are but two brief snatches of a Springsteen lyric to make a point regarding blandness. They attain a level of non-blandness most other artists would kill their neighbourhood website administrator to have written. There are literally thousands more of a corresponding standard. Hence the chagrin of so many within this thread who follow the work of this rare artist/performer. Unlike your goodself who knows jack shit about him yet feels justified in maintaining a pathetic and unfounded stance of derision of the fella's reputation and artistic ability.

[eFestivals]

you've just been saying how he was out-performed... must be some new equation where this can be worked out

a Glastonbury crowd isn't some kind of bench mark where all artists should be measured

Why are festivals popular?

In my opinion, one of the main factors is that a great festival performance is better than the best gig performance by the same act. This is because at a festival the act isn't playing to a full house of their already adoring fans, and if they can win over the neutrals then it takes the show to the highest level.

Many acts have done this over the years; some have built a hugely successful career based largely on a stunning festival show.

A Glastonbury crowd is a benchmark for Glastonbury. Against that benchmark, Jay-Z beat Bruce for winning over the crowd via their performances, because few left Jay-Z without feeling they'd seen something worth seeing while the same isn't true for those that went to see Bruce.

(I've already acknowledged this isn't a perfect measure because the crowd was not made up of the exact same people. But it's a measure never the less).

While you and other Bruce nutters simply won't accept it, on near enough any measure outside of the obsessed, Bruce wasn't that great. Get used to it!

[ml1dch]

If somebody is built up to be that great then they better deliver, many were left uninspired. Most other acts are better than expected because they ain't bummed up that much, he was in reverse for many.

Edited July 1, 2009 by ml1dch