Spiringsteen

[TheSeventhOne]

Oh dear.

Can I make a guess that you're a Kiss fan? Or perhaps you've not heard the Kiss original?

Outside of anything I might think of Bruce, that song has got to be one of the most torturous and gawd awful songs I have heard in my 44 years.

[The Nal]

Oh dear.

Can I make a guess that you're a Kiss fan? Or perhaps you've not heard the Kiss original?

Outside of anything I might think of Bruce, that song has got to be one of the most torturous and gawd awful songs I have heard in my 44 years.

[jackass]

bruce springsteen is a bit crap i.m.o.

[GlastoRulz]

My take on this - not specific to just Bruce but for all acts (and is the reason why I love festivals) - is that the most fun of all is from a crowd that isn't purely made up of an act's fans, but where the act is able to win over those non-partisan fans. It takes the atmosphere waaaaay beyond what is generated by just an act's existing fans.

This is what Bruce failed to do at Glasto, but which plenty of other acts of all kinds have succeeded in doing over the years.

Edited August 21, 2009 by GlastoRulz

[tevaburger]

amazing that this is soon to hit 50 pages...even if most of it is Neil ripping the Boss for the 3.5 mins he watched. totally justified, we all have opinions, and that's what this forum is for.

regardless of whether you enjoyed it or not, it was a truly historic glasto moment. It was a rushed set, since he came on a bit late and had the curfew to deal with. but i think it was a solid Glasto gig. up there with Radiohead in '03. amazing. better than Macca in 04 for sure.

am lucky to be seeing the Boss on Sept 30, Oct 3 and 9 all at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. a different crowd entirely, with everyone there being die hards. But the Glasto gig will always be with me. enjoyed thoroughly and hope it converted a few doubters.

[Billy09]

amazing that this is soon to hit 50 pages...even if most of it is Neil ripping the Boss for the 3.5 mins he watched. totally justified, we all have opinions, and that's what this forum is for.

regardless of whether you enjoyed it or not, it was a truly historic glasto moment. It was a rushed set, since he came on a bit late and had the curfew to deal with. but i think it was a solid Glasto gig. up there with Radiohead in '03. amazing. better than Macca in 04 for sure.

am lucky to be seeing the Boss on Sept 30, Oct 3 and 9 all at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. a different crowd entirely, with everyone there being die hards. But the Glasto gig will always be with me. enjoyed thoroughly and hope it converted a few doubters.

Edited August 22, 2009 by dr_billy

[josephg]

nice. If I've annoyed you please let me know where, and how. I've never set out to insult anyone, just express an opinion on these boards. You got a problem with that, tell me what it is.

[Billy09]

i´m sorry mate, that was meant for ´efestivals´

[grumpyhack]

Come on Children. Can't we call this quits?

All we have established is that Bruce is a Marmite Musician - you either love him or hate him.

I love him, my eldest daughter hates him. So what?

Having said that, at the risk of prolonging the discussion, I think there are some artists who have to deal with an image issue that goes beyond simply their music.

For example Bono and Sting have clearly aligned themselves to issues/causes to such an extent that it's hard to think of them any more simply in the context of their music. For some their championing of causes has made them even more popular whereas for others they are now up their own backsides.

Sometimes the image becomes so strong that it destroys your ability to simply listen to their music.

This may be an extreme example, but recently my wife went to the Cavern Club during a visit to Liverpool. On the wall outside they have bricks signed by most of the 'names' who have played there. Two of the bricks have been removed - those signed by Gary Glitter and Jonathan King.

Now the music they produced hasn't changed but their images are now so sullied that they are no longer celebrated. That's certainly a case of image coming before music.

Edited August 24, 2009 by grumpyhack

[eFestivals]

on the vast majority of occassions (in my experience), any given (established) act will not be at their best at a festival. There are time restrictions, hardly any time for a proper sound check, etc, and at best, you'll get a reasonable example of what they could be like. This is why the Bruce fans might not have been slightly disappointed with his set.

I'd disagree striongly with that, from my own (I suspect far greater) festival going experience.

The ones that can't cope with such a horrible () scenario as a festival are the acts that are used to having their every wish pandered to. They're no longer musicians that just go out and play, they've forgotten what being a musician is actually about.

[eFestivals]

you'd be surprised at how many festivals I've been to... possibly not as many as you, but I'd bet I've been to far more concerts, so who's in the best position to compare?

I never used the word 'horrible', so I don't know why you have. I just pointed out that it puts different restrictions on what is available. If you think something as basic as a sound-check can be dismissed, then you don't know what it's like to perform live.

I've also played at loads of festivals... you?

The 'horrible' was a pisstake of performers who can't cope with festivals.

And yes, something as basic as a soundcheck can now pretty much be dismissed. Things have moved on at festivals (and playing live in general) an awful long way from where they used to be, it's not still the eighties.

[eFestivals]

PS... I know some acts have given great performances at festivals, but 9 times out of ten, they'll do better ones at their own shows...

Hmmm .... is the performance better, or is it simply that it seems like it is, due to there being 100% fans of the band in the audience?

I've seen plenty of bands playing badly go down a storm at their own shows as well as bands playing fantastically well barely move a festival crowd because (for whatever reason) it was the wrong festival crowd.

Edited August 28, 2009 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

so why do bands bother with sound-checks at their own shows?

tradition, and because they can.

The fact is that at festivals, the first few songs end up being the sound-checks in reality, while the sound engineer gets his ears round what's going on

every band now have their stage plots and audio set-up sheets and what have you, so there's very little to be done - just some very minor tweaking to get what they're wanting from an unfamiliar sound system (but where the worst of them are normally of far better quality than near-enough the best there was 15 or so years back) and environment. As I say, things have moved on an awfully long way from where they were.

[eFestivals]

it's because the act has the freedom to do what they strive to achieve in their performace... the time limit being one of the biggest limitations.

aside from the likes Bruce, there's few acts at the top end who want any more time at a festival than they get anyway.

Mostly when they do want extra time it's the result of the crowd's reaction to that performance, so it's wanting it on the end and not the beginning .... and of course, with most standard venues having a curfew, and the band having planned their slot to play up to the curfew, there often isn't the possibility of extra time on the end for them in venues either, outside of perhaps an extra five or ten minutes.

[eFestivals]

Well Brian Wilson had a fraction of the time he had at his own shows, same with Arthur Lee, The Who, ermmm ... most acts really

While Brian Wilson might like to think of himself as the sort of act who should be at the top of the bill at somewhere like Glasto, he defo shouldn't be, so he wasn't. And anyway, a man who doesn't know where he is ain't so likely to realise how long a slot he's got.

Simple fact is that all acts get plenty long enough for them to be able to show what they can do, so if they're not able to convice a crowd in 45 minutes they ain't gonna do it in 90 minutes. If you're so impressed after their festival slot and want to see more, then you can go see them at a gig.

I use what I see of bands at festivals as a way of finding out if an act is worth shelling out for to see them at one of their own shows. I'd say, as a generalisation, that if a band can't win over a festival crowd to some extent then they're unlikely to be worth seeing at their own show.

[The Nal]

I'd say, as a generalisation, that if a band can't win over a festival crowd to some extent then they're unlikely to be worth seeing at their own show.

[eFestivals]

mmmm funneee..

I never sugested he should have had a higher slot on the bill, and I doubt anyone with him would have thought so too. My point was that usually you get a better, fuller (whatever word you want to use) performance at their 'own' shows/concerts

longer, perhaps, yes.

"Better" simply comes down to how up for it and on-song the act is on any day. If they can't put the same efforts into festivals as they do their own show then they shouldn't play festivals.

(And I wasn't being funny. Last time I saw Wilson he thought he was somewhere where he wasn't).

not always. Wilco (for example) will have only just finished warming up in 45 minutes. You'll get an 'idea', but not a very accurate one.

if he wants to the bore the crowd for the first 45 minutes and have them lose interest then he can't really go complaining if everyone walks away.

Edited August 28, 2009 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

If you're vaguely suggesting that Bruce didn't put his all into his performance, then you're wrong.

I wasn't suggesting that in the slightest.

But now you've mentioned it, I'd hate to see him on a bad day.

... whatever...

You might be prepared to sit thru a torturous act until they finally get going, and I might even do that on occasion, but the vast majority of people wouldn't.

[The Nal]

How was he (<snigger>) last night?

[eFestivals]

who said anything about being torturous???

you have a funny way of interpreting what people are saying sometimes

If an act isn't at top form then it can be performing at level right down to torturous. I was simply cutting to the chase.

[eFestivals]

As I said a while ago, some performances are like films,

Perhaps that's why you like Bruce and I don't then, cos I don't do films at all - I've watched only one in at least several years.

When I go see a band I want to be entertained, I don't particularly want their full life story.

[eFestivals]

How was he (<snigger>) last night?

btw, I do know that Wilco is band not a person (tho I bet I still look just as foolish making this statement, cos no one will believe me ), and must have been half asleep .... tho Wilco do always make me think of Wilco Johnson at first before I realise it's not him; I guess that's what went on in my brain here.

[eFestivals]

you don't 'do' films?? how odd

heaven forbid you might be presented with something more than a bit of entertainment

anyway, plenty of entertaining films out ther that aren't someone's life story

Odd? What's odd about preferring reality to fantasy? Films - of all sorts - simply ain't my thing.

[The Nal]

(I'm a bigger fan of reality myself..)

[grumpyhack]

Reading through this and several other 'what you thought of band x, y or z' threads is leading me to the conclusion that your enjoyment of a band can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you start out disliking a band you'll probably find things in the performance to confirm your hostility. If you're into a band you'll probably overlook any shortcomings in the performance.

That's not always the case, I know, as people have been converted by a really good show. But, and this isn't a get at Neil, Springsteen would have had to have given the performance of his career to win him over. In the same way I, as a Springsteen fan, was disappointed by his Glasto appearance but still remain a fan and would still go an see him again.

If you set out expecting to be disappointed you probably will be.

The real joy comes when seeing a band you've never heard of and have no preconceptions about and being knocked out by them. A couple of examples for me at Glasto have been Rodriguo y Gabriella and Gogol Bordello. In my ignorance I didn't know of them or anything about them before stumbling across magnificent sets.

PS Couple of milestones. 1,000 posts on Springsteen and my 700th overall.

Edited August 29, 2009 by grumpyhack