BABY, THIS IS BORN TO RUN ...AND RUN!
GIG OF THE WEEK Springsteen On Broadway Walter Kerr Theatre, New York Until Dec 15
N★★★★o planes, no trucks, no sports grounds. No band, no backdrop, no screens. Bruce Springsteen, a past master of stadium rock, is now taking live music to the other extreme.
Five nights a week, in a New York theatre, he treats 900 people to a nearsolo gig-cum-talk, drawing on his bestselling memoir Born To Run. The Tonys, unsure how to classify it, gave the show a ‘special award’.
Whatever you call it, it’s the performance of his life.
Never one to do things by halves, Springsteen has signed up for 236 nights on Broadway. The total audience, about 210,000, is as many as he would normally cater for in three nights. Every show is sold out and prices are steep. I flew in and went straight to the box office, an hour before showtime. There was one ticket left, for $700, in Springsteen’s own box. It would have been churlish to refuse.
I sat next to Clodagh from Co. Carlow, also just off the plane. We were at the back of the box, which was mildly disappointing until a steward told Clodagh: ‘That’s where Obama sat when he was here.’
The audience is less blue-collar, more Brooks Brothers, but the affection for the Boss is unchanged. More than any other rock star, he is part of the fabric of his fans’ life. He has lived the American dream, while understanding the American nightmare. As he sings and chats and plays piano and guitar, you could be sitting on his porch. The 15 songs are autobiographical, starting in Freehold, New Jersey, with Growing Up and My Hometown. ‘I didn’t know anyone,’ he says, ‘who’d ever been to New York.’
The big numbers have to be smaller, which actually improves Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. Born In The USA, recast as a raw blues, is riveting; Dancing In The Dark, stripped of its Eighties sheen, is more soulful. When Patti Scialfa pops in to wrap her voice around her husband’s, Brilliant Disguise and Tougher Than The Rest turn into nuanced duets.
Full of one-liners, this is the funniest evening you can have with a superstar, but also piercingly emotional. As he depicts his parents, his marriage and his craft, Springsteen’s words are as moving as his music. You come away knowing him better and loving him just as much.