A really super nice post from backstreets.com
KABOOM!
“The (boom!) highway’s (booom!) jammed (ba-boooom!) with broken heroes…” So that was one thing you don’t see every day — or any day — at a Springsteen concert: pyrotechnics.
And then there were the horns, seen rarely (unless it’s 1998, 2006, or a holiday show), and a choir, seen even more rarlely (unless it’s the Lincoln Memorial… or a holiday show). But other than these bells and whistles (and fireworks), maybe the most remarkable thing about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s remarkable Super Bowl halftime show was how much it felt like a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show — compressed into twelve minutes.
You had exhortations (“Put down the chicken fingers!”), knee-slides (and a surprised camera operator, we’ll bet), Bruce and Steve at the mic, a Big Man sax solo (5-1 odds, are you crazy?!), a corny costume moment (not a bear, a ghoul, or a Republican, but a ref), the return of the Esquire, and “Boss Time.” A few lyric changes reminded us where we were — “Scooter and the Big Man bust the Super Bowl in half”… “I had a friend, was a big football player” — but really, this was a Bruce show in microcosm, and successfully so. For regular fans, of course, it felt like a great show intro — right outta the gate, bam bam bam (boom!), and we’re ready for Bruce to address the crowd — “Hello Tampa!”– before bringing on the rest of the 2:48.
But really, a lot of the fun was trying to watch through the eyes of those unfamiliar with the drill, as this was Bruce and the band’s biggest world stage by far. And we’ve gotta think those uninitiated were left wanting more, as the old showbiz saying suggests, just as we were — a good thing, except for the impact it may be having on ticket sales this morning. (Not to mention BTX traffic — we’re working on that one.)
For a show that had to be micro, necessitating cut verses and a bit of a rush, Bruce succeeded in packing in the fun and the feel of “the real thing,” and the transitions were as smooth as Charlie’s pate. A non-stop house party from beginning (the iconic silhouette of Bruce and Clarence, recalling the Born to Run cover) to end (for the record, Bruce did work up a sweat in just 12 minutes — there were beads on his forehead by the end). The breakdown:
- Tenth Avenue Freeze-out – 4 minutes
- Born to Run – 3 minutes, 40 seconds
- Working on a Dream – 1 minute, 40 seconds
- Glory Days – 3 minutes, 20 seconds
- 20 seconds of outro/applause and out at 13:05
Says Steve, “Yeah, baby!” Says Bruce: “I’m going to Disneyland!” Says Costas after the commercial break: “We’re still buzzing about Bruce Springsteen at halftime.” And for all the reasons cited why Springsteen decided to do the Super Bowl, “mercenary” and otherwise, there was clearly one more: to show ‘em how it’s done.
- February 2, 2009
