Bruce Springsteen Was ‘Pissed’ and ‘Embarrassed’ Ahead of 1 Important Concert
In 1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on their first concert in England. The show, which was filmed and would go on to become a live album, was not a pleasant one for Springsteen. He was nervous about the show, and the way the theater welcomed him did not help. He shared why the celebratory way the venue advertised the show infuriated him.
Bruce Springsteen was not happy ahead of an early concert
When Springsteen arrived at the Hammersmith Odeon theater in England, he winced at the way the venue advertised his act.
“As we pulled up to the outside, the brightly lit marquis reads, ‘FINALLY!! LONDON IS READY FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.’ Reflecting, this is not exactly the tone I’d have preferred been struck,” he wrote in his book Born to Run. “It feels, perhaps, a little too … presumptuous? Once I am inside I am greeted by a sea of posters on every available flat surface and in every seat proclaiming me THE NEXT F***ING BIG THING! The kiss of death!”
Springsteen wanted his performance to speak for itself. He believed that telling the audience he was the next big thing was embarrassing. It was up to the crowd to determine that for themselves.
“I’m frightened and I’m pissed, really pissed,” he wrote. “I am embarrassed for myself and offended for my fans. This is not the way it works. I know how it works. I’ve done it. Play and shut up. My business is SHOW business and that is the business of SHOWING … not TELLING. You don’t TELL people anything, you SHOW them, and let them decide.”
Before the show, Springsteen ran around the theater, ripping down every poster he found.
He said the performance felt awkward
While Springsteen got rid of the offending posters, he wasn’t able to shake the feeling of uneasiness that they brought him.
“By showtime, I’m f***ed,” he wrote. “I’m pathetically wrecked and nervous.”
He said the feeling in the room was uncomfortable when he took the stage, and he struggled to set this right.
“On this night, my problem is that during the performance I am in and out of myself for a while in a most unpleasant way,” he wrote. “Inside, multiple personalities are fighting to take turns at the microphone while I’m struggling to reach the ‘f*** it’ point, that wonderful and necessary place where you set fire to your insecurities, put your head down, and just go. Right now, I can feel myself caring too much, thinking too much about … what I’m thinking about.”
Despite this feeling, Springsteen said that when he watched footage of the show years later, he felt pleasantly surprised by how good the band sounded.
Bruce Springsteen swore he’d never have another concert like this
Immediately after the concert, Springsteen said he felt disappointed in the effort he put forth. He excused himself from the post-show party and reflected on the night.
“On the edge of my bed, underneath a cloud of black crows, I promise myself I will never be joined onstage to such a degree by my infidel again,” he wrote. “I tell myself there is plenty of time to listen to my own voice, to its often sage advice, just not once I’ve counted my band in. There’s no time for reading the wallpaper in my fabulously fertile and forever-doubting mind.”
These days, he finds a sense of relief and exaltation when he gets onstage.
