I'd punch the fucker if I could. The buck stops with him. He chose the most cynical way to do it. Spending the majority of the early part of the tour on the East Coast, letting millions of us on the west coast high and dry. NYC, Philly, hell...Long Island...anything he can fly a copter to. Fuck off. I am tired of supporting this crap.
That sound you hear is the end of the greatest band I ever saw or heard. Giving in to the industry and ripping people off. FUCK YOU BRUCE. Jon is just a yes man now.
You all know how much I love them, and consequently, I am more let down by this than anything he has ever done. You can add up all the missteps going back to the poorly recorded shows in 2014. Then add no west coast dates then. 2016 was a waste of time in comparison, then the best shows were in the late summer and if you wanted to go, you needed to fly to Jersey or Philly. We on the west coast got fucked over. Then add the narcissistic self-serving mythology bullshit of Broadway. yes, I said it. Fuck you, Bruce Springsteen.
I don't disagree that he comes across as rich and in a bubble. And on the one hand, should we be surprised? There's that great story from years ago about when Noel Gallagher met him for the first time, and how he kind of fell in love with Bruce, due to how much of a hardcore music fan Bruce is. But the thing that always hit me, and which I don't recall anyone else mentioning, was that when Bruce arrives at the restaurant--which was in the south of France or Italy, if I recall correctly--it's on a yacht that pulls right up to the restaurant, said yacht belonging to and delivering Calvin Klein.
Now. On the one hand, most of us on here think Bruce is either the greatest or at least ONE of the very greatest live acts of the past 50 years. And don't we think people should be compensated for their work? Whether blue collar or artist? And from the bit we've learned over the years, we know that everyone in what will be a very, very large band this time out will be very nicely compensated--in some cases, seemingly, because they won't be getting another payday like this, possibly for another six years, if ever. I don't doubt Garry, say, does fine between tours, but it's also not hard to imagine that a tour like this will equal the next (or previous) five years combined for him, never mind Jake or Soozie.
Finally, as disappointed as I am by all this—and I am, I really truly am—one of the thoughts that comes back to me again and again is that he's seemingly happier as a person than he's ever been before in his life. And the "things were better in 1978" or '81 or '84 or '87 or 1999 or 2012 or whichever time period you personally think was the best, well, whichever it is, unless it's after 2014, we now know there's a very good chance he was in a terrible place, mentally and emotionally. Meaning the Bruce most of us love best was a desperately unhappy one. And the one who's finally—in what is essentially his old age—finally happy, is the one who's disappointed us.
I hate being disappointed. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm not. (You might also think I'm being flippant or attempting to be humorous, but I'm really not.) But for years I've had the very conflicty feeling that my being totally happy with Bruce almost has to coincide with his being very unhappy, and that's...not a great feeling. Maybe, on balance, it's okay that I can't afford to ever see him again if it also means he's not so depressed he's incapable of getting out of bed for years.
I mean.....this whole shitshow would've been tempered by one statement.
"We're aware of the negativity and controversy surrounding the current ticket sales model.
We will undertake a full review and learn lessons for future tours "
Non-committal but empathetic (to a point).
Say's what it needs to say while saying fuck all.
Yet they seem intent on doubling down........
A Ratner-esque level of PR competence.
And that’s another take-away. An amiable enough old guy that has entrusted the day to day to the organisation. Maybe that’s a necessity for him now, but it ain’t doing his rep much good.
Please Bruce Inc. stop with the tone deaf PR, read the fucking room.
Based on his Rolling Stone interview, he doesn't seem to give a shit.
Just chilling here in Aussie land waiting for my chance to get pissed off at Bruce ticket prices and the fact he ignored Adelaide this time (which I have a bad feeling is a given for some reason)...
Yeah, I doubt Landau will let him anywhere near proper journalistic scrutiny.