Bruce Fan Envy

Nice to see you posting again Billy .....I missed you !!!!

All this Broadway talk has reminded me I haven't played it in a while.

I've got some time to spare tomorrow, so I might as well listen to the entire thing on a walk.

Broadway was a show I never thought I’d ever see as a young fan. It’s as close to Bruce as I’ll ever get, and a rawness that’ll always be unmatched. I’m so grateful I saw the shows I did. It was worth every penny.

Precisely, the Broadway prices were simply on par to every other major show. I don't know why Bruce was obligated to lower his, not how it works.

I think Broadway was.......well, I can see why it divided. The ticket costs are tough to justify unless and until you look at other Broadway prices. Jeez, I recall what I paid for two "Phantom" tickets but it was my wedding anniversary and my wife had indulged me in two full Jersey days already on that trip.

One of them to do the Bruce tour - "This is a parking lot in a church, why do you want a picture here?" "Cos this is where his first house was" was a not untypical conversation - and she drove all the way because I was too chicken to drive on the wrong side of the road with those weird road signs.

The other Jersey day was to see the Giants beat Miami, complete with Victor Cruz's endzone salsa.

So I owed her the Phantom.......big style.

The Netflix thing, yeah again I can see both sides, but I loved it and had I made it to Broadway I'd have been in floods, no doubt.

My Bruce fandom is always there, it will never go. It's overtness will ebb and flow.

Two years ago I went to a school reunion. I met people I hadn't seen in 30 years, but we fell back in step right away and had a blast. The years rolled back and it was like we'd been apart for a day or so.

That's me and Bruce. We'll go periods without speaking but when we reconnect, it's like we've never been apart

Good to see you @Kay. It’s been a while!

"The dynamic rocker is now a senior citizen." Ouch, but true berlintramp.

Though not to sound ageist, nothing wrong with senior citizens, I will be one on the near horizon, but there is something sad regardless about this passage of time. Many of us have loved Bruce so much for his goofy theatrics on stage and the energy, don't know if I'll be able to adjust to the changes but I have no damn choice do I.

Scott P, thanks for the recommendations, you know your Suzanne Vega. And no, I've not heard those albums - very excited to do some diving in.

There is nothing Bruce has ever done, musically, that has disappointed me. I didn't see it coming every time (like Nebraska) but I could definitely understand why he sought alternative roads sometimes. The Seeger Sessions seemed very logical to me and, upon reflection, Western Stars as well. SoB came out of his autobiography, and was understandable in that line as well. My only regret is that I never got to see it in person, but the netflix film was a reasonable substitute.

My real regret is the passing of time. The dynamic rocker is now a senior citizen, and when I look in the mirror, I have aged right along with him. No use bemoaning that.

Things changed drastically with the Broadway thing for me. I was never a Gus, but that was the first time I was really disappointed in Bruce. I was only 10 when Human Touch came out, so...

I didn’t like anything about that project. I thought it was pretentious, self-centred and elitist. When the netflix special came out, I watched it once but was always incredibly bored, or embarrassed or disappointed.

It was around then that I came to terms with the fact that I was not going to like everything he did. That’s not an easy thing to do when you idolise someone since you were 6.

Let's see if the keyboard doesn't disappear on this thread as well, and good God it seems like it's been fixed. A massive day on the new forum for Android users.

Uhm, anyway, I don't get the same feeling listening to Springsteen that I did in 2012, but that's probably because I've listened to him every day since May 2016.

I'd say I'm still passionate considering that, the fact that I'm signed up to three forums dedicated to him now, and there's the whole blog thing too.

Hello @rachelharms! How lovely to see you here. Here's hoping you can get to where you want to be soon. X

I’ll always have a love for Bruce but these past 7 months of not being able to visit my home away from home have made listening to him a little bit painful and sad. Yesterday I decided to dwell in my sadness however, and listened to Nebraska in its entirety. 😊

Thanks for the great and thoughtful replies....great stuff!

It's good to know my slightly diminished 'fanaticism' for Mr. Springsteen is a fairly normal occurrence, My love for the tunes remains pretty strong...my desire and heartfelt hope that we get at least one more 'Full Band' tour is still intact.

But for a long time now I don't go out of my way to find out more than I already know about 'The Boss'...or track down new 'Boots'. Hell, with all the legitimately released stuff is there even a market for boots? I don't have a 'Bruce' room or wall...and I definitely listen to lots of other music. Maybe not a whole helluva lot of new stuff, but there's plenty of 'old' music I still love to dig into.

Now I think I'll put in the 'Ear Buds'....crank up a '78 'Prove It All Night'...close my eyes and try to remember what it was like hearing those notes in the early days...when I was a real fanatic...😎

The thing that turned me into the Bruce fanatic I am was hearing the live box set Thunder Rd for the first time. It would possibly be only a slight exaggeration to say it changed the way I heard music... it certainly increased many fold my appreciation of how a song or performance can hit emotionally. If I look at it, my fandom is possibly an exercise in chasing that buzz... hearing a new song, or a live performance, that moves me to my core. And I may have hopped off that train long ago if it wasn't for the fact Bruce keeps delivering for me. I can honestly say that every album and every live release has at least one song where, if I'm not quite getting the revelatory soul bending hit that TR gave me, I'm still getting something that convinces me Bruce's music is the most personally affecting I've heard.

I don't wake up and go to bed thinking of Bruce and I don't listen to him every single day. In fact recently due to events music is an occasional treat rather than the central aspect of my life it was before. BUT Bruce has a few centimetres of neurones in my brain dedicated to what his music has done for me and what it continues to do for me. I was never in a country practical for, or had an income available for the super fandom level of activities many others can involve themselves in but Bruce has been such a big part of my life. Or I would not keep coming back to a fan site when I have far important things I should be doing.

I have had a period when I asked myself why I was so utterly fixed on finding some word or song from Bruce that fitted every situation. I lost some of the urgency until WS came out.

There was a high, and now I have to pick my enthusiasm back up. Bruce looks and sounds old, now, and the fact is, the band isn't getting younger. Will we ever see a tour like the old ones? I don't mean the physical presence, but the intensity of performance?

I watched some of the old shows. I suppose they cannot be topped. I am resigning myself to a Bruce that matches my age now.

The tech people running this thing is @ibbhomero ... 😊

I too love rediscovering catalogs from so many artists, as said earlier, I'd forgotten about Suzanne's body of work until I heard Left of Center the other day, that led to Solitude Standing and so many more.

By the way, for you tech people running this thing, I somehow made two profiles joining this thing by google account, so if anyone can delete this one, thank you.

It is a valid point though. There aren't enough hours in the day to listen to all the incredible music and artists I love. There is so much more out there than just The Boss. He'd be the first person to admit that. And people grow and change. I never listened to Rosanne Cash 20 years ago. Now I listen to her almost daily. It's also probably one of the reasons I love Western Stars so much. I've enjoyed all of the releases post the Rising. Listened to a few several times. But none comes close to WS because that album speaks to me, who I am, now, in a way that, say, Wrecking Ball (great album that it is) does not.

One other thing, I've listened to some warhorses so much I need to give them a long, long break. My fault for overdoing it, but never thought I'd get to the point where I never really need to hear Badlands again.