I was gonna respond to the thread about this over on the other place, but thought nah I want to talk about it here and pinched it. Credit, of course, to the lad who posted it on there, because it's a really fascinating and really enjoyable watch.
The major talking point is 2:50 where the stage invader nearly gets to Bruce, but he's stopped by absolute top boy Nils Lofgren 😎 Sometimes you'll see some people commenting on Nils' place in the Band minus, y'know, being the best guitar player in it. This is all the evidence you need to know why Bruce kept him in. Loyalty.
Also, Bruce just looking at the invader and proceeding to knee drop is an additional example as to why he's the coolest motherfucker to have ever lived. I thought of the Paul Simon performance in Central Park here, where he also came into contact with an invader. Quite a contrast. Anyway, want another example of Bruce being the coolest? Check out the dancing from 5:24, that's what his mam and aunts taught him!
Interesting to me that he just exited the stage and left the Band to wrap it up though, given how I've always been used to seeing him be the last one to leave. There's two schools of thought to it, I reckon: The move away from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band was emphatic; or for a nicer interpretation, it might have been Bruce Springsteen featuring the E Street Band on this tour, but he was damn sure going to give them their moment in the spotlight during it.
Not bad, although I rate Keith's form in Hampton 1981 better.
That was AWESOME.
Nils is not a large person. And that dude was way bigger than him or Bruce--he looked bigger than two of the security personnel. And yet look at our boy boxing him right the hell out! And how quickly he picked up on the threat! Damn, yo! Looks like all that martial arts training paid off!
(Yes, that's really Nils on that commercial, in case you've never heard it.)
Oh, and stage invaders were better in '78. Something something screw something something finale.