35 years after Jon Landau wrote "I've seen the future of rock and roll....and it's name is Bruce Springsteen," Super Bowl halftime shows will never be the same. My teenage son told me the reason I liked Bruce's performance so much is that he didn't muck it up with lots of extras (except of course the pyrotechnics). The teenager also felt that the set was incomplete without "Born in the USA," but I had to explain that we all have mixed feelings about that song (Bruce especially) ever since the Reagan campaign of 1984.
Springsteen has always been about the basics; straightforward story-telling lyrics surrounded by good old fashioned hook-laced music, delivered with the pure energy and fun that is at the heart of rock and roll. When he's strayed from that (mid '90s without Clarence on tour, Bruce and Patti covered those sax solos with guitar......and nobody ever came to a Springsteen show to hear them play guitar), he's been much less successful.
Yes, the reason that Bruce and the E Street Band changed the game for Super Bowl half-time shows is that they kept things simple, and were true to themselves as performers. No overblown U2 power anthems; no weird phallic guitars from Prince; no wardrobe malfunctions; and no mummy-like Tom Petty (dead or Canadian?) performances this year.
Proving once again that less is usually much, much more.
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2 comments:
Did you know that Jon Landau graduated from Lexington High School in 1964? Isn't it ironic?
Thanks for that info...no I had no idea. Glad my kids are getting such a good education
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