Zeiten ohne Tour sind sein Kampf
Er ist kein "Großer" im Stillsitzen
von backstreets
News Updated December 31, 2009
AND WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT TOMORROW...
It'll be the start of a brand new decade. Happy new year!
We close out a year in which Bruce Springsteen has gone from one high to another, beginning with a Super Bowl halftime performance viewed by 95.4 million, and ending with a high honor in our nation's capitol, with an international wrecking ball of a tour in between. Oh, and he played "The Price You Pay" — twice.
It's also the close of a decade: one which began with the E Street Band newly reunited and on the road, and ended with them, despite the significant loss of Danny Federici, still making good on Springsteen's promise of Rededication ten years prior. For Springsteen himself, the decade was the busiest touring-wise since the '70s: he was on the road in nine of these ten years, whether with the E Streeters, the Sessions Band, or solo. Arguably beginning with his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in '99, the oughts found Springsteen's visibility, viability, and reputation surging, cresting once again after the "lost decade" of the '90s; in terms of productivity, this period was unprecedented.
What might the next ten years bring? Well, tomorrow never knows... but let's hear it from the man himself:
I have all the tools I need: I could play by myself; I could play with the Sessions Band which I'd like to do again; and the E Street Band is in full power, and I certainly want us to go out and continue touring. As far as songwriting, I don't worry about that anymore for some reason — when I hit my fifties a lot of the insecurities fell away. I no longer have to work so hard to carve out my initial identity. That's there now, so I can drift left and right and then come back to the center with the band if I want to.... The writing has become very enjoyable and joyful and not particularly difficult — and the record-making now happens within a month.... I've got things going already. I have songs I'm writing and all different kinds of things —
time off is always my struggle. I'm not great at sitting still, I have to practice doing that.
Read more from Bruce — looking back, looking forward, and "the lessons of the decade" — from Brian Hiatt's interview backstage in Buffalo, online now at Rollingstone.com.
Thanks for riding the rails with us in 2009, have a happy and safe new year!
- December 31, 2009