4 April 2008
Bruuuuuce
Posted by Dirk under: music; musings .
Most of the people that might read this know already that Bruce Springsteen is my perennial ‘favorite musician’. His older stuff is comfort music for me, the aural equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I’ve listened to Born To Run, Nebraska, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, and Greetings in every mood and state of mind. From dead drunk to sober, from depressed and maudlin to the peak of manic happiness.
I consider myself a big Springsteen fan, amongst my own little tribe, but out in the real world, I’m not a big Springsteen fan. I’ve only been to a few of his concerts. I don’t really own any Springsteen ‘stuff’, beyond the cds and a concert t-shirt I bought years ago that never really fit me. I don’t collect tons of Springsteen bootlegs. I don’t have an opinion on what is the best live version of ‘Thunder Road’.
I just like the music. And Bruce, in the few interviews or public appearances I’ve seen him in doesn’t seem like a raging prick, so that’s good. It would be hard to reconcile his lyrics with a raging prick writing them, but I suppose it could happen.
This post is brought about because recently Springsteen and the E Street Band put out a new album and are touring and tonight they are playing the closest show to me, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. I had thought about going to see this show. I have been to the Arco Arena only once before and that was also to see Bruce and I wasn’t too impressed with it as a music venue. But what the heck.
Then I got online and saw the ticket prices. A hundred bucks for nose bleed seats. I’m talking about the top row balcony seats, where you have to have faith that the people on stage really are who they claim to be, cause they just look like little LEGO people. The seats that are the reason for the gigantic screens above the stage.
I’m really disappointed in Bruce for these ticket prices. I don’t know how much control he has over such things but you would think he had some. I really doubt he needs the money that bad. He’s made his career as being a musician for the working class people out there and now he has these sort of ticket prices? True, it could be worse, but 100 bucks for these stadium seats is outrageous.
So I’m not going to see Bruce. I’ve still got the music. Maybe I’ll listen to some of it tonight when he’s playing in Arco. Maybe some bootlegs.
On a similar note, we did just buy tickets to see R.E.M. when they come to Berkeley in a few months. Those tickets were about 60 bucks each (plus all the charges Ticketmaster tacks on. 10 bucks for a ‘convenience charge’…. wtf man?). Those are a birthday present though, otherwise I probably wouldn’t go for them either.
Early in the morning factory whistle blows,
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes,
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light,
It’s the working, the working, just the working life.
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain,
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
End of the day, factory whistle cries,
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.
And you just better believe, boy,
somebody’s gonna get hurt tonight,
It’s the working, the working, just the working life.