Caryn Rose's Blog, page 14

The Springsteen Guide to New York City

Based on questions I have answered over the years, I decided to put together this list of important Springsteen-related sites in New York City. You could do this in a couple of hours. You also don’t have to do all of them. These are the top highlights I can think of as well as things I have been asked about over the years.

GETTING AROUND:

Walk. Don’t take taxis. Walk or take the subway. There is no better way to understand New York City than to walk the streets.

PLACES BRUCE HAS PLAYED:

Listed...

HOW TO SEE ASBURY PARK IN AN HOUR OR TWO [WITHOUT A CAR OR A TOUR GUIDE]

[Written primarily for my European friends heading to the U.S. next week for the shows at the Meadowlands.]

I know everyone loves traipsing around Asbury Park with organized tours. You might think that it is complicated or difficult or even a little scary to visit Asbury Park on your own, but nothing could be further than the truth. You do not need a car, you just need time, since the train (which leaves from Penn Station on 33rd Street in Manhattan) takes a little while. It’s not a bad train...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, 9-3-12

Bruce walked onstage all by himself and began the show with a solo acoustic “Factory” (dedicated for Labor Day), and I started to get goosebumps. Every show I have been to recently where he has begun the night in this fashion has always been off the charts. Bringing the band on next and pushing these dirty, snarling noises out of the guitar could only have been “Adam Raised A Cain,” and the flame was lit here for real. I am somewhat of a connoisseur of this particular number (some might say o...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, 9-2-12

No matter what else changes in the world, Philly remains Philly in the Springsteen pantheon. The day started with the GA line cordoned off directly next to the field, where we could hear “None But The Brave,” “The Twist,” and “Love Train.” Then we were lined up along the concourse inside the ballpark while Bruce and the band completed their soundcheck. (The lateness of the soundcheck probably prompted the likely record-breaking 4 profanities uttered on either side of the words “New Jersey Tur...

MLB’s “Land of Hope And Dreams” spot

The edit of the song RUINS the song completely. It chops it up and ruins the momentum and grace. Plus the need to literally put trains in the beginning of the song… well, it’s typical MLB to do something so lowest common denominator, but I can’t believe that Bruce approved it.

It is one way to get your music in front of a new audience.

The worst part is seeing a MLB logo superimposed on Roy Bittan’s piano and a Springsteen song turned into a commercial for the Yankees.

If you liked M...

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How Not To Write About Female Music Fans

Michael Hann, in the Guardian, about Gaslight Anthem:

The girls in the front row at the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are gazing up at Brian Fallon, singing every word back at him.

There were no men in the audience doing the same thing? Because at most Gaslight shows I go to, the entire audience is singing every single word back at the band. And what were the men in the audience looking at? Were they reading their email or something?

Finally, unless the females were under the age of...

How To Drive Cross-Country By Yourself

This is written in response to Molly Templeton’s call for submissions in response to the New York Times‘ How-To issue.

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Everyone should drive cross-country at least once in their life. Driving with a friend or a car full of people, it’s a life-changing experience. But by yourself, it is a moment of reckoning. Those hours and hours and hours behind the wheel with only yourself and your iPod playlist are as transformative as round-the-world travel.

The changing landscape, the weather, the horiz...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, RDS Arena, Dublin, 18 July 2012

The rain had stopped and the skies had cleared and we heard the guitar before we saw Bruce coming out onstage, strumming “This Hard Land,” solo acoustic, for Dublin. “This Hard Land,” and suddenly no opening song could possibly be any better for any place, and we knew this one was going to be a keeper.

Just in case we weren’t sure, he led with the powerhouse, reeling in the crowd: “No Surrender,” “Two Hearts” (with extra oomph from Stevie), “Ties That Bind,” so that when he went into WTCOOO, t...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, RDS Arena, Dublin, 17 July 2012

# OF SIGNS MENTIONING CURFEW OR PULLING THE PLUG: 22 (that I could see, anyway)

# OF UNNECESSARY SIGNS: The Irish flag someone wrote “Waiting For A Sunny Day” on

SIGNS TAKEN BUT NOT PLAYED: “The Promise,” written by a fellow from the Netherlands that we all helped get Bruce’s attention for

I probably expected too much from Dublin, and am also probably very, very tired (we have reached an all-time low when I am literally sleeping on the pavement in the middle of the barricades after the 1:30pm ch...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Hard Rock Calling, Hyde Park, London, 14 July 2012

When the alarm rang at 4:50 a.m. Saturday morning, I confess that my first thought was that getting up early to queue for the Hyde Park gig was one of the dumbest decisions we had ever made.

This was a long, long day. The gates opened at 12. We queued around 6 and had a fair position in the line, or a reasonable chance at the least. There was a lot of running (about 1/4 mile approximately, and I am not lying when I tell you that I have been training for this specific run since December...

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