Saturday afternoon in my Man Cave, as the rain beats on the windows, and I’m playing music. Not just any old music, mind you, but some very special music; one of the best albums of 2019, Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars.
When I first bought Western Stars, I wasn’t sure. Springsteen with a full orchestra? It won’t work, will it? It’s just too different. But that which made it different made it very special.
The Boss has long been on my bucket list to see live. I know that he is right up there with the greatest talents in the history of music, along with Dylan, the Stones, but not the Beatles because no one comes near the Beatles in greatness. (That is a fact, by the way.) I do want to see him live but I doubt I ever shall.
You see, I have an aversion to stadium shows. I have been to a few, starting in 1975 at Wembley Stadium with a bill that included Elton John, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Joe Walsh, Rufus feat Chaka Khan and Stackridge. It was very hot, too, and I was overdressed, although it was the largely undressed woman next to us I remember most. We were a football pitch length from the stage, with no large screens to show us what the hell was going on and a sound system that left everything to be desired.
It put me off large shows for years and with the exception of Take That (twice, don’t ask), I’ve never done a stadium show since. Nor shall I, ever again, except maybe for one person. And it won’t be Springsteen: it would be Macca.
That would be solely so I could see a Beatle in concert, the man who wrote Hey Jude and Yesterday. Far more than a bucket list, more a ‘I was there’ moment.
Springsteen is too ‘big’ in terms of popularity to play shows in small venues. The sheer cost of touring would probably render it unprofitable for him. So, if he tours it will be football grounds again, somewhere I will have to stand in all winds and weathers, probably 100 yards away from the action.
In the meantime, I’m listening to the mighty Western Stars again. It’s a great record and I just wonder how he does it, making great records over and over again, yet still sounding fresh and relevant.
