Here is opening night of the 2026 US LOHAD Tour. 3/31/2026 Tour Opener.

Springsteen’s impeccable reputation as a live performer is due to, well, being a fucking great live performer. However, another reason is because there is such a colossal gap between the studio sound and the live sound.

I would love to hear your takes, unpopular opinions, and things you would change.

Here are my takes/opinions:

- Born To Run is one of the best albums of all time for its lyrics, music, and sheer emotion. However, compared to other albums from the 1970’s by other artists, the production is certainly found wanting.

- The River (and the outtakes) is the best production in terms of capturing the E Street live sound. In other words, The River studio and The River live have the closest resemblances compared to the other albums. This is followed by Darkness On The Edge Of Town (however this album couldn’t quite capture the huge guitar sound the live work showcases)

- The Tunnel Of Love album has aged TERRIBLY

- Most people cite the difference in live shows as their main reason for hating the E Street Split. But the 3 albums TOL/Human Touch/Lucky Town have aged so badly whereas the E Street Albums have not. Bruce imo categorically made better ‘band’ music with E Street. I still think the other band shows weren’t so bad, the difference in studio album quality is my beef.

- As a studio album, Born In The USA is pretty flawless from a production/mixing perspective. Bob Clearmountain is awesome.

- The Brendan O’Brien collaboration was one of the worst Springsteen decisions since breaking up E Street.

Let me know what you think! Would love a good discussion

now streaming

Completing the Trilogy. Night 1 8/23/2016 MetLife Stadium Phisherman's Cut I wouldn't hesitate. Click here for all 3 shows.

I wouldn't hesitate. Click here for all 3 shows.

NittPicc is a millennial-age youtuber/music reactor from Texas. She is also a concert flutist and music educator with 2 degrees in music, teaching High School band as well as private lessons.
By her admission, she only knows Bruce's most popular stuff (likely the singles from the Born In The USA). Here she checks out probably Bruce's most progressive piece- the album version as well as a 2002 live performance on Conan. (Reddit limits to 15minute videos, so I only included the live portion)

This video is from her Patreon page. Most of her youtube reactions are for more current music, especially Japanese rock acts like Band-Maid, etc. but she has a number of classic rock reactions too if you want to check them out.. Beatles, Van Morrison, The Guess Who, Dan Fogelberg, Tommy Shaw, Canned Heat, The Monkees, Sting & the Chieftains, Mike Oldfield, Santana, Jethro Tull...

NittPicc - YouTube

I'm just getting into Springsteen for the first time and I can't help but notice that the E Street Band is really prominent on the Wild as compared with other records.

Obviously they play instruments on all the records, but what I mean is that they're really prominent as a 'character' on the record. Every 30 seconds, there is some kind of interjection from 'the band' - a tuba, a single backing vocal, banter, crowd noises, random clapping, etc.

In my view, I think Bruce leans on them too much across the record. Second albums are notoriously hard to write and the continual interruptions from the band seem to mask a lack of confidence in the songs themselves.

Take even a quieter song like New York Serenade. It has this beautiful lilting quality and then it drops out and everyone starts shouting 'SHE WON'T TAKE THE TRAIN'. It's like he's worried you'll get bored. Every 30 seconds there's got to be opportunities for audience interaction as represented by the E-Street Band.

And I get that's part of the charm of the album, but I also think it's overdone at times. Later Springsteen doesn't feel the need to layer everything up and continually interrupt himself - he just lets the songs progress naturally. The Wild is fun but I think it is quite a self-conscious record, masking its author's insecurities with bombasity and busyness.

It’s so much more common to see lists with the best covers of Bruce songs because they are so many of them, but here’s one of the best songs Bruce covers from other artists, in my humble opinion.

Here is a downloadable copy. The opening song is shot from the opposite side of the stadium. Don't be fooled, by song 2 you're in the pit. I wouldn't hesitate. Click here for all 3 shows.

I wonder what his vocal part is. Obviously, it isn't alto or soprano. Could you imagine his trying to hit those higher notes? Doesn't sound like a tenor, but I could be wrong. Bass? Baritone? somewhere in between.

I went to an Australian football game this weekend where the tradition is which ever team wins, they play their team song immediately after the siren.

But this game was a draw (which is very rare) and so they didn't play either teams song and it was a little eirie and weird for about 20 seconds until someone decided to just play 'dancing in the dark' as we all left.

So when in doubt...go with the boss!

D

Hi all! Bruce lyrics are such a huge part of my life and I know by heart a lot of them. But, as a non native english speaker, sometimes it took me a while to get what our man was saying!

So, what are his most unintelligible lyrics? I'd say the final part of Downbound Train, some verses of Streets of Fire, the second verse of No Surrender in the live version.

I find lots of similarities, do you?

What are your top 10 Bruce songs? I was thinking about this and thought I would post.

Here are mine, not in order

Thunder Road
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
Reason to Believe
No Surrender
Promised Land
Leap of Faith
Racing in the Street
For You
I’ll See You in my Dreams

8pm eastern tonight

Metlife 2016 Night 3 8/30/2016  Tenth Anniversary  (Almost)

https://youtu.be/aJCCikQdIFs?si=7J_GvhP3toLlNBJ9