In 1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on their first concert in England. The show, which was filmed and would go on to become a live album, was not a pleasant one for Springsteen. He was nervous about the show, and the way the theater welcomed him did not help.
He shared why the celebratory way the venue advertised the show infuriated him. Bruce Springsteen was not happy ahead of an early concert When Springsteen arrived at the Hammersmith Odeon theater in England, he winced at the way the venue advertised his act. “As we pulled up to the outside, the brightly lit marquis reads, ‘FINALLY!! LONDON IS READY FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.
’ Reflecting, this is not exactly the tone I’d have preferred been struck,” he wrote in his book Born to Run . “It feels, perhaps, a little too ..
. presumptuous? Once I am inside I am greeted by a sea of posters on every available flat surface and in every seat proclaiming me THE NEXT F***ING BIG THING! The kiss of death!” Springsteen wanted his performance to speak for itself. He believed that telling the audience he was the next big thing was embarrassing.
It was up to the crowd to determine that for themselves. “I’m frightened and I’m pissed, really pissed,” he wrote. “I am embarrassed for myself and offended for my fans.
This is not the way it works. I know how it works. I’ve done it.
Play and shut up. My business is SHOW business and that is the business of SHOWING ..
. not TELLING. You don’t TELL people an.
