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In an exclusive Backstreets interview, Springsteen talks about the tour and says Magic was "built for it."
The release of Bruce Springsteen's Magic isn't the only thing to look forward to on October 2 -- there's magic in the night, too, as an extensive E Street Band tour kicks off that evening in Hartford, CT.
The opening leg has Bruce and the band playing 16 North American cities through November 18 in Boston. Just after Thanksgiving, a European jaunt with 13 stops begins in Madrid and runs through December 19 in London. [Full itinerary appears below]
Springsteen and the E Street Band played a brief series of dates in 2004, but their last full-scale outing was the tour for The Rising in 2002 and 2003. Since that time, Bruce has continued to tour extensively: as a solo artist in 2005, and with the Sessions Band last year, playing, as he put it at the time, everything that leads to rock music, but not rock music.
Reminded of that now, Springsteen says emphatically, "Yeah -- I'll be playing the rock music this time. " He laughs, adding, "In case anybody's wondering."
Speaking with Backstreets by phone as tour preparation gets underway, Springsteen makes it clear that he tapped his rock side for Magic, an album meant to be played live: "It's just built for it," he says. "I wrote with a lot of melody, and with a lot of hooks, and there's a lot of band power behind the stuff that I wrote this time out. So I'm excited to hear that come straight off the band."
The 2007 E Street Band line-up will be the same as on in 2002-2003 -- including violinist Soozie Tyrell, a veteran of the Rising tour and of last year's Sessions Band. Though not mentioned in today's press release, Springsteen confirms, "Soozie will be with us."
He still raves about the Sessions Band -- "a tremendous discovery, and just such an amazing group of musicians" -- and says he looks forward to working with them again. But when he refers to "the band," it goes without saying that he means E Street.
"The band is the band, you know?" Springsteen says. "It's the only place where I really do the thing that I suppose that I'm most known for, which is... it's a peak experience."
For Springsteen, transition between styles is second nature. He's been doing it to a large degree since 1982's Nebraska, his stark solo record between the big E Street blasts of The River and Born in the U.S.A. As his sonic repertoire expands, his commitment to performance -- whatever the sound may be -- remains constant.
"For it to be really great, you've got to be 100 percent committed at that moment. So when you're in it, that's all there is," he explains. "I think that's what it takes to be really good. So I'll just lose myself in whatever form I'm working in at any given moment. And the other things seem distant: 'Oh yeah, I like to do that too, and I like to do that too...' But really, I'm very comfortable moving between all the different formats that I play in now."
In fact, it's much like -- and as easy as -- shifting gears. It's no surprise to hear Springsteen employ a car metaphor, with the E Street band as the hotrod, as he looks toward reconvening the band for tour rehearsals.
"First of all, we start playing just to feel the machine again," he says, describing what happens after they initially plug in. "You've gotta drive it a little bit before you push the envelope on it." While Springsteen recorded Magic with the E Street Band, the studio process had them laying down tracks individually; September rehearsals will bring them back together to work up the new material as a unit. "We may run through a few things we know, just to reacquaint ourselves with the sound and the power of the band. How it moves underneath you, and everything. That's sort of the first thing I do, I refit myself into that bucket seat. 'Oh yeah, okay, now I remember...' And that takes all of about 15 minutes."
After that? Well, it's early enough that he's not ready to say. "I don't really go in with any rigid ideas. I'm interested in seeing where the music is going to take us and where the band feels best.... I think the initial thing you try to do is to find a place for a lot of your new work. I'm excited about that. We played a lot of The Rising on the [2002-2003] tour because, once again, it was stuff that just played really well live. We've got that again in spades on this record.
"And then you've got to see what people respond to. I have a good idea, but it's still a conversation with your audience. And when they start listening, and talking back, then different things come to the front."
How about "The Price You Pay," from The River, which hasn't made a setlist since 1981?
"It's become a thing just because I haven't played it," Bruce laughs. "If I had played it, nobody would give much of a damn if they heard it or not! Just because it hasn't been played.... You know, my recollection is that it's been a while since we've played 'Crush on You.' And I'm not sure that one's going to be popping up in the set any time soon, either, you know?"
But it could, and that's one of the things that has had fans itching for the E Street Band to hit the road again -- the idea that anything can happen. "We leave the door very open, because over the course of a long tour, we end up playing so many songs.... obviously, we try to make the shows unique. I've got a lot of songs that I'm carrying around at this point, and it's fun to get to them as the tour goes along."
When Springsteen got the band back together in 1999, part of the joy of the reunion was the very fact that everyone was able to reunite. Sure, available, and arguably playing better than ever, but at a very basic level, alive. Many bands haven't been so lucky, a quarter-century down the road. Another eight years along, gearing up for the Magic tour, it's still the case.
"That's something that you become more grateful for as time passes," Bruce says. "You know, I just lost Terry [Magovern], my great friend of 23 years. That was a big loss. And so you're aware that things are finite. The band really did take care of one another over the years, and like I've always said, it's one of the things I'm proudest of. And I continue to be. I mean, there are a lot of ways that life can take you, and you never know what tomorrow brings. So to have that kind of stability -- and not only that, but also that the personal relationships remain so thoroughly enjoyable -- it's a great gift."
All things being finite, does it enter his mind that this could be the last time out? A "farewell tour"?
"Oh, I'll never do that, man -- you're only gonna know that when you don't see me no more."
Of course, no doubt -- but for the E Street Band as we know it?
"Hell, I don't know," Springsteen laughs. "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour. That's the only thing I know for sure."
-interview by Christopher Phillips
For the full interview, subscribe to Backstreets Magazine!
We'll be printing the extended Q&A of Springsteen's second-ever Backstreets interview in the next issue, publishing in September.
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31 Nights to Rock
The 2007 E Street Band itinerary
Here's what we've been waiting for. And if you don't see what you've been waiting for... like hey, no shows south of D.C.?... don't worry just yet: If history serves as any guide, Springsteen and the E Street Band won't be calling a halt to the new tour after two-and-a-half months. We fully expect to see this machine motoring well into 2008, hitting more cities (and countries) as they go. But for now, at last, here's the full 2007 rundown.
October 2 Hartford, CT
October 5 Philadelphia, PA
October 9-10 East Rutherford, NJ
October 14 Ottawa, ONT
October 15 Toronto, ONT
October 17-18 New York, NY
October 21 Chicago, IL
October 26 Oakland, CA
October 28 Los Angeles, CA
November 2 St Paul, MN
November 4 Cleveland, OH
November 5 Auburn Hills, MI
November 11 Washington, D.C.
November 14 Pittsburgh, PA
November 15 Albany, NY
November 18 Boston, MA
November 25 Madrid, SPAIN
November 26 Bilbao, SPAIN
November 28 Milan, ITALY
November 30 Arnhem, NETHERLANDS
December 2 Mannheim, GERMANY
December 4 Oslo, NORWAY
December 8 Copenhagen, DENMARK
December 10 Stockholm, SWEDEN
December 12 Antwerp, BELGIUM
December 13 Cologne, GERMANY
December 15 Belfast, IRELAND
December 17 Paris, FRANCE
December 19 London, UK
That's 31 nights to rock -- and then some, I'll bet, with room in the schedule for additional two-fers in some cities. Be sure to stay alert for added shows once tickets go on sale.
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