Lofgren riffs on Harley gig

Springsteen guitarist admits he was born to rock, not ride

By DAVE TIANEN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/
dtianen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 28, 2008

Nils Lofgren (left) joined the Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band when Steve Van Zandt (right) took a leave of absence. Van Zandt is back and Lofgren is still with the band, too. They'll play here Saturday.


Saturday night at Veterans Park may be a little different from the last time the E Street Band’s Nils Lofgren played a biker show.

"I have not played a Harley event," the Springsteen guitarist recalled, "but I had a power trio back in the '90s, and we did go play something called the Bulldog Bash in the countryside in England, which was like a three-day biker festival for thousands and thousands of the hard-core biker gangs all the way to yuppie London bikers and everything in between. . . .

"It was pretty bizarre. They said, 'You've got to wait for your opening act,' and I said, 'Who's our opening act?' I thought it might be some band that I'd like to listen to. They said, 'Oh, the bikers hired a bunch of strippers to open for you.' In true biker fashion, not only were they the opening act, but they went on after us. At that point, the bikers had a bit of booze in them, and I'm sure they thought, 'Yeah, that power trio stuff was all right, but what happened to the strippers?'

"So, yeah, it's not my first biker event."

Biker Bruce

Unlike booking a certain English piano player who will remain nameless, there is a clear logic to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing the 105th Harley-Davidson Anniversary Celebration. Not only has Springsteen written as many road songs as anyone in the business, but he's a two-wheel Milwaukee iron man himself.

"Bruce is a big Harley rider," Lofgren said. "He has a collection of beautiful motorcycles, and he goes out and he's ridden all over the country."
Lawrence Kirsch, author of "For You," a new coffee-table book of fan photographs and memories, says Harley has found a man who walks the walk and rides the ride.

"It's just a great fit," Kirsch said. "I have shots of Bruce riding to clubs in New Jersey on his Harley-Davidson. He rides a Harley. That's a fact. They couldn't have done better. I don't believe there will be a single person leaving that show unsatisfied." ("For You" is available at http://www.foryoubruce.com/)

Summerfest Entertainment Director Bob Babisch, who helped book some of the other Harley entertainment shows, shares Kirsch's optimism.
"His music is about the open road and freedom," Babisch said. "It's just a perfect fit for Harley-Davidson. It fits that demographic, and I think it'll be a great show. I just wish I could be there, but I can't."

Lofgren admires Harleys himself, and is coming to town a day early so he and his wife can make the rounds. Don't expect to see him on a bike, however.

"I personally got on a couple when I was younger and put them right down into the pavement, so I decided I'm a little too spaced out and there's too many notes running around in my brain for me to safely drive a Harley," he said.

Springsteen could do an entire set of road songs. Lofgren doesn't anticipate that, but he predicted Springsteen will come up with a set list tailored to the occasion.

Harley 105th
Illustration/Theresa Schiffer

Big crowds, big energy

The crowd for Saturday's Harley show could max out at 70,000 people, which would put it in contention for the largest rock concert in Milwaukee history. It would be nothing new for Springsteen and the E Street Band; they recently played for a couple of 70,000-plus crowds in Barcelona, Spain.

Lofgren finds such huge shows both exhausting and energizing.

"Mainly, the stages are so much bigger, more for Bruce," Lofgren said. "He runs out to the wings. He puts up podiums out there and goes down and literally just throws himself into the audience. . . . No one does it better than Bruce. When I see him hoofing it out there to each side, I'm glad it's him and not me.

"The band's in fabulous shape. Offstage, we're like a M.A.S.H. unit now, with the heating pads and pain shots and ice packs. It's hilarious how beat up we are, but once we hit the stage, we're roaring."

These have been trying times - both emotionally and physically for the E Street Band. In April, keyboardist and accordionist Danny Federici, who had played with Springsteen since his first high school band, died after a three-year struggle with cancer.

"It's been a brutal loss, a brutal chapter," Lofgren acknowledged. "We loved Danny. I spent 25 years up on his drum riser playing with him. I couldn't think of a better way to navigate a really depressing loss other than to have music to play."

Charlie Giordano, who played with Pat Benatar in the '80s, has been filling in for Federici.

Lofgren first joined the E Street Band as a replacement for Steve Van Zandt when Little Stevie took a temporary leave of absence back in 1984.

Aside from the stretch during the '90s when the group disbanded, Lofgren has been with Springsteen's band ever since.

A native of Chicago, Lofgren has the distinction of playing for two of rock's most storied supporting casts: E Street and Neil Young's Crazy Horse.

Young start

Lofgren was just 17 when he joined Young as a guitarist and pianist just in time to play on one of rock's landmark albums, "After the Gold Rush." Lofgren toured with Young and backed him again on "Tonight's the Night" before going solo with his own band, Grin.

Lofgren recalls his apprenticeship with Young on his new solo album "The Loner: Nils Sings Neil." The project was suggested by Lofgren's longtime manager, but the guitarist was skeptical at first.

For a couple of weeks, he just practiced singing the songs in the morning for his dogs and cats. That seemed to go fairly well, so he decided to proceed with the album, but only in a very stripped-down format, just Nils singing and playing the Martin D18 acoustic guitar that Young had given as a present after the "Gold Rush" sessions.

An expert musician himself, Lofgren nonetheless has an appreciation for those who are less accomplished. Recently on his Web site (http://www.nilslofgren.com/), he started offering a series of guitar lessons geared to beginners. Lofgren is hoping to make music fun for new players with busy lives and little free time to practice.

"For 40 years, people have been coming up and telling me they want to play rock guitar for fun but they have no talent and they have no rhythm so they're not allowed to," he said. "I say, 'Look. I don't know who told you that, but it's not true. If you love music, and you want to play for fun you just need a good teacher and a little time.'

"They're hour downloads, and you can buy them every three weeks or whenever you need them. Every lesson, I'm trying to show people something they can do with one finger, that takes no practice, that feels and sounds like music and they can play along with me on the video and have some fun."