#nils lofgren

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Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons, and Nils Lofgren performing in Japan during the Born in the USA Tour, April 1985. Photo by Neal Preston.

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Nils Lofgren, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen in 1986 ©️ Ken Friedman

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Bruce Springsteen with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Nils Lofgren - Hungry Heart (1986 Bridge School Benefit)

[the-hottest-band-tournament]

Round Two

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 

Defeated opponents: Prince and The Revolution

Formed in: 1972

Genres: Rock, rock and roll 

Lineup: Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, keyboards

Clarence Clemons – backing vocals; tenor, baritone, and soprano saxophones; percussion

Garry Tallent – backing vocals, bass

Roy Bittan – piano, accordion, keyboards

Danny Federici – backing vocals, organ, accordion, electronic glockenspiel

Max Weinberg – drums, percussion

Nils Lofgren – backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, accordion

Patti Scialfa – harmony and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, synthesizers

Albums from the 80s: 

The River (1980)

Born in the U.S.A. (1984)

Live 1975/85 (1986)

Tunnel of Love (1987)

Propaganda: When you think of American rock in the 80s, you think of Bruce. And Bruce made the majority of his best music with the E Street Band.

Depeche Mode 

Defeated opponents: Anthrax

Formed in: 1980

Genres: Synth-pop, electronic rock, new wave, dark wave, alternative rock

Lineup: Dave Gahan - vocals

Martin Gore - guitar and keyboard

Alan Wilder - drums and keyboard

Andy Fletcher - bass

Albums from the 80s: 

Speak & Spell (1981)

 A Broken Frame (1982)

Construction Time Again (1983)

Some Great Reward (1984)

Black Celebration (1986)

Music for the Masses (1987)

Propaganda: The music. The LOOKS. The voice. (The sexual tension?) And they’re still going strong. My colleague saw them in the UK when they were only starting out and said they were so nervous. I find the juxtaposition of the confidence of their sound (not to mention the black leather) and that anecdote really endearing.

Visual propaganda for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:

Visual propaganda for Depeche Mode:

[zeroaddzero]

Bruce & Nils

[brucespringsteencomments]

[tryinginvaintobreathethefire]

this is SO funny

nils lofgren trying to convince everyone that he can totally be in two tours at once as long as he's given complete control of the schedules of two aging superstars

[seethesound]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 1988

[lookoutjoe]

BRIDGE SCHOOL BENEFIT 1986 — DVD (probably converted from VHS) of the Bridge School Benefit Concert on October 13th, 1986. Features performances from Neil Young + CSNY, Nils Lofgren, Don Henley, Tom Petty, & Bruce Springsteen. Notably this is David's first performance with Stills, Nash, & Young since his prison release.

[born-in-the-silver-springs]

Stills, Nash, Crosby, Springsteen, young, and Lofgren, 1986

[musickickztoo]

Nils Lofgren  *June 21, 1951

[metalmusicwhore]

ITS JOEY KRAMER AND NILS LOFGREN’S BIRTHDAY TODAYY YIPPIEEE YAYAYA EVERYONE SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THEMMM🩷🩷

[krispyweiss]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio, April 21, 2024

As he led the E Street Band through “Twist and Shout,” Bruce Springsteen betrayed a roached voice much as John Lennon had when the Beatles cut their version 60 years earlier.

But, like Lennon’s, Springsteen’s voice benefitted from its battered state - conveying joy and conviction, not exhaustion.

The house lights were on and the heart-stoppin’, pants-droppin’, hard-rockin’, Earth-quakin’, booty-shakin’, love-makin’, Viagra-takin’, history-makin’ - legendary - E Street Band had already been on stage for three hours April 21 as it played its twice-postponed-in-2023 gig inside Columbus, Ohio’s, Nationwide Arena to close the U.S. leg of its 2024 spring tour. Springsteen, who at 74 retains the energy and voice - acrobatic with guttural growls and falsetto cries - of a much-younger man, was sweat-soaked, his tie tucked into his blue shirt, his vest now removed, returned alone to close the show with an acoustic version of “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

Death is not the end, he sang, while proving the life-affirming nature of live music.

Though the band could’ve phoned it in, the expanded 18-piece - augmented with four-voice choir and five-piece horn section - instead brought a loud hailer, opening the 30-song, 185-minute set with a grimy version of “Youngstown,” the first of a handful of tour debuts that included “Streets of Fire” and “I’m Goin’ Down.” That some songs were slowed by a quarter-step seems to have been the only acknowledgement of age.

So, if these guys are actually taking Viagra, it isn’t because of on-stage impotence. The band is so hot that even relatively weak songs like “Bobby Jean” and “Dancing in the Dark” are splendid in the moment.

A few scattered empty seats did nothing to temper the raucous atmosphere inside the hockey arena. Fans hoisted signs - “I’m Mary, thanks for all the songs” was among the best - and Springsteen sung a line of “Thunder Road” to a woman who’d been dancing furiously in front of the stage all evening, causing her to light up like a strobe. Though there was no crowd surfing during “Hungry Heart” - dude is 74, remember - Springsteen did go into the audience during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” as images of late E Streeters Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici shone on the house video screens.

Back on stage, the living celebrated being alive. Steven Van Zandt played a guitar emblazoned with the Ukraine flag during “No Surrender.” Fellow guitarist Nils Lofgren spun like the Tasmanian Devil as he unspooled his “Because the Night” solo. And Jake Clemons served as Springsteen’s saxophone-blowing foil and conjured Uncle Clarence’s spirit throughout the night, thus garnering some of the crowd’s loudest adulation.

One of those moments came during a religious-experience rendering of “Spirit in the Night,” when Clemons sat on the stage and Springsteen literally leaned on his bandmate. The music temporally settled before exploding like a supernova and the climax. This was the greatest E Street moment Sound Bites has witnessed since the Band reunited for the 1995 Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Last Man Standing,” with Springsteen on acoustic accompanied by trombone, was a nod to his earliest bandmates, all gone now. “Trapped” was a singalong on the choruses. “She’s the One” borrowed the Bo Diddley beat. “Wrecking Ball” transformed the arena into the charismatic church of E Street. “Rosalita (Come out Tonight)” found the group mugging and celebrating with the faithful on a small chunk of stage that jutted into the general-admission pit. And the vaunted “Detroit Medley” once again demonstrated that if you have rock ’n’ roll in your life, your life has the potential to be heaven at any given moment.

Grade card: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Nationwide Arena - 4/21/24 - A

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

4/22/24

[i-will-talk-fish]

Nils Lofgren _ Valentine

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