Bruce Springsteen General Discussion Thread

carolinespring

8mv wrote: »

I'm astonished that such a thing is possible - maybe I'm just too ready to put up with ****. I won't be accepting second rate seats anymore.

In fairness so was I. I was just so p***ed at dreadful sound again that I Pmed them and was delighted I got a response. I wonder how many other people contacted them as I know we where not the only people to be moved.

muddypaws

carolinespring wrote: »

As I said WE moved to the left of the stage as WE ourselves felt it was unfair on people who had waited in line all day. If you read my post it was not a case of not happy in my seat, the sound was dreadful, It was a good few seconds into each song before I could hear what it was. We paid €131 to hear the show.

The sound was dreadful and yes, I wanted to hear and enjoy the show. I was happy to get into the pit where I could enjoy the show.

Fair play to you, as someone who paid the same, I'm really impressed and pleased that you got to hear the gig properly, unlike us.

carolinespring wrote: »

In fairness so was I. I was just so p***ed at dreadful sound again that I Pmed them and was delighted I got a response. I wonder how many other people contacted them as I know we where not the only people to be moved.

I would never have thought of it, but couldn't get a great signal anyway lol

carolinespring

Stevie responding to a tweet asking if this was the last E Street tour. Hopefully more tours to go.

https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt?lang=en

RolandGoose

Well I guess I should start by saying I'm a big Bruce fan and I have seen himself and the E Street band a fair few times over the last few years. Enough to know the house lights are put on for Born to Run for the last 15 years at least! This is intentional. I guess the house lights were left on until the end as they take such a long time to light up in Croke park. I may be wrong, but I think Pearl Jam got the house lights thingy from Bruce.

Anyway I went to both shows over the weekend and was let down bitterly. The sound was very bad and I am pretty sure laying the blame on Croke Park solely is an easy way out. The speaker system was cranked up way beyond its capabilities. To the point of distortion, the Instruments were not eq'd right and melded into one another, ending up sounding like a big ball of noise. The guitars were painful at times. I find it hard to believe a spectacle of this size got such a shoddy arrangement. The blame for this imo lies with the sound engineers! Who I have long since been in disbelief of due to their poor performance!

I thought the concerts themselves were among the worst e street shows I have seen. The brutal sound left it difficult to salvage anything from the show. The band played excellently all night and never missed a beat. The setlist was pretty strange and disjointed, I didn't think it flowed well at all, certainly not for a mostly sold out 80,000 person stadium. I think Bruce was really struggling both nights, his voice sounded v much in the need of a rest and at times he gave off a look of wanting it to be over, of course this was well concealed behind the showmanship, I just thought there were moments that were telling. I may be wrong but I think all is not well on the E Street! I wish Bruce a speedy recovery and hope he will not be struggling through the rest of the tour! Bruce and the band on their day are second to none, these gigs which should have been the events of the year have ended up a very bitter memory for me!

cowboyBuilder

RolandGoose wrote: »

Well I guess I should start by saying I'm a big Bruce fan and I have seen himself and the E Street band a fair few times over the last few years. Enough to know the house lights are put on for Born to Run for the last 15 years at least! This is intentional. I guess the house lights were left on until the end as they take such a long time to light up in Croke park. I may be wrong, but I think Pearl Jam got the house lights thingy from Bruce.

Anyway I went to both shows over the weekend and was let down bitterly. The sound was very bad and I am pretty sure laying the blame on Croke Park solely is an easy way out. The speaker system was cranked up way beyond its capabilities. To the point of distortion, the Instruments were not eq'd right and melded into one another, ending up sounding like a big ball of noise. The guitars were painful at times. I find it hard to believe a spectacle of this size got such a shoddy arrangement. The blame for this imo lies with the sound engineers! Who I have long since been in disbelief of due to their poor performance!

I thought the concerts themselves were among the worst e street shows I have seen. The brutal sound left it difficult to salvage anything from the show. The band played excellently all night and never missed a beat. The setlist was pretty strange and disjointed, I didn't think it flowed well at all, certainly not for a mostly sold out 80,000 person stadium. I think Bruce was really struggling both nights, his voice sounded v much in the need of a rest and at times he gave off a look of wanting it to be over, of course this was well concealed behind the showmanship, I just thought there were moments that were telling. I may be wrong but I think all is not well on the E Street! I wish Bruce a speedy recovery and hope he will not be struggling through the rest of the tour! Bruce and the band on their day are second to none, these gigs which should have been the events of the year have ended up a very bitter memory for me!

Really sorry you had this experience, it's like a different gig you are describing.

Where were you sitting/standing ?

As for Bruce wanting it to be over ??

No way, he was just as committed and energetic as ever ...

EoineyM

I thought Sunday nights concert was incredible. I was upper hogan so was very concerned about the reports of poor sound from Friday's concert. Thankfully, with the exception of a a few seconds here and there, it was not an issue. The setlist was great, still can't get solo versions of Incident and TR out of my head.The crowd around us were really up for it. I brought my daughter along to her first Bruce concert and she is still smiling - the bar has been set high for future concerts she will go to! One very very very minor complaint I would have is the screens on either side of the stage. These were on Bruce for the entirety of the concert, even during sax, guitar solos etc. We could not see the screen at the back from where we were. While it is obviously great to see Bruce, I think it would be better to vary the images on the screens to give a more complete picture of the performance. As I say, just a minor complaint, overall another fantastic performance from Bruce and the ESB. Actually, as I'm Irish I will make another quick complaint - Bono could have learned the words of BTN - ok that's it, everything else was perfect.

cowboyBuilder

Going through this thread, I'm glad I wasn't in the pit, those signs would have done my head in - so disrespectful to other fans to have them up all the time like that, the larger ones should be confiscated and people should have the cop on to only hold them up between tracks.

twin_beacon

RolandGoose wrote: »

The sound was very bad and I am pretty sure laying the blame on Croke Park solely is an easy way out. The speaker system was cranked up way beyond its capabilities. To the point of distortion, the Instruments were not eq'd right and melded into one another, ending up sounding like a big ball of noise. The guitars were painful at times. I find it hard to believe a spectacle of this size got such a shoddy arrangement. The blame for this imo lies with the sound engineers! Who I have long since been in disbelief of due to their poor performance!

The sound wasn't too "loud", its the amount of echos created by the stadium that causes the distortion. The sound was indeed distorted, and the further back from the stage, the worse it gets, and some spots will be a lot worse than others. When we moved closer to the stage, the sound got better and clearer.

The Nal

eeguy wrote: »

Can't blame the sound solely on the stadium.

I've been to a few gigs in croker and it was never as bad as last night.

I was standing in the middle of the pitch and most of the songs were fuzzy, so much as to make them unrecognisable.
It seemed to get better as the night went on buy very poor show altogether.

Croker Park has been used as a venue for years so sound optimization should be well sussed out by now.

Every run of gigs there has sh1t sound. U2 on the 360 tour and in 05 did for example. Hence the "please not Croker" earlier in the thread from lots on here.

8mv

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Going through this thread, I'm glad I wasn't in the pit, those signs would have done my head in - so disrespectful to other fans to have them up all the time like that, the larger ones should be confiscated and people should have the cop on to only hold them up between tracks.

I agree to an extent, but they do serve the purpose of prompting a little-heard cover or album track from the band - what I heard of "Back In Your Arms" Friday night was superb. They should take them down at least at the half-way mark. I didn't see it myself, but I was told there was somebody waving a sign at the Thomond Park gig for the entire show with "Born To Run" on it.

Goreme

Dero123 wrote: »

Nils, Jake and Gary all have their own music coming out, in fact Nils had to cancel planned concerts in America when Bruce decided they were going to tour. I agree that he just doesn't know but you would imagine that if they all remain healthy they can't go without a final greatest hits tour.
A solo album next with a small scale tour in indoor venues I would image will be the next time we see him here, after that who knows but I hope we get the opportunity to see them again

I agree that his next tour will be a solo acoustic tour... hence no need to inconvienience any band members with soon to be (or delayed!) solo projects. Also from watching that man on Friday and Sunday, he is in great health, and lives for the live experience... there is no way that the next electric band tour by him will be his last.... they will remove Bruce from the stage in a box... when you the veins on the side of his head popping during a song like "Crush on You"... you know he lives for the live experience. The Artist, Les Paul was still playing live in clubs in New York City into his 90s. If Bruce Springsteen lives into his 90s he will definately be playing live somewhere. It might not be Stadiums, but the will be playing live to his fans...

Goreme

anna080 wrote: »

I must be the only one who enjoyed having the house lights on! I think it accentuated the electric and exhilarating environment

I liked it too. At that point all the people in the stands upper and lower seemed to be on their feet... it added to the sense of being a huge intense bowl of energy...

The Nal

https://twitter.com/LucaChinaski/status/737369061898719232

https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt/status/737376144899461121

poundhound

I bought a ticket for Sundays show.

I enjoyed it.

I will now move on.

The Nal

Hopefully he doesn't add too many more dates to this tour and gets the solo album out asap!

bcklschaps

Sunday was my 3rd Bruce concert (seen him in Hyde Park 2012 and Limerick 2013 previously). Hyde Park was special because the support was from John Fogerty (CCR) and they did a few duets together on the day.

Limerick was special because it was a scorching summers day and we had the BOSS in a provincial town for the first time.(Plus I was standing beside Irish Rugby Legend Peter "the Claw" Clohessy)

But as an overall concert experience Sunday topped them both.

Loved that we got Murder Inc, Youngstown and then that he played back to back, Working on the Highway + Darlington County. Acoustic version of Thunder Road was spell binding to finish.
Only regret was maybe that the sound quality over by the stands was pretty dodgey. (I later moved to center of the pitch and it was a big improvement... I think the mesh roof was echoning back the sound).

If I had any regrets setlist wise it was maybe not getting Atlantic City or I'm on fire. But overall that was a savage gig.

PTH2009

Take a guess who wants to come back now according to ****e second hand reports ???

He has a thunder road as well and friends in low places

retro:electro

PTH2009 wrote: »

Take a guess who wants to come back now according to ****e second hand reports ???

He has a thunder road as well and friends in low places

Would people still go? I feel like interest in him has soured since he threw all this toys out of the pram

RolandGoose

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Really sorry you had this experience, it's like a different gig you are describing.

Where were you sitting/standing ?

As for Bruce wanting it to be over ??

No way, he was just as committed and energetic as ever ...

On the Friday I had a great place in the pit, I thought the sound was painfully loud and when Bruce especially went for a solo it was v piercing. The vocals were muffled and unclear and there was no real definition between instruments. I maintain the levels were far too loud, pretty damn lousy if an engineer can't get the sound right for the pit, as they weren't a million miles away.

On Sunday I had hoped things would have improved, but sadly this wasn't the case. Sitting on the halfway line in the premium level Cusack stand the sound was v bad again right from the second song onwards! Incident sounded pretty great with just Bruce playing, when the band joined the sound once again became a bombastic mess. I went for a walk about and noticed things improved a lot in the Davin stand opposite the stage. Whilst the sound was better it was by no means good!

I have seen a number of concerts in Croke Park and this is by far the worst in terms of sound. It's an awful pity as I'm sure a lot of people seeing the E Street band for the first time will have been let down. The microphone Bruce was using for 10th Avenue on Friday was crackling as he sang into it, I felt it might have been damaged. But having seen the guys in the rds a number of times I don't think the engineers and PA system they use are up to scratch!

PTH2009

anna080 wrote: »

Would people still go? I feel like interest in him has soured since he threw all this toys out of the pram

People would very much go imo as the 2014 debacle has not really damaged much of his rep to his big fans and everyone will want to go to see him make up for the last time

And u have the event junkies who will once again jump on the bandwagon

Not too worry Garth will have a rep come out in a few hours and deny any reports of these Croke Park shows

mrk75

Really enjoyed Sunday's gig. Sounds was fine where I was standing thankfully and Bruce and the band sounded great.

Loved hearing the "good time" tunes from The River like Sherry, OITS and Two Hearts but real treats were the solo spots that book-ended the show. The little stories he told before and during Independence Day and Growin' Up were really touching also.

Also enjoyed Murder Inc, Youngstown and Darlington County and that's not counting stone-cold classics like BTR, Promised Land, Badlands, 10th Avenue, etc.

Great night. Thought Stevie was in good form too. Some good BVs and nifty guitar work too.

BullBlackNova

anna080 wrote: »

Would people still go? I feel like interest in him has soured since he threw all this toys out of the pram

I reckon most people in Ireland blamed Aiken/Croke Park residents for the debacle, not the artist.

Now why anyone wanted to go in the first place is beyond me, but if he could sell out 5 gigs the first time, he'd easily sell 2 or 3 this time - and I presume that's all they'd announce too.

Still, I reckon its a non-runner - Croker has used its gig allocation for the year with Bruce and Beyonce hasn't it?

Callin Baton Rouge

BullBlackNova wrote: »

I reckon most people in Ireland blamed Aiken/Croke Park residents for the debacle, not the artist.

Now why anyone wanted to go in the first place is beyond me, but if he could sell out 5 gigs the first time, he'd easily sell 2 or 3 this time - and I presume that's all they'd announce too.

Still, I reckon its a non-runner - Croker has used its gig allocation for the year with Bruce and Beyonce hasn't it?

If it does happen, it will be 2017. It makes sense, it will be the 20 year anniversary of his last Croker gig and he has hinted before that he would like to get back. The story doesn't make much sense to me though and it's only the one source - The Sun Newspaper!

PTH2009

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Still, I reckon its a non-runner - Croker has used its gig allocation for the year with Bruce and Beyonce hasn't it?

id say it would the 3 shows in 2017 that would be allocated to brooks.

also hoping the Guns N Roses would play Croke Park next year but id say they might go to the aviva

the story though about brooks is from very unreliable sources (The sun, Joe.ie, Goss.ie) and as i siad earlier brooks management will come later and say No plans are being made for an Irish show

cowboyBuilder

anna080 wrote: »

Would people still go? I feel like interest in him has soured since he threw all this toys out of the pram

I would love to go to Garth Brooks and get hammered drunk and ruin it for as much fans as possible!!

since the Garth style fans were doing the same last weekend :D

endofrainbow

Last night, we had seats in the lower hogan stand, sound was bad, not as bad as Friday but still dreadful. About 15 minutes in I PMed Aiken on Facebook and asked to be moved after 15 minutes they got back to us and asked us to come to a customer care point. We did and they give the option of different seats or to go into the pit. We chose the pit and was escorted into the pit by a Aiken rep and a security guard to just before the main stage, slightly to the right hand side 4 rows from the back from the stage. We felt guilty as it was clear that people who had waited in line for hours has been moved to let us in so we moved towards the left of the stage. Great view of the stage and of Bruce and he came past. Was delighted and the sound was perfect.Great atmosphere and the sound was perfect.

I sent a stinker of an email to Aiken Promotions Sunday lunchtime, got a mail back a couple of hours later inviting me to attend Sunday's gig *as a good will gesture* , unfortunately, I wasn't in a position to get to the concert so it seems they were aware of the various issues and taking the flack for a problem that should never have happened in the first place.:mad:

Goreme

PTH2009 wrote: »

Take a guess who wants to come back now according to ****e second hand reports ???

He has a thunder road as well and friends in low places

Would this be the guy who said no to the compromise idea floated of doing two show in the same day, because he said it would compromise his artistic integrity. Then the same guy proceeded to play numerous double show on Friday and Saturday nights across America. And for the next coming year still has numerous double shows planned for Fridays and Saturdays across America... he's some cowboy.

Callin Baton Rouge

Goreme wrote: »

Would this be the guy who said no to the compromise idea floated of doing two show in the same day, because he said it would compromise his artistic integrity. Then the same guy proceeded to play numerous double show on Friday and Saturday nights across America. And for the next coming year still has numerous double shows planned for Fridays and Saturdays across America... he's some cowboy.

Two stadium shows in Croke Park is totally different to 2 shows in a 20,000 seater arena though.

Callin Baton Rouge

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

I would love to go to Garth Brooks and get hammered drunk and ruin it for as much fans as possible!!

since the Garth style fans were doing the same last weekend :D

What does this even mean? What is a Garth style fan and how did they ruin it for you?

I'm genuinely curious since I was at the Bruce gig and I'm a Garth Fan!

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

To be fair, I would have paid E20 for a pitt pass if it prevented all that queing

Pit passes were gone by the time I arrived, I asked one of the security guards are there any to buy he quoted me 20. Happily paid it. Unreal gig and to be that close for an extra 5th of the price of the ticket was nothing to me for the memories.