The show so good it got Bruce Springsteen fired: “It’s a bar, you idiots”
If there is one thing Bruce Springsteen will be recognised for when he sadly shuffles toward the pearly gates, it is that he put on an incredible live performance. The artist certainly has a plethora of impressive records, and his songwriting skills are honed like a perfectly lathed spindle for a wagon’s wheel, but it is the moment he steps on stage and provides three hours of unbridled entertainment that will be the most permanent mark on his legacy.
An artist who makes Paul McCartney shudder is an artist who deserves their flowers, and Springsteen left the former Beatle in a cold sweat after he saw ‘The Boss’ perform. McCartney isn’t afraid to take a show to the nth degree either, but he hasn’t even been fired because a performance was simply too good.
The moment arose when Springsteen joined his soon-to-be E-Street Band stalwart and guitarist Steven Van Zandt to play at a bar alongside New Jersey musician Southside Johnny. “The place was packed and we rocked the joint like old times, with the crowd cheering, everyone glued to the stage and the music,” Springsteen shared in his memoir Born to Run.
At the time, as a struggling musician, such a performance usually meant a run of bookings and some nearly-comfortable income on the way. As such, Springsteen and Van Zandt headed to the back of the club to collect their wage and their praise: “It was a great night all around. At the end of the evening, Steve and I headed back to the manager’s office to pick up our money and obviously solidify some future bookings. We’d just turned this club inside out, and we were expecting some kudos and work.”
Sadly for the duo, the owner of the bar, Terry McGovern, met them with an ashen face and declared that while he would pay them for their services, he wouldn’t be rebooking the band: “Expressionless, he stood on the far side of his desk and did not offer kudos,” the ‘Born to Run’ singer wrote.
“We asked what the prospect for future bookings would be and he calmly explained to us that there would be none,” it was a dagger to the heart of the young musicians’ prospects. “He said that yes, the crowd was large and enthusiastic, but no one was drinking. They were too busy listening to the music. He then added, as if we hadn’t noticed, ‘It’s a bar, you idiots.’ They made money by selling liquor. The bartenders made money from selling liquor. No liquor sales meant no money.”
It was a hard lesson for the young singer to learn. He had been quietly announcing himself as one of the best bar performers in the state, but if he continued to make such a raucous impression and leave tills empty, he wouldn’t be able to make any sort of appropriate living. The truth was, he needed to escape the clutches of the bar scene and move on to better things. It wouldn’t take long for him to do so, and with the release of his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, in 1973, he never went back to the bar.
