The live show that made Bruce Springsteen cry
Any live performance tends to be an emotional experience for those involved. As much as fans might like to watch their favourite band play songs note for note whenever they walk out on stage, a specific emotional game is played between the band and the audience, feeding off each other’s energy to create an uplifting musical experience. While Bruce Springsteen has had the utmost reverence for the live stage, one band was enough to leave him in tears.
When looking at Springsteen’s setup, though, it’s hard not to be emotionally moved whenever he stepped out on stage. Throughout his decade-long career, Springsteen has been known to squeeze as much emotion out of the E Street Band as he can, whether that was his brotherly relationship with Stevie Van Zandt or wrapping himself in the arms of Clarence Clemons at the end of every show.
Like all aspiring rockers in the 1960s, though, Springsteen was changed when he heard the British Invasion for the first time. Taking the sounds of American blues and rock and roll, acts like The Beatles were enough for Springsteen to put down his school books and strap on a guitar, looking to make his trade by shaking the rafters of every dive bar that would have him.
As much as Keith Richards and John Lennon may have been able to stir excitement in anyone with a pulse around that time, another major piece of Springsteen’s musical palette was the world of R&B. From the sounds of Motown to the soul music of Ray Charles, Springsteen understood that it was as much about the emotion behind the song as it was about playing all the notes correctly.
Looking back on his upbringing, though, Springsteen felt that seeing the soul duo Sam and Dave perform for the first time completely devastated him. Having been known for their interpretations of soul and blues standards, Sam and Dave always put a healthy dose of swagger into their sound, always delivering their songs with an underlying layer of cool.
Once Springsteen got a taste of what the duo could do onstage, he was profoundly moved by what was happening, saying, “They weren’t getting along, but they were still incredible, you know? So incredible that one night, I stood in the back of a tiny club that was only half full. I knew I was seeing some of the greatest music in the United States [at] that very moment. And I just cried, you know?”.
Outside of the raw emotion behind the songs, Springsteen would also be paying attention to Sam Moore as a band leader. Working his backing musicians down to the bone, Springsteen would understand the importance of having to suffer for one’s art, eventually pushing his band to their limits when making their commercial breakthrough, Born to Run.
Although Sam and Dave’s inspiration might turn in some of Springsteen’s more rhythmic tunes like ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’, it was always about what could be done on the stage rather than just musicians playing in a row. Anyone could play songs correctly if they practised hard enough, but in Springsteen’s mind, any song performed without passion was just a waste of time.
