Dirty Does The Boss
Messrs frontman Dirty Mac attended Bruce Springsteen’s recent Hampden concert and also played Splendid Dead’s Springsteen tribute night, so who better to post a review two weeks too late alongside another track from Messrs’s soon to be released BOSS-ANOVA EP? Here they are:
I am sitting at the very back of Hampden Park, site of some of the greatest and some of the worst moments in my short life. And Bon Jovi concerts. Lots of them. Anyways, so I’m in row Q at the arse end of the stadium watching a slew of ants dancing around a stage very…very….slowly and they appear to be playing Bruce Springsteen songs. They start off with Badlands which sounds a zillion times better live than on record cos Ant-Bruce doesn’t sing like he’s had a surprise anal intrusion.So, yeah the ants sound pretty good – even if the sound reverberates of the stadium walls creating a weird echo sound that makes some songs almost unrecognisable (as opposed to the songs which were unrecognisable due to me not knowing them, of which there were a few)
So the ants…actually, I’m giving up on this “ants” thing, it’s probably not that funny and I’ve got my point across – I was far away and stadiums suck. The set list was gargantuan, 3 bloody hours he played and he didn’t even do Glory Days. or I’m on Fire. Or Streets of Philadelphia. or Secret Garden. Or No Surrender (ok maybe not the best song to play in Glasgow but still) Instead we got Outlaw fucking Pete, one of the shiteous tracks on the new record but at least he didnt play that one about the supermarket woman, I’d have stormed out then and there £65 ticket or no £65 ticket. Speaking of which, the cheapest t-shirt was £22 – Bruce, buddy, you’re “the Boss” champion of the working man and we have to shell out ludicrous amounts for crappy merch with your face on it? £15 for a cd I can get for £7 in Tesco? Poor show sir, poor show.
Dancing in the Dark was amazing, Atlantic City was majestic and The River was possibly the best thing that ever happened in Hampden, even better than when we beat the French. However, playing a cover of Twist & Shout at the end might have made the drunk middle aged women all over the place happy but it was atrocious, cheesy and not what I expect a Bruce frickin’ Springsteen concert to finish on. In fact, most people were convinced it wasn’t the end – I must have heard a thousand people say “he didnae play Born in The USA, that’s pish” as I left the stadium surrounded by drunk baby boomers, curious teenagers and indifferent musos. Of course, he never plays that but this wasn’t a show for hardcore E Street fans, but for everyone who stopped listening in the 80s and those who thought it was cool to go.
I must also briefly say that, while it was cool to hear the crowd cheer every time Clarence played a note on sax there was hardly any love for Nils Lofgren who was far and away the best musician on display that night. I kinda wanted him to take centre stage and play Secrets in the Street (if you havent heard it please do yourself a favour and check it out it’s got everything you’d ever want in a song) but he didn’t. Little Stevie didnt get the crowd adulation I was expecting. Guess no one in Glasgow remembers The Sopranos. I still love you Silvio.
It’s great to say i’ve seen him but, to be honest, I actually enjoyed watching him on a big screen in my house more than watching him on a screen in a stadium full of twats. The sound was better and the beer was cheaper.
Meh. I’m done.
Dirty Mac is the singing half of Messrs. Their BOSS-ANOVA EP is forthcoming in 2009, as are their YKINOK and LIVE DUDITY EPs.
