r/BruceSpringsteen

Hi all! I've noticed that it'a been a while since the last spotify drop, last years we have quite a few of them (songs on keys, the covers one). Do you know if there is any specific reason?

Springsteen’s impeccable reputation as a live performer is due to, well, being a fucking great live performer. However, another reason is because there is such a colossal gap between the studio sound and the live sound.

I would love to hear your takes, unpopular opinions, and things you would change.

Here are my takes/opinions:

- Born To Run is one of the best albums of all time for its lyrics, music, and sheer emotion. However, compared to other albums from the 1970’s by other artists, the production is certainly found wanting.

- The River (and the outtakes) is the best production in terms of capturing the E Street live sound. In other words, The River studio and The River live have the closest resemblances compared to the other albums. This is followed by Darkness On The Edge Of Town (however this album couldn’t quite capture the huge guitar sound the live work showcases)

- The Tunnel Of Love album has aged TERRIBLY

- Most people cite the difference in live shows as their main reason for hating the E Street Split. But the 3 albums TOL/Human Touch/Lucky Town have aged so badly whereas the E Street Albums have not. Bruce imo categorically made better ‘band’ music with E Street. I still think the other band shows weren’t so bad, the difference in studio album quality is my beef.

- As a studio album, Born In The USA is pretty flawless from a production/mixing perspective. Bob Clearmountain is awesome.

- The Brendan O’Brien collaboration was one of the worst Springsteen decisions since breaking up E Street.

Let me know what you think! Would love a good discussion

I'm just getting into Springsteen for the first time and I can't help but notice that the E Street Band is really prominent on the Wild as compared with other records.

Obviously they play instruments on all the records, but what I mean is that they're really prominent as a 'character' on the record. Every 30 seconds, there is some kind of interjection from 'the band' - a tuba, a single backing vocal, banter, crowd noises, random clapping, etc.

In my view, I think Bruce leans on them too much across the record. Second albums are notoriously hard to write and the continual interruptions from the band seem to mask a lack of confidence in the songs themselves.

Take even a quieter song like New York Serenade. It has this beautiful lilting quality and then it drops out and everyone starts shouting 'SHE WON'T TAKE THE TRAIN'. It's like he's worried you'll get bored. Every 30 seconds there's got to be opportunities for audience interaction as represented by the E-Street Band.

And I get that's part of the charm of the album, but I also think it's overdone at times. Later Springsteen doesn't feel the need to layer everything up and continually interrupt himself - he just lets the songs progress naturally. The Wild is fun but I think it is quite a self-conscious record, masking its author's insecurities with bombasity and busyness.

Here is a downloadable copy. The opening song is shot from the opposite side of the stadium. Don't be fooled, by song 2 you're in the pit. 8/30/2016 MetLife Stadium Phisherman's Cut

MetLife Stadium 2016 Night #2 8/25/2016 Phisherman's Cut

I work on the manufacturing/merch side of the music industry and have spent a lot of time dealing with tour merch — forecasting, manufacturing, inventory, venue settlements, logistics, reorders, etc.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of artists treat merch like:

make some cool shirts → bring them on tour → sell them

But once you're playing decent-sized rooms, merch really becomes its own little business traveling alongside the tour.

A few things I think artists should be thinking about:

1. Don't manufacture based purely on venue capacity.

A 1,500-cap room doesn't mean 1,500 merch customers.

Look at expected attendance, historical spend per head if you have it, your audience demographic, ticket price, city, and what you're actually selling.

If you've toured before, your previous sales data is incredibly valuable. Use it.

2. Don't have 15 products just because you can.

More SKUs aren't necessarily more sales.

I'd rather see an artist have 4-6 strong products with clear price points than a merch booth filled with random stuff.

Have an accessible item, your core tee(s), something premium, and maybe an accessory/collectible.

Make the buying decision easy.

3. Your size breakdown matters almost as much as your total quantity.

Ordering 1,000 shirts correctly but getting the size curve wrong can still leave you with hundreds of units nobody wants.

Your Shopify/e-commerce sales can be a great starting point for figuring out your audience's actual sizing.

Then adjust as you collect tour data.

4. Build your pricing backwards from the economics.

Don't just say, "Other bands charge $40, so we'll charge $40."

You need to understand:

sale price
minus manufacturing
minus venue merch cut
minus card/payment fees
minus freight/logistics
minus merch staffing/commissions
minus other direct costs

= what you're actually making.

A $50 shirt is not $50 of revenue in your pocket.

5. Venue merch cuts need to be accounted for BEFORE the tour.

This one catches people off guard.

Depending on your deal/venues, you're potentially giving up a percentage of merchandise sales before you've even considered your COGS.

Know your venue deals and build them into your forecast.

6. Keep inventory counts religiously.

Count in.
Sell.
Count out.
Settle.
Repeat.

If you're moving thousands of units across dozens of cities, tiny discrepancies become very expensive by the end of the tour.

You should know what you started with, what sold, what's damaged/missing, and what physically leaves every venue.

7. Plan replenishment before you need replenishment.

The worst time to figure out how you're going to manufacture another 500 shirts is when you have 80 left.

Know your manufacturing lead times and identify the products that can realistically be replenished mid-tour.

If something starts outperforming your forecast, reorder early.

8. Don't underestimate logistics.

Making the merchandise is only half the battle. UPS/FEDEX/Local Trucking always has issues.

It has to get to the first show, move between cities, get into venues, get counted, get displayed, get sold, get counted again, and potentially get replenished from another facility while the tour keeps moving.

That becomes increasingly complicated as the tour gets bigger.

9. Track sales by show and SKU.

After every show, you should eventually have enough data to know:

attendance
gross merch sales
spend per head
units sold
best-selling SKU
size distribution
venue percentage
net proceeds

After 5-10 shows, your own data starts becoming much more valuable than whatever assumptions you made before the tour.

10. Treat merch like a business, not a souvenir table.

For the right artist, merchandise can become a meaningful revenue stream.

But the artists who do it really well tend to have systems behind it: forecasting, manufacturing, logistics, inventory management, reporting and someone actually accountable for the operation.

That's ultimately why we built TourMerch.co through Limitless MFG. We were already handling manufacturing and tour operations for artists and realized there should be a dedicated side of the company focused specifically on touring.

Not trying to turn this into a sales pitch though, genuinely happy to answer questions in here about manufacturing, margins, forecasting, venue cuts, inventory, staffing, POS, or tour merch logistics if it's useful.

I wonder what his vocal part is. Obviously, it isn't alto or soprano. Could you imagine his trying to hit those higher notes? Doesn't sound like a tenor, but I could be wrong. Bass? Baritone? somewhere in between.

Hi all! Bruce lyrics are such a huge part of my life and I know by heart a lot of them. But, as a non native english speaker, sometimes it took me a while to get what our man was saying!

So, what are his most unintelligible lyrics? I'd say the final part of Downbound Train, some verses of Streets of Fire, the second verse of No Surrender in the live version.

What are your top 10 Bruce songs? I was thinking about this and thought I would post.

Here are mine, not in order

Thunder Road
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
Reason to Believe
No Surrender
Promised Land
Leap of Faith
Racing in the Street
For You
I’ll See You in my Dreams

I went to an Australian football game this weekend where the tradition is which ever team wins, they play their team song immediately after the siren.

But this game was a draw (which is very rare) and so they didn't play either teams song and it was a little eirie and weird for about 20 seconds until someone decided to just play 'dancing in the dark' as we all left.

So when in doubt...go with the boss!

It’s in my top 5 bruce songs but apparently no-one else’s.
Anyway, does any one have videos of it performed live?
Only one I’ve ever seen is that zoomed out cam shot of Uniondale 88, which is pretty great but I would love to see anything else anyone else has!