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Don’t feel too bad for the recently snubbed Bruce Springsteen—in case you haven’t heard, he’s playing at this event called the Super Bowl, where he’ll join the h halftime-performer ranks of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Up With People. Beyond picking up some pretty nice backstage swag (those NFL beer cozies have zippers!), the Super Bowl also gives hobbit guitarist Nils Lofgren an excuse to (I swear this is true) try out his new bionic hips, which he needs because of his onstage antics:
The Super Bowl halftime performance also marks a kind of unveiling of Lofgren’s new “bionic” hips, the result of replacement surgery in October. That was necessitated by the wear and tear of athletics and an “aggressive” performing style that has included onstage backflips off a mini-trampoline.
Despite the ongoing healing, Lofgren said he’s in fine shape to play the 12 minutes at the Super Bowl and should even be in shape to go on tour with Springsteen and company to support the new “Working on a Dream” album after its January 27 release.
Wait. Backflips off a mini-trampoline? That’s both cool and lame. And double wait… 12 minutes? This is Bruce Springsteen we’re talking about here. Someone once told me a rather believable joke about him covering “Stairway To Heaven” and making it longer. Along with Neil Young, he’s the master of the triple-fake ending, wherein he brings the band back into a jam with sweaty head nods, 1-2-3-4 countdowns, and sly grins. The Boss (with E Street Band) has trouble fitting “Rosalita” into 12 minutes, much less an entire set.
NFL.com has a halftime show preview site up (you can preorder Springsteen’s Rolling Stone-beloved Working On A Dream… synergy!) and they’re running a poll wherein users can pick their favorite playlists from these bizarre choices:
Playlist A: Glory Days, My Lucky Day, Badlands, Born to Run
Playlist B: Born to Run, Rosalita, Working on a Dream, The Rising
Playlist C: The Rising, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Working on a Dream, Hungry Heart
Playlist D: Born in the USA, Thunder Road, Rosalita, My Lucky Day
Playlist E: Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, Radio Nowhere, The Rising
Playlist F: Rosalita, The Wrestler, Glory Days, Born to Run
Playlist G: Glory Days, Born to Run, The Rising, Working on a Dream
A lot of love for “Rosalita” there, but it’s a little heavy on the new stuff nobody knows. Plus these setlists are all four songs long, and unless the man does a medley (*shudder*) I just don’t see that fitting into the allotted time. And do people still not realize how depressing “Born in the USA” is? (Playlist D is winning right now, as well it should be.)
I don’t know. I’d love to see him go deep and play something like “Candy’s Room” or “Adam Raised A Cain” (I’ve been on a Darkness kick lately), but I doubt that will ever happen.
What’s your dream Bruce Springsteen halftime playlist? And I don’t want to hear from you Negative Nancies out there who say “No Bruce Springsteen songs!” or something to that effect.
Oh, and my Super Bowl pick: Steelers 31, Cardinals 28 in a surprise shootout. You should trust me here. I did pick the Steelers. (Did anybody really pick the Cards a few weeks ago?)
Which playlist will Springsteen perform? [NFL.com]
OOO…Playlsit F! Because nothing get’s the crowd pumped more to see abnormally large men destroy their bodies for fame and glory then listening to “The Wrestler”!
I want to go with “Playlist 666″: the all Misfits cover set. The Boss could totally fit, like, 8 Misfits songs in to 12 minutes.
Hahaha, I’m voting for playlist F too. Partly for the beautiful irony noted by Dead Air, but also because it’s the only one where “Born To Run” is the climax, AS IT SHOULD BE.
Do you think he might play Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream”?!
Seriously (off the top of my head): Hungry Heart, Blinded By The Light, 10th Ave. Freeze Out, Atlantic City
If I were a marketing honcho, I would totally get the Boss to slide “State Trooper” into my Lexapro-sponsored the halftime show.
Oh yeah, F is way good.
Seriously, are they insane putting “Rosalita” on these imaginary playlists with *anything* else? It’s 7 minutes on the album, for the love of jeebus, and it has gone faaaar longer than 12 minutes live.
If they’re disciplined, they can do three songs in the allotted time… I guess “Badlands” is an unlikely opener, since the NFL would probably insist that Bruce not give a *darn*… but I’d expect the opener to be shortish/uptempo/well-known. Once the crowd’s warmed up, expect something from “Working On A Dream”. Wrap up with “Born To Run”, as nature intended.
It’s a shame they didn’t play Super Bowl XL, because then they could have done the Detroit Medley.
OK: “Dancing in the Dark,” “Working on a Dream,” “The Rising” and “Born to Run.”
WTF, they can’t NOT play “Glory Days”
B is most likely but Born to Run is going to be last. I also don’t think Rosalita will make it… if it clocks in at 12 minutes that means less time for commercials. Maybe Glory Days will replace it.
Born in the USA won’t happen either. I don’t think he plays it in the fist-pumping stadium-rocking way that NFL fans will want to hear.
Have any of you guys seen a halftime show? Songs are always truncated and often medley-ized; so of course “Rosalita” will fit, whether Nils and Max et al. like it or not. Equally powerful acts as Bruce (U2, Prince) have done tapered versions of longer songs at this venue, and I have to imagine Herr Boss agreed to same when he signed on.
@Chris Molanphy: Good point, but Bruce ain’t known for the medleys.
@Lucas Jensen: was Aerosmith known for collaborating with N’Sync and Britney Spears? Wait, don’t answer that.
“Glory Days” is thematically right, but it seems like a bit of a downer. They’ll pass you by, y’know.
C’mon, there’s no way they’re playing “Rosalita.” Even if they cut it short, which would be silly, they’re not going to play a song that nobody in the stadium knows. That’s a song for Springsteen fans, not the general public.
Nor will they play “Born in the USA.” Ever since it got co-opted by the Patriotism Police, Springsteen has converted it into an acoustic dirge when he performs it live. It’s not going to happen.
I’d guess it’ll be something along the lines of “Radio Nowhere,” [Miscellaneous Song Off New Album], “Glory Days,” and “Born To Run.”
Of course, if I could pick, I’d go with “Badlands,” Atlantic City,” “Jungleland,” and “Born To Run.”