(British) Summertime Blues

Well Sunday is here again and for us only only 11 days until our first gig. It's cold and wet today, so as 21st June is the first day of summer, I hope the weather will change in time for the UK shows.

There are a few people in our group of Bruce fans who have mentioned from time to time that they are 'worried' about the UK shows.  They don't go on to say what they actually mean and I wonder how anyone can be 'worried' about a Bruce show.

I'm sure nothing will top Milan. That was special.  Us poor souls, looking on from afar, could see it was out of the ordinary and those who were there must have known that they were seeing a show that will go down in the annals.  Apart from that nobody at the show has given us much insight into why it was so long.

I've often pondered why any band or artist go through the encore thing. For me a true encore is one where the band come back to the stage, off the cuff, to sing an extra couple of songs because the audience is cheering/applauding so loudly, and for so long, that they deserve an extra few minutes. Is this what happened in Milan?  We know Italian audiences are special but were they extra appreciative that night?  Was Bruce enjoying himself so much, had so much adrenalin surging through those veins that he felt he couldn't stop?

or

Was it planned?  There is now some talk that the show might have been filmed with a view to bringing out a video (do we still call them videos?) from the tour.  These rumours come out after every tour.  I think we knew about Hard Rock Calling before the show. I seem to remember we always knew the three Seeger shows at Dublin were going to be amalgamated into a video and part of Barcelona was televised live so did we know about that too?

I understand from people in the know that these rumours about shows have surfaced during most tours but the shows themselves haven't seen the light of day.  I suppose it depends how much workable footage they have, and perhaps, whether Bruce thinks the band are good enough on the night.  For me, if there were to be a video, I would like it to be of one show rather than a collection of songs from several different concerts.

Anyway back to the UK shows. When I mentioned this to Mike he was concerned that I would be putting words into other people's mouths so I'm not going to speculate about the 'worried' word.  In the mean time here are my thoughts about UK shows

• The British people are a bit more reserved.  I'm sure we are just as enthused, but maybe, we still have that stiff upper lip thing going on.
• The weather is colder. This should make us jump up and down to keep warm but that causes a right old draft! Huddle together instead! In any event, I believe the Swedish shows are usually among the best, and I imagine it to be cold over there.
• We start earlier. I'm not sure why this is. Could be the cold again.  Is there a perception that we need to get cuddled up in bed before the night gets too cold. 
• A curfew?  Is there a curfew? This could be tied up with the early start.*
• The enthusiasm, often, doesn't transmit itself all the way to the back of the stadium.  I know from the experience of sitting that this can be a bit hit and miss.

The shows in the UK are never going to be a Milan or a Barcelona so we just have to accept it. Anyway who wants to spend four hours in Sunderland!  It's almost as bad as having to set foot in Old Trafford - only for Bruce.

As everybody says nowadays - it is what it is.  So come on everyone let's stand back or sit back and enjoy. Give it all you've got, jump up and down, sing along at the top of your voices, have an amazing time and show Bruce and the band what we can do!

Finally simply because I want to show off Mike's creative talents here is our, home made, wall art for the Wrecking Ball tour.

* Coldplay are doing the rounds at the moment - their fans are obviously not as obsessed with length of concerts. Their set lists don't show start and finish times. From what I can gather they hit the stage, in Sunderland, at around 9.00pm and the set lasted about two hours. Does that indicate an 11.00pm curfew?