CONCERT PREVIEW
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
7:30 p.m. Saturday. $61-$124. Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000.
CONCERT PREVIEW
E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons
8 p.m. Sunday. $10 in advance; $15 on day of the show. Smith’s Olde Bar, 1578 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 1-877-725-8849.
Anyone who has witnessed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live will nod in sympathy when Nils Lofgren jokes that “there are probably a lot more ice packs and Bengay” being passed around the dressing room after their recent marathon musical events (to call them concerts really is a disservice).
No doubt the sore-muscle remedies will be stocked backstage at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood on Saturday after Springsteen and his band (minus guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who is filming his Netflix series, “Lilyhammer”) tear through another sweat-soaked master class in rock ‘n’ roll.
Lofgren, the diminutive guitarist clocking 30 years with the E Streeters — new inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was happy to have a few days off in late March after a roaring run through South Africa and Australia.
At home in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he and wife Amy have lived for 18 years, Lofgren, an avid animal lover, a musician from the time he was 18 (that’s him playing piano and guitar on Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush”) and an all-around good guy with a great memory (“I used to play Alex Cooley’s (Electric) Ballroom in the ’70s!”), took some time to chat.
Q: So 45 years in music this year. You seem to be holding up pretty well.
A: I've been in this band 30 years and did a lot of work with Neil Young back when I was 18, and I do my own music, so when I'm singing every song and playing every solo, it's a lot more work. I don't get to do most of what I'm doing as a musician at my own shows. (With the E Street Band) I have 50 guitars on tour, I have all these pedals. It's very engaging as a musician. Bruce's job is being the bandleader and nobody is better. But if I want to turn my back for two minutes, I can do that and I'm not shirking my job.
Q: How does it change the band dynamic now with you and Bruce and sometimes Steven (Van Zandt) and sometimes Tom Morello playing guitar?
A: The only real difference is you have to watch out when you're running around — it's kind of a traffic jam out there! At the end of every song, I'm the Paul Revere from my side of the stage and run over and try to find out from Bruce what really is the next song and I've got nine people to report to, including a guitar tech who doesn't know which guitar to hand me. It's all fun stuff and exciting.
Q: How much longer do you guys think you can go at this pace? I would imagine it’s a challenge keeping up with Bruce.
A: I think what happens is, after 10 or 15 years on the road, most musicians tire of it because it's exhausting. My wife calls it a champagne problem. But I've been on the road 45 years. Of course, you want to do well, but there is some medicinal healing thing going on for me that I love and embrace and it's safe to say everyone in the band feels that. I'm almost annoyed and alarmed the past decade that I've been feeling real homesickness on the road, but it gives me an appreciation of the show. Once it's time for the show — I like to go two hours before the show to prepare — I'm more excited about the opportunity and feel grateful.
Q: You’re playing outdoors in Atlanta. Is there a different energy to those shows compared to arenas?
A: It is different, but I wouldn't pick one over the other. Outdoors, there's like this Roman Colosseum vibe, and the music doesn't bounce back at you so much with echo. There's something about looking out and seeing the sky that's beautiful. But you feel the audience wherever you are. For me, I found to get into focus, I try to ignore everyone and everything on stage for 30 to 45 minutes except Bruce and the band itself. Then I'm down in it, so then I can take in the surroundings a little more. John Madden once commented that Bruce reminded him of a Hall of Fame quarterback on the eve of a Super Bowl. That reminded me that when you walk out with Bruce and the band, you are playing a Super Bowl and it's a hometown crowd and you're guaranteed the win … you're just working on the point spread.
Q: Tell me about your box set coming out next month. How involved were you in the process of assembling it?
A: About 16 months ago, the Concord-Fantasy (Music Group) championed this 10-disc, 189-track retrospective. It's been a really ambitious and difficult project, but "Face the Music" will be out May 27. (Rock journalist) Dave Marsh helped me edit a 136-page color book with retrospectives on all the songs, and the label let me pick everything, make every decision. There will be 2,500 limited edition collections, and every card is numbered and personally signed. I'm shocked and grateful for all of this after 45 years.
