Pete Scrowther, an Englishman living in Switzerland, looks back to glorious days 20 years ago
Reprint from DAN #17: Introduction by Rolf Wyss Pete Scrowther, an Englishman from somewhere nearby Newcastle, came to Switzerland almost twenty years ago. He started his career as a background singer for several rock and folk acts, later on he became the frontman of well respected bands like Legal Tender or Rusty Nugget. Early this year a dream came true and he recorded his first self-titled solo album. As you might know, I work as a journalist and one day I did an interview with this really sympathetic guy. So he told me that he had seen the second show at Hammersmith Odeon back in 1975. Bruce's music really meant a lot to him, especially in the Seventies. So I asked him to write down his thoughts about the concert. It goes like this:
"Is London ready for Bruce Springsteen?" In November ‘75 it was hard to escape the posters and stickers with which CBS had plastered the capital. Our man himself was apparently so unnerved by the hype that he'd personally torn down all the offending posters he'd come across. And the first visit to Europe by the E Street Band get off generally on the wrong foot. The first Hammersmith Odeon concert was by all accounts a disaster, and unconverted rock critics had gleefully seized the chance to put the boot in. In the meantime Bruce had been over to Amsterdam and Stockholm and was now back in London for the second British concert. So it was with a mixture of excitement and apprehension that I stuck out my thumb on the early-morning motorway to hitch-hike the 450 km. from Newcastle to London, my treasured mailorder ticket stashed safely in a sweaty inside pocket. I needn't have worried, though. I made it to the capital with time to spare, and was rewarded with the most astonishing, exhilarating show I’d seen in already 15 years of concertgoing (and competition included Van Morrison with The Caledonia Soul Orchestra 2 years before, and small hall gigs by people like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Zappa and numerous other legends of the 60s and early 70s). You want details? Well, 20 years of brain-cell neglect have taken their toll here. One vivid image is of Bruce sitting virtually under the grand piano, leaning back on one of its legs, the stage lighting muted, singing...well, what? And then there's the figure of Bruce himself. Those who have grown up with the iron-pumping Rambo that emerged around "Born In The USA" would hardly have recognised the tiny bent figure who skuttled round the Odeon stage, scrubby beard, baggy pants, a ludicrous Rasta-type wooly hat and, believe it or not, really skinny arms. As for the length of the concert or the choice of songs, you bootleg owners probably know more about it than I do. You know how it is, on a day so top heavy with impressions, the oddest things, nothing to do with the concert, tend to stick in your mind. Like how I spent an hour or so searching for the person who was supposed to be providing me with a bed for the night, which turned out to be the start of one of my most valued friendships. But that's another story... And Bruce? He never excited me as much again, that's for sure. That was the time, and "Born To Run" was, and is, the album. by Pete Scrowther