Bruce on Four

In a parallel universe, the Tardis arrives to a Britain familiar yet strangely changed. The Doctor and Rose pick up a newspaper to see if they can put their finger on it. In a Guardian concert review, they read the following:

Springsteen, whose songs about white collar office workers struck a chord with a generation of Microserfs, once caused controversy by backing Californian Governer Ronald Reagan's failed bid for the US Presidency. Last night at the Hammersmith Apollo, he returned to the scene of his greatest triumph, thirty years ago. A strange noise erupted from the audience. It sounds like they're saying 'Brooooooooooooce,' but actually, they are just booing."

In other news, BBC Four features a veritable feast of Broooooce on Friday the 19th May, with a live set of songs from his new Pete Seeger-inspired album, followed by the 1975 Hammersmith Apollo live set.

If the mumbly folky stuff leaves you cold, you should at least catch the 1975 concert, which is extraordinarily good. In the era of Lieutenant Pigeon and David Dundas, the young Springsteen really was summat else.

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UPDATE: Public Service Announcement. I can't believe I'm really having to say this, but anyone discovering this post after a Google search for "Bruce Springsteen Booing BBC4," they're not booing. They're saying Brooooooce. I am truly amazed that there are people alive in the world who didn't know this.

1992