The BBC have unveiled plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen‘s first UK concert with a series of programmes. Find more details below.
- READ MORE: Bruce Springsteen live in London: the heartland hero remains firmly at his majestic peak
The night of programming will begin on BBC Two and BBC iPlayed in May, celebrating The Boss’s first gig in the UK, which took place November 18 in 1975 at the Hammersmith Odeon (now the Eventim Apollo).
A new documentary titled When Bruce Springsteen Came To Britain will feature a world exclusive interview with the musician, discussing the seminal gig’s back story and his relationship with the UK.
Springsteen was 26 when he gave the sold-out performance, and reveals in the film that he was so disappointed by his own performance that night that he couldn’t watch the footage back for over 30 years.
Per a press release, he said: “(After the show)…I went to a party that was supposed to celebrate my triumph, but I felt I’d been terrible and so I was embarrassed to even go in… I went in for a few minutes, couldn’t stand myself being there, went out, ran back to the hotel, sat in my lonely room under a big black cloud, ate whatever I had and went to bed….I had PTSD from the first Hammersmith show!”
The documentary also features new interviews with guitarist and E Street Band member Stevie Van Zandt, friends and fellow songwriters Sting and Peter Gabriel as well as Sir Michael Palin, who wrote about the first Hammersmith gig in his famous diary.
There is also insight from from promoter Harvey Goldsmith (who booked the Hammersmith show), Springsteen’s manager and producer Jon Landau and Rob Brydon, a self-confessed Springsteen superfan.
Elsewhere on the night, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer will host a new episode of Bruce Springsteen at the BBC, featuring a compilation of performances from across TV shows including Old Grey Whistle Test, Top of the Pops, and BBC Four sessions: Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band spanning the past six decades.
Rachel Davies, Commissioning Editor, BBC Music said: “Bruce Springsteen is not only a global music icon, but he’s an honorary Brit here in the UK – he’s become one of our own! We know BBC viewers will love watching this film, which lifts the lid on his early visits to the UK with a world exclusive new interview, as well as some great insight from those that have been hugely impacted by him and his music. We’re looking forward to celebrating Bruce all night on BBC Two with a new compilation of his most loved hits and one of his all-time classic live performances.”
In other news, Springsteen recently revealed he will be releasing seven never-heard-before full records on ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’.
The collection, which arrives on June 27, will feature seven previously-unheard Springsteen albums. You can pre-order them here.
Elsewhere, last month The Boss, Flea, Karen O, Michael Stipe, Johnny Depp and more led an all-star jam with Patti Smith at her tribute concert in New York.
During the show, Springsteen and the night’s house band led by Tony Shanahan, a longtime member of Smith’s band, along with Flea and Rolling Stones tour drummer Steve Jordan, also performed a rendition of ‘Because The Night’.
In other news, Adolescence star Stephen Graham recently revealed that he was left in tears after Springsteen got in touch to praise his performance in the upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. The film, which stars The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as a young Springsteen, follows the heartland rocker during the making of his 1982 album ‘Nebraska’, with Graham playing his late father, Douglas “Dutch” Springsteen.