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I wanna go!!!

Bruce Springsteen sets new solo-acoustic shows
Bruce Springsteen wrapped up the second leg of his North American solo tour about two weeks ago, but the rocker will be back for more this fall.
The just-confirmed itinerary shows Springsteen visiting 17 U.S. cities throughout the Midwest and East during October and November. Ticket on-sale information wasn’t immediately announced.
The new dates mark Springsteen’s third leg of solo-acoustic shows this year. He’s touring solo for the first time since the 1995-96 “The Ghost of Tom Joad” tour to back his latest release, the acoustic-oriented “Devils & Dust,” which debuted atop The Billboard 200 album chart earlier this year.
“We’re coming back to some of our favorite cities to make sure the fans get a chance to see how this tour has evolved over the course of the last 50 shows,” Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau said in a press release. “Bruce just keeps stretching the boundaries of his performance night after night, and the result has been some of the very best concerts of his entire career.”
Springsteen has played 115 different songs, spanning his entire career, over the course of his 2005 tour, according to his publicist. Among those songs were several he’s rarely performed in concert, including “Open All Night” and “Used Cars,” played live for the first time in nine years, and “Sad Eyes” and “Iceman,” two songs that he’d never before performed in concert.
As previously reported, Springsteen will drop on Sept. 6 an expanded and re-edited DVD version of his “VH1 Storytellers” concert, which was taped April 4 in Red Bank, NJ.
October 2005
6 – Rochester, NY – Blue Cross Arena
7 – Hartford, CT – Hartford Civic Center
9 – Nassau, NY – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
12 – Minneapolis, MN – Northrop Auditorium
13 – Chicago, IL – United Center
15 – Madison, WI – Dane County Arena @ Alliant Center
20 – Worcester, MA – DCU Center
21 – Providence, RI – Dunkin’ Donuts Center
24 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Coliseum
28 – Boston, MA – T.D. Bank North Garden
November 2005
3 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Office Depot Center
4 – Tampa, FL – St. Petersburg Times Forum
8 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center
11 – Norfolk, VA – Constant Convocation Center at Old Dominion University
13 – Atlantic City, NJ – Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
16 – East Rutherford, NJ – Continental Airlines Arena
21 – Trenton, NJ – Sovereign Bank Arena

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I’ll take two please!!

Springsteen ‘Storytellers’ Headed To DVD
Bruce Springsteen’s recent turn on the VH1 series “Storytellers” will emerge on DVD Sept. 6 via Columbia Music Video. The footage has been re-edited, expanding the program from the one-hour version that premiered April 23 on the music channel to nearly two hours for the home video release.
Beyond Springsteen’s introductions and anecdotes regarding the eight songs he performed at the April 4 taping at the River Theater in Red Bank, N.J., the DVD includes a Q&A session with the audience that was not part of the VH1 broadcast. The show was recorded in high definition and the DVD boasts a 5.1 Surround Sound mix and a PCM Stereo mix.
The material Springsteen selected to discuss and perform for the show was equally balanced between recent fare and vintage songs. Two songs stemmed from his latest solo album, “Devils & Dust” — the title track and “Jesus Was an Only Son” — and two from 2002’s “The Rising” — the title track and “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day.”
For the older selections, Springsteen reached back to his 1973 debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” for “Blinded by the Light” and to his 1975 classic “Born To Run” for the anthem “Thunder Road.” He also explained the title track to 1982’s spare solo project “Nebraska” and was joined by wife/E Street Band singer/guitarist Patti Scialfa on “Brilliant Disguise,” from 1987’s “Tunnel of Love.”
Springsteen is in the midst of his second leg of solo North American tour dates in support of “Devils & Dust,” playing Bridgeport, Conn., tomorrow (July 20). As with the tour’s first leg, each show pays dividends to a local food bank through World Hunger Year’s (WHY) Artists Against Hunger & Poverty Program.
Each organization receives a pair of tickets to a show to auction, an arrangement that raised more than $50,000 for the 14 groups participating in the tour’s first leg, according to WHY. The charities also distribute information and collect donations at their local concert.
Here is the “VH1 Storytellers” DVD track list:
“Devils & Dust”
“Blinded by the Light”
“Brilliant Disguise”
“Nebraska”
“Jesus Was an Only Son”
“Waitin’ on a Sunny Day”
“The Rising”
“Thunder Road”

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The one I bought came from America, so it counts as one of the 222,000!!

Springsteen’s ‘Devils’ bows at No. 1 on U.S. charts
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Bruce Springsteen notched his seventh No. 1 album on the U.S. pop charts Wednesday with “Devils & Dust,” which was released in DualDisc format with the full album on one side and DVD content on the other side.
The Columbia Records release bowed on top of the Billboard 200 after selling 222,000 copies in the week ended May 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “The Boss” last debuted at No. 1 with 2002’s “The Rising,” which opened with sales of 525,000 and has sold 2.1 million to date. His first album to reach the top of the chart was 1980’s “The River.”
Just over a week ago, Springsteen launched a solo U.S. tour in support of “Devils & Dust” in Detroit. The outing next visits Oakland, Calif. Thursday. A European leg opens May 24 in Dublin.
After making history last week as the first male artist from a pop or rock group to bow at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with his debut solo effort, Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas’ “… Something To Be” (Melisma/Atlantic) fell to No. 4 with 145,000 copies.
In between, Mariah Carey’s former chart-topper “The Emancipation of Mimi” (Island/IDMJ) held steady at No. 2 with sales of 197,000 copies, taking its total to 828,000.
Newcomer Bobby Valentino, the first R&B act on rapper Ludacris’ Def Jam-based Disturbing Tha Peace label, entered the chart at No. 3 with a 180,000-copy debut for “Disturbing Tha Peace Presents: Bobby Valentino.”
Buoyed by the success of the former Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart-topper “1 Thing,” Amerie’s sophomore Rise/Columbia/Sony Urban Music set, “Touch,” opened at No. 5 with sales of 124,000. The singer’s 2002 debut, “All I Have,” started at No. 9 with 89,000 and has sold 623,000 to date.
50 Cent’s “The Massacre” (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) slipped one to No. 6 on a 10% slide to sales of 114,000 copies, taking its haul to 3.4 million.
Jo Dee Messina’s “Delicious Surprise” (Curb) landed at No. 7 with 99,000 copies, giving the country singer the first Billboard 200 top 10 title of her career. Messina’s last album, 2000’s “Burn,” opened at No. 19 on the big chart with 61,000 units; it has sold 1.2 million to date.
Mike Jones’ “Who Is Mike Jones?” (Swishahouse/Asylum/Warner Bros.) dropped five to No. 8 with 81,000 copies, while Il Divo’s self-titled Sony bow also fell five, to No. 9, with 74,000. Gwen Stefani’s “Love, Angel, Music, Baby” (Interscope) fell four positions to close out the top 10 after selling 71,000 copies.
Among other notable debuts on the chart were Ben Folds’ “Songs for Silverman” (Epic), which moved 50,000 copies to give the artist his career-best debut on The Billboard 200 at No. 13. First season “Nashville Star” winner Buddy Jewell scored a No. 31 entry with his sophomore Columbia effort “Times Like These,” which opened with 26,000 units.
After a six-year absence, Mint Condition returned to The Billboard 200 with “Livin’ the Luxury Brown” (Image) at No. 45. Sales of 20,000 copies gave the group its highest placement on the list.
Just one slot back on The Billboard 200, New Order debuted at No. 46 with “Waiting For the Sirens’ Call” (Warner Bros.), which also shot straight to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums tally.
Overall U.S. album sales were up 3.6% over the previous week at 10.6 million units, about 0.5% lower than the same week last year. Sales for 2005 trail last year by about 9% at 186 million units.

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I am still trying to get a ticket to see him in Minnesota!!

LOW-KEY BRUCE
Bruce Springsteen kicking off his new acoustic tour Monday night at the Fox Theater in downtown Detroit, playing 27 tunes, including 10 songs off his new solo album, Devils & Dust, in an intimate setting.

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But it is only a DualDisc in America. In Canada it is two discs! Boooo!! I ordered mine from The States!!

DualDisc breaks sound barrier
Springsteen’s Devils & Dust arrives in stores today exclusively in the new DualDisc format √≥ a single disc with CD on one side, DVD on the other. Devils’ CD side is a traditional CD with 12 tracks, and the DVD has video of Springsteen talking about the music and performing five of the songs.
The booming DVD market is dominated by movies. But as CD sales have slipped in recent years, record labels have sought a way to make the visual medium work for musicians.
“There’s nothing more powerful than the moving image,” says Thomas Hesse, president of digital business for Sony BMG, which is releasing the Springsteen album. “You get more background flavor for what that artist stands for.”
The two-sided hybrid ó it can be played on either a DVD or CD player ó is the latest effort to steer listeners away from free Internet downloads and back into stores. Springsteen is the biggest artist to release an album exclusively on DualDisc.
The format of offering audio on one side of a disc and video on the other side is less than a year old. The first DualDisc was Simple Plan’s Still Not Getting Any from last October. Jennifer Lopez’s Rebirth and Omarion’s O were released as both CDs and DualDiscs this year, and about one-third of the sales were DualDiscs, according to Sony BMG, which also is releasing Springsteen’s Devils & Dust.
“It’s a huge vote of confidence from one of our biggest artists,” says Pete Howard, editor and publisher of Ice Magazine, which covers music CD trends.
Just like movie DVDs, DualDiscs allow performers to record commentary that can play over the songs, discussing the writing, recording and ideas behind the lyrics.
“It gives the artists an ability to get a lot closer to the fans,” says John Trickett, chairman and CEO of the 5.1 Entertainment Group, which has put out about 90 DualDiscs since October, many of them rereleases such as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Then and Now, Blues Traveler’s Truth Be Told and Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Soul Rebels.
Some DualDiscs include documentaries that explain the origins of the recordings, such as the recent DualDisc rerelease of Miles Davis’ classic Kind of Blue.
Ice Magazine’s Howard says that will motivate some buyers who want to hear directly from the artists about their work.
But “it only works for some artists,” Howard says. “Bob Dylan has never explained how he wrote practically a single song. It could subtract from the mystique in a listener’s imagination.”
Springsteen’s DVD also has a non-visual music track of the album that allows the songs to be played in 5.1 surround sound through a DVD player, enveloping the listener with sound.
“The artists really like that,” Tricket says.
Devils & Dust retails for $18.98, about $1 more than music-only CDs. Many downloaders already have decided that cover art and CD packaging are worth sacrificing for free music, but they might have a harder time passing on the video.
“That, we hope, will drive people back to the store and away from taking a friend’s purchased disc and just ripping it or going to the Web and stealing it,” says Sony BMG’s Hesse.
Howard says DualDisc “will be successful. But will it be successful enough to save the music business?”
Other upcoming titles to be released on DualDisc include:
Nine Inch Nails’ With Teeth on May 3
Dave Matthews Band’s Stand Up on May 10.
For another great story on DualDiscs go HERE

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Oh, man!! I want to see this!!

Springsteen Bares Songwriting Soul on VH1
RED BANK, N.J. – Bruce Springsteen prefers to let his songs do the talking. When those songs include “Thunder Road,” “Nebraska” and “The Rising,” it’s hard to disagree with his approach.
But for one night, before an intimate New Jersey audience, the Boss delved into his 30-year back catalog to offer a brief window into his songwriting. The oft-reticent Springsteen opened up during a taping for VH1’s “Storytellers,” detailing influences both obvious and obscure.
There’s Roy Orbison’s dark romanticism … and actor Robert Mitchum’s blood-chilling preacher in “The Night of the Hunter.” Smokey Robinson’s soulful voice … and director John Ford’s classic Western “The Searchers.” The born in the U.S.A. rock of John Fogerty … and the pulp fiction of Jim Thompson.
Who knew that a line from “Blinded By the Light,” off Springsteen’s 1973 debut album, referred to his Little League team? Or that he considers a lyric from the brilliant “Thunder Road” to be “probably the hokiest … I ever wrote”?
Springsteen spills all this and more during “Storytellers,” airing at 10 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The show was recorded at the tiny Two River Theater near Springsteen’s Garden State home, an intimate venue with just nine rows of seats.
Springsteen brought along a loose-leaf binder filled with handwritten notes done at his kitchen table.
“I read ’em this morning, and I sounded kind of full of myself,” Springsteen deadpanned. “I don’t need notes for that.”
Over the course of the evening, Springsteen was funny, glib, self-deprecating, chatty and occasionally revealing. His story of Spring-zophrenia √≥ how the “holier-than-thou” Bruce, the blue-collar patron saint of the downtrodden, must co-exist with the guy who enjoys a few drinks in roadside strip joints √≥ was worthy of an HBO comedy special.
The tale ended with Springsteen meeting a pair of horrified fans in the strip club parking lot. He quickly explained how the disparate Bruces co-exist, then informed the fans that they were addressing an apparition rather than the real Springsteen.
“Bruce does not even know I’m missing,” he assured them. “He is at home right now, doing good deeds.”
Springsteen also referenced his “Blinded By the Light” lyric about a “silicone sister with her manager’s mister.”
“Possibly the first mention of female breast enhancement in pop music,” he said with mock pride. “So I was ahead of my time.”
The stage patter gave way to some magnificent musical moments. Over the course of the show, the songs evolved and changed as Springsteen accompanied himself with just a guitar, a harmonica and a piano.
“The Rising,” the Sept. 11-derived arena-rock anthem, becomes a gospel/folk song; Springsteen’s impassioned version was done with his eyes closed tight as he leaned into the microphone during the chorus.
“Waiting on A Sunny Day,” one of his more pop-oriented songs, took on a new patina in its stripped down presentation √≥ exactly Springsteen’s point in including it.
“I usually want to throw these right in the trash,” he confessed of his pop efforts. But there was another confession to come: Springsteen sometimes imagines Smokey Robinson singing his more radio-friendly songs. And then he launched into an impression of Smokey singing “Waiting on a Sunny Day.”
Springsteen clearly put much thought into the song selections, spanning the course of his career: “Nebraska” was included as an example of his narrative style, while “Brilliant Disguise” represented his songs about “issues of identity and love.”
The solo Springsteen performance for television was a long time in coming. In 1992, he signed on for a taping of “MTV Unplugged,” but did just a single song alone before bringing a band onstage for the rest of the show.
Before the taping began, Springsteen expressed reservations at delving into the secrets of songwriting.
“Talking about music is like talking about sex,” he said. “Can you describe it? Are you supposed to?”

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It is a superb CD!! I can’t wait to buy it!!

New Springsteen album to test market for CD/DVD hybrid
NEW YORK (AFP) – Fan fever over the release of a new Bruce Springsteen album next week is matched by recording industry interest in how sales may be affected by its US launch in the new DualDisc format.
“Devils and Dust,” the Boss’s 19th album, will only be available in the United States in the fledgling CD/DVD hybrid, which represents the first major change in retail music packaging since the compact disc was introduced more than two decades ago.
The format pairs a standard CD on one side with a DVD on the flip side, which offers video and a surround-sound mix of the album for home theaters.
The video on “Devils and Dust” shows Springsteen performing his new songs and discussing the making of the album.
The release date is April 26, with Springsteen kicking off a US and 10-country European tour the night before with a concert in Detroit. The singer will tour as a solo acoustic act, without the backing of his E-Street Band.
The album is a pared-down collection of country- and folk-influenced rock songs, which Springsteen told Rolling Stone magazine was in some ways a sequel to 1995’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which inspired his first solo tour.
“I wrote a lot of this music after those shows, when I’d go back to my hotel room,” he told the music magazine. “I still had my voice, because I hadn’t sung over a rock band all night. I’d go home and make up my stories.”
The album’s title track was written at the start of the Iraq War and gives a soldier’s point of view on the conflict.
Springsteen was on the road last year as part of the Vote for Change Tour, which urged voters not to re-elect President George W. Bush.
Although the effort failed, Springsteen said he had no regrets about his first public foray into the world of partisan politics.
“It was an experience that I’m glad I put myself into,” he told Rolling Stone. “There was a lot of idealism out there — I took a lot of that with me.”
“Devils and Dust” is not the first DualDisc to hit the market, but Springsteen’s stature means its performance will be watched closely to see if the new technology has a viable future.
The four major record labels, EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner, announced in August last year the formation of a consortium to launch the new audio-video hybrid in the US market.
The first album to debut on DualDisc, “Still Not Getting Any” from the pop-punk band Simple Plan, has already gone platinum.
And since the beginning of this year, two major albums — “O” from Omarion and “Rebirth” from Jennifer Lopez — have been released in both CD and DualDisc formats.
Sony BMG, which produced both albums, said DualDisc purchases accounted for around 30 percent of total sales for both.
The Springsteen album, another Sony BMG offering, is different in being available exclusively in the new format, with no traditional CD pressings.
The DualDisc generally retails at one dollar more than a CD, and the music industry is hoping it will help recoup the slice of the retail market lost to piracy and illegal file-sharing.
“It’s harder to file-share DVD content and it’s virtually impossible for anyone to burn a DualDisc at home,” said Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG.
“We think all this will lure people back to the stores, because it’s a product you can’t really get in pirated fashion,” Hesse said.
Critics, such as the California-based Independent Musicians Against Forced Music Industry Change, complain that the DualDisc is just another industry attempt to push consumers into repurchasing the albums they already have on CD.
“It is all about money,” the non-profit group said in a statement.
Hesse, however, pointed out that unlike the introduction of the CD, which required consumers to replace their music hardware, the DualDisc could be played on existing CD and DVD players.
“It’s really a new product, rather than a new format,” Hesse said, adding that plans were afoot to roll out the DualDisc in European markets.

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I wanna go!!!

Solo Springsteen Ready To Tour
Bruce Springsteen will begin a solo acoustic tour April 25 in Detroit, in support of his upcoming Columbia album, “Devils & Dust.” The first North American leg of the tour will play 2,500- to 5,000-seat theaters and theater configurations in arenas through May 20 in Boston, to be followed by a European run that begins May 24 in Dublin.
The Boss will finish in Europe on June 25 in Stockholm, with more North American dates likely. “Our hope is that sometime by the fall we will come back to the U.S. and make some additional appearances in our biggest Bruce markets,” longtime Springsteen manager Jon Landau tells Billboard.com.
Initially, the plan is to quickly showcase the new album, due April 26. “Bruce has a beautiful new CD that we’re very excited about and we want to get out and show the colors right off, touching base with as many cities as we can conveniently do,” Landau reports.
Ticket prices are still being finalized, but Landau says they will be in the $85 range for the premium seats. Springsteen last toured solo in support of the 1995 album “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” On that outing, he played only acoustic guitar and harmonica; this time around, Springsteen will also play some piano, Landau says.
“Bruce is rehearsing the show right now, creating a very specific perspective for it,” Landau says. “As is always the case with Bruce, the set will evolve right up until the last show.” Tickets for some shows go on sale this weekend.
Landau says the new album “has a combination of rock music and acoustic music, but as a body of work we thought that the intimacy of the solo show wound up best serving the CD as a whole. The full rock version of some of the new songs is sure to be part of the next E Street Band tour.”
On Monday (April 4), Springsteen taped an episode of the occasional VH1 series “Storytellers” at the new Two River Theatre in Red Bank, N.J. He previewed the title track of “Devils & Dust,” as well as “Jesus Was an Only Son,” and touched on material from across his career, including “Thunder Road,” “Brilliant Disguise” and “The Rising.” The broadcast premiere is scheduled for April 23.
Here are Springsteen’s tour dates:
April 25: Detroit (Fox Theatre)
April 28: Dallas (Nokia Theatre)
April 30: Phoenix (Glendale Arena)
May 2-3: Los Angeles (Pantages Theatre)
May 5: Oakland, Calif. (Oakland Theatre)
May 7: Denver (Convention Theatre)
May 10: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)
May 11: Chicago (Rosemont Theatre)
May 14: Fairfax, Va. (Patriot Center)
May 15: Cleveland (CSU Convocation Center)
May 17: Philadelphia (Tower Theatre)
May 19: East Rutherford, N.J. (The Theater at Continental Airlines Arena)
May 20: Boston (Orpheum Theatre)
May 24: Dublin (the Point)
May 27-28: London (Royal Albert Hall)
May 30: Brussels (Forest Nationale)
June 1: Barcelona (Pavello Olimpic Badalona)
June 2: Madrid (Palacio de Deportes)
June 4: Bologna, Italy (Palamalaguti Arena)
June 6: Rome (Palalottomatica Arena)
June 7: Milan (Milan Forum)
June 11: Hamburg (Color Line Arena)
June 12: Berlin (ICC)
June 13: Munich (Olympia Hall)
June 15: Frankfurt, Germany (Festhalle)
June 16: Dusseldorf, Germany (Phillipshalle)
June 19: Rotterdam, Holland (Ahoy)
June 20: Paris (Bercy)
June 22: Copenhagen (Forum)
June 23: Gothenberg, Sweden (Scandinavium)
June 25: Stockholm (Hovet)

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Monday, baby!! Monday!!!

Springsteen Single To Premiere Monday
The title track and first single from Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming album, “Devils & Dust,” will premiere beginning 12:01 AM Monday (March 28) via AOL Music’s First Listen initiative. The next day, it will be exclusively available for download from Apple’s iTunes Music Store for a week.
As previously reported, “Devils & Dust” is due April 26 via Columbia as a DualDisc with the audio tracks on one side and various bonus content on the DVD side. A deluxe edition will also be available, featuring expanded packaging, as well as a double-vinyl version.
On the heels of a playback session of six tracks at Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas, last week during the South by Southwest music festival, listening parties are expected to commence within the next week-and-a-half in a handful of North American cities.
Springsteen is also expected to announce details of an acoustic tour in support of the new album.

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I want the CD!!!

Briefly: Bruce Springsteen
New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press reports that Bruce Springsteen was rehearsing at Asbury Park’s Paramount Theater on Thursday (3/10) in preparation for a tour supporting his forthcoming album, “Devils & Dust.”
After a four-hour rehearsal that reportedly included E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren, Springsteen signed some autographs.
Dates for the tour–which Springsteen is expected to embark upon without the E Street Band–are still being finalized, but the new album is due April 26.