Streaming concerts, which during the pandemic seemed like a bulwark for the music industry, continue to carve out their space in the live entertainment landscape, alongside the return of “in person” tours. If artists like Fred Again… and historic platforms like Nugs keep this modality alive, one of the platforms born in that period, Veeps, confirms itself as a point of reference, announcing an unmissable event for Bruce Springsteen fans.
Starting December 17th, Veeps will make available for streaming the entire live performance of “Nebraska”, the Boss' famous and dark album released in 1982. This performance it was not conceived ex novobut it comes from the “expanded edition” of the box set “The E Street Band Live 1975–1985”, released last October by Sony Music.
Until now, the performance was available exclusively through the physical Blu-ray format included in the box set (similarly to what was done for “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in 2010 for the “The Promise” box), with a small extract as the only digital concession. Now, for the first time in digital, the film will be available for purchase at a cost of €6 and will remain visible on-demand for 30 days from purchase.
The film, directed by Thom Zimny, documents Springsteen in a minimal guise: voice and electric guitar, accompanied only by essential instrumental support.
The Boss commented on the genesis of the event, underlining the desire to honor the album in a live dimension that it had never had:
“The one thing we didn't do with the album Nebraska was not playing it live, so my first thought, when talking about celebrating the record, was: there has to be a performance, you have to sing these songs from start to finish. My concern was being able to maintain some of the eeriness that the record had.”
To keep the austere atmosphere and minimalist spirit of the work intact, acoustic guitarist Larry Campbell (ex-collaborator of Bob Dylan) and the keyboardist of the E Street Band, Charlie Giordano, were called to support Springsteen. The mixing, handled by Rob Lebret, was fundamental to “maintaining the integrity of the record at that level” of essentiality.
The performance was recorded at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Director Thom Zimny described his approach:
As a director, you want to enrich the performance without it being obvious, to get into that music and really try to be an invisible partner to it, accompanying the presentation […] There is no introduction or explanation. Things unfold by themselves. And that's the beauty of Bruce as a storyteller, of his writing, and of this album.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
