TBOExtra.com - TBOExtra is Tampa Bay Entertainment Online

Springsteen Halftime Show Pleases Crowd

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform during halftime.

By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2009

Related Links

TAMPA - Wish you'd volunteered to cheer for Bruce Springsteen at the Super Bowl Sunday night? This might be some consolation: I couldn't tell what he was singing "Born to Run" until the woman next to me started screaming the lyrics.

The again, I was closer to the stage than I've ever been at a Springsteen show. Several green-vested media sorts rushed to the field right along with the volunteer fans, only to be tossed back to the sidelines midway through "Born to Run," the second song.

Springsteen's E Street Band was joined by a horn section and plenty of pyrotechnics for the four-song set which began with "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out."

The fireworks, for there can be no Super Bowl activity lest there be fireworks, punctuated "Born to Run" everywhere you might expect. And then some. The title track to the just-released "Working on a Dream" was next. ("I've got a new album out," Springsteen said at Thursday's press conference when asked why he agreed to perform at the Super Bowl after turning it down in the past.)

Springsteen segued quickly into "Glory Days," (with lyrics reflecting football instead of baseball) and the horn section made something mighty of that Farfisa organ riff.

Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt traded banter about going to overtime and a referee ran on to throw a penalty flag. But Van Zandt declared it "BossTime" and the Ray Jay crowd screamed.

Ah, sweet, sweet corn. Still more fun than Janet Jackson's nipple jewelry or Britney Spears' tube sock any day.

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.