Saturday, January 31, 2004
Snow, devotion and Brucetalk
Today we have interviewed Inger, who saw her first show at Hovet, Stockholm, May 7th 1981.
Johanneshovs isstadion, or simply Hovet, is mostly used for icehockey.
The weather in Stockholm today was really bad, with slush and lots of snow. We had to walk through the wind, though the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain... before we got to Radiohuset (The National radio building) and the place where we could set up our camera.
The lighting and soundcheck went much faster this time and we started shooting. We spent a lot of time talking about the impact of Springsteen's music. Inger said it was no wonder that Springsteenfans all over the world are very dedicated since Bruce himself is so dedicated in everything he does both on and off stage.
Inger talked about Bruce's presence during the concerts. It's very powerful and she meant that he is very receptive to the audience and their response to the different songs. "Bruce and the band is actively seeking eyecontact with the fans in front row. There is a very emotional interaction between the band and the audience and Bruce really makes people feel that he has seen them as individuals, not just members of an anonymous crowd. "
She also said that Bruce's music is the opposite of easy listening. It's very demanding, because it challenges the listener to do something with his or her own life. If there's something you need, you gotta raise your hand - so to speak.
Inger also told us that she had met her husband Dan, thanks to Bruce. They had started chatting at the official website brucespringsteen.net. Then they had travelled together with other friends following the Risingtour in Europe 2003 where they had fallen in love. Inger's story proves that Bruce Springsteen's music really brings out strong feelings among the fans!
We wish Inger and Dan a happy married life, it's fun to see how the different webbsites have brought Springsteenfans all over the world so much closer to eachother.
After the interview we spent about four hours at a coffee shop at the railway station just sharing memories and experiences of our favourite artist.
Good preparation for tomorrow's interview!
Johanneshovs isstadion, or simply Hovet, is mostly used for icehockey.
The weather in Stockholm today was really bad, with slush and lots of snow. We had to walk through the wind, though the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain... before we got to Radiohuset (The National radio building) and the place where we could set up our camera.
The lighting and soundcheck went much faster this time and we started shooting. We spent a lot of time talking about the impact of Springsteen's music. Inger said it was no wonder that Springsteenfans all over the world are very dedicated since Bruce himself is so dedicated in everything he does both on and off stage.
Inger talked about Bruce's presence during the concerts. It's very powerful and she meant that he is very receptive to the audience and their response to the different songs. "Bruce and the band is actively seeking eyecontact with the fans in front row. There is a very emotional interaction between the band and the audience and Bruce really makes people feel that he has seen them as individuals, not just members of an anonymous crowd. "
She also said that Bruce's music is the opposite of easy listening. It's very demanding, because it challenges the listener to do something with his or her own life. If there's something you need, you gotta raise your hand - so to speak.
Inger also told us that she had met her husband Dan, thanks to Bruce. They had started chatting at the official website brucespringsteen.net. Then they had travelled together with other friends following the Risingtour in Europe 2003 where they had fallen in love. Inger's story proves that Bruce Springsteen's music really brings out strong feelings among the fans!
We wish Inger and Dan a happy married life, it's fun to see how the different webbsites have brought Springsteenfans all over the world so much closer to eachother.
After the interview we spent about four hours at a coffee shop at the railway station just sharing memories and experiences of our favourite artist.
Good preparation for tomorrow's interview!
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
First interview
Today we have made our first interview with David, who saw his first concert at the Globe arena, Stockholm, October 24th 2002.
Mikael and I were both a little nervous about the camera and that all that stuff we needed would be included in the bags that had been sent to us. But the essentials were there and after some time of adjusting the sound and image the camera was rolling!
David told us about some of his greatest moments during the swedish shows in 2002 and 2003, the time spent in line to get tickets and all the tricks he had learned, and great moments with other fans.
For David it's the strong images that the lyrics express, combined with the energy in the live performance that attracts him most in Springsteen's music..
We give our biggest thanks to David for sharing his thoughts with us and move on to our next interview that will be on Saturday.
Stay with us!
Mikael and I were both a little nervous about the camera and that all that stuff we needed would be included in the bags that had been sent to us. But the essentials were there and after some time of adjusting the sound and image the camera was rolling!
David told us about some of his greatest moments during the swedish shows in 2002 and 2003, the time spent in line to get tickets and all the tricks he had learned, and great moments with other fans.
For David it's the strong images that the lyrics express, combined with the energy in the live performance that attracts him most in Springsteen's music..
We give our biggest thanks to David for sharing his thoughts with us and move on to our next interview that will be on Saturday.
Stay with us!
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Research and planning
Today Mikael and I have spent most of the day at Statens arkiv för ljud och bild (The National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images) where we've been looking at newsfootage from the swedish Bruceconcerts from 1981 to 2003.
Most of the footage included interviews with fans in line up for the shows, brief excerpts from songs like Rosalita, BITUSA, Better Days, Boom Boom, My Love Will Not Let You Down and WOASD, to name a few and some short interviews with Mr Springsteen himself.
The best part was a feature in Aktuellt, a newsbroadcast from May 4th 1981. It showed a portrait of Bruce Springsteen and described him as a singer that pictured the troubled youth. Then the feature slowly moved into a discussion about destructive individualism among young people, a developement that seriously worried the political parties in Sweden. The connection with Springsteens music was by this time very obscure and by this time we were laughing hard. But the thing that really had us in stitches was a hilarious translation of Thunder Road.
The wellknown lines that reads:
Show a little faith there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me
were transformed into:
Våga tro på nattens magi
vacker är du inte men okej
och det är okej för mig
When we heard this we had to rewind the tape and listen again, because we were roaring with laughter. The discussion about the future of the troubled swedish youngsters was really bizarre but very very funny... :-D
We have some more programs to watch, so there'll be more work in the archives. But tomorrow we'll start filming, it's time for the first interview with one of the fans. Hopefully the technique will run smoothly, we'll keep you posted of our progress.
Most of the footage included interviews with fans in line up for the shows, brief excerpts from songs like Rosalita, BITUSA, Better Days, Boom Boom, My Love Will Not Let You Down and WOASD, to name a few and some short interviews with Mr Springsteen himself.
The best part was a feature in Aktuellt, a newsbroadcast from May 4th 1981. It showed a portrait of Bruce Springsteen and described him as a singer that pictured the troubled youth. Then the feature slowly moved into a discussion about destructive individualism among young people, a developement that seriously worried the political parties in Sweden. The connection with Springsteens music was by this time very obscure and by this time we were laughing hard. But the thing that really had us in stitches was a hilarious translation of Thunder Road.
The wellknown lines that reads:
Show a little faith there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me
were transformed into:
Våga tro på nattens magi
vacker är du inte men okej
och det är okej för mig
When we heard this we had to rewind the tape and listen again, because we were roaring with laughter. The discussion about the future of the troubled swedish youngsters was really bizarre but very very funny... :-D
We have some more programs to watch, so there'll be more work in the archives. But tomorrow we'll start filming, it's time for the first interview with one of the fans. Hopefully the technique will run smoothly, we'll keep you posted of our progress.
