RUNAWAY AMERICAN DREAM

Nature does not spit out Bruce Springsteens casually.

I was reminded of this the other night watching Craig Finn of The Hold Steady flail around the 9:30 stage looking like your eighth-grade social studies teacher infected with the rage virus.

The boy’s got lyrical faculties for sure, the kind where it wouldn’t at all surprise you to hear him break into Blinded by the Light at any given moment.

He’s vulnerable to the same traps as early Bruce as well, e.g., the tendency to drop in syllables where silence would do, and a hella blind spot regarding real, actual women. Sandy, meet Holly. Holly, meet Sandy…

But Craig is a zero-charisma guy, whereas 70s Bruce dripped the stuff. And sex, too—I remember one dirtbag who passed first-year Spanish just because Ms. Krebs thought he looked like Bruce.

And I’d imagine that Bruce never used his encore as an opportunity to tell the audience what a sincere joy it was to be onstage performing for them.

I’m pretty sure he just let the encore(s) do the talking…