Under the same sky
It’s 10 years since the veteran countercultural insurrectionist Mick Farren died. In 1976, in a celebrated polemic for the NME headlined “The Titanic sails at dawn”, he asked: “Has rock and roll become another mindless consumer product that plays footsie with jet set and royalty, while the kids who make up its roots and energy queue up in the rain to watch it from 200 yards away?” I thought of his words while watching — from a range of almost exactly 200 yards, as it happened, albeit on a warm, dry afternoon — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band giving the first of their two concerts in Hyde Park.
Farren wrote his piece only seven years after the Rolling Stones had played a free concert in Hyde Park to an audience of perhaps a quarter of a million (although I’ve always questioned that figure): a significant event in the history of both the band and the Sixties youth culture of which it was a part. All you had to do was turn up and find yourself a space on the grass. There were no merchandise stalls, because there was no merchandise. If you wanted anything to eat, drink or smoke, you had to bring it with you.
By contrast, Springsteen’s gigs (and others in the British Summer Time series) were sponsored by American Express. To secure a couple of tickets, even those very far away from the privileged enclosures housing the jet set (and perhaps even royalty), you needed to spend a few hundred quid. In the days leading up to the event, there were messages via a special app telling you what to expect and what you could and couldn’t do, with a map of the site, a list of prohibited items (including food and drink), and so on. And it all worked fine. Pleasant attendants, a variety of refreshment outlets and the provision of adequate toilet facilities made it a civilised experience. The weather was warm but not too hot, and the setting sun provided the golden light that enhances any performance.
Once upon a time Springsteen made concert halls feel like clubs. Then he made stadiums feel like concert halls. At 73 he still performs for three hours with impressive vigour and generosity of spirit (he gives the band a mid-set break rather than taking one himself), but nowadays his big gigs feel like big gigs. That’s the price, I guess, of having such a massive following. But although I liked hearing “Darlington County” and “Mary’s Place” and “Badlands” and “Wrecking Ball”, and enjoyed his decent stab at the Commodores’ “Nightshift”, a lot of the set sounded coarsened, which was not how it used to be. Maybe the band is now so big — all those horns and voices — that the music has lost the agility which was such a vital part of its early charm.
And, of course, from 200 yards, each figure on stage was about a quarter the size of a matchstick. So you watched it all on the big screens. Which, inevitably, were not quite synched with sound travelling such a distance to where I was standing. That was about halfway back in a crowd of 62,000, some of whom said afterwards that it was the best Springsteen show they’d ever seen. In the Guardian, Jonathan Freedland wrote an affecting piece about his reaction to the concert’s valedictory tone and its message for a generation now growing old.
I don’t begrudge anyone their enjoyment in Hyde Park. I’ve seen Springsteen at other times and in other places when the shows he delivered were as good as anything of their kind could possible be. But when I think about the corporate infrastructure of the Hyde Park concerts, and about the row over “dynamic pricing” in the US, and about the stories of what people are having to go through (and spend, of course) to see Taylor Swift on her forthcoming tour, I think Mick Farren’s point was so well made that its meaning has only grown louder over the years.
When he wrote that piece, punk rock was coming down the track. For a while that movement seemed to destabilise the commercial edifice built up around the music. Then the music industry found ways to reassert its authority, to globalise its product while building an impenetrable wall around it. Whatever the instincts and virtues of Springsteen, Swift and others, however immaculate and sincere, their gigantic tours are now an expression of that authority.
I’m probably sounding naive, because in a sense it’s nothing new. At the time of their free concert in Hyde Park, the Stones were managed by Allen Klein, the American hustler whose involvement was emphatically not motivated by countercultural concerns. Mick Farren also wrote books about Elvis Presley, and he knew perfectly well that Colonel Tom Parker didn’t care about Elvis’s audience or the culture they represented. He cared about making a buck.
thebluemoment.com 
As incisive as ever, Richard!
Thank you, Richard. Yet again your comments are well founded and even handed. I saw Bruce Springsteen’s first two 1975 London gigs at Hammersmith Odeon, and from the second row of the stalls on the second night. I’d loved the music he presented but have never wanted to watch him live again. I’m glad to say I watched, and sort of listened to the Social Deviants play, which was also in Hyde Park, but then they played for free. I think I now realise thanks to your article that my reluctance for the big events are for the reason Mick Farren has foreseen. I feel very grateful to have grown up with, and loved, so much music before it became business. I’m also glad that many people enjoy so much what they now have available to them.
A fine piece, well-written and I agree.
FWIW, an old college pal wants me to fly to the States to see Springsteen one last time. This old college pal and I first saw Springsteen in early 1976. I asked how much tickets cost now…the reply was $488.
Not going. Gud’bye, Bruce, we’re done.
Richard – nice, balanced post as ever. It has to be said, having listened to most of Farren’s recorded output and read a couple of his novels, that the rightly celebrated polemic was one of those rare occasions when Farren actually got something right. I always thought (possibly fancifully) that the comment in the MM monthly album round up in late 69 (possibly the month when ‘Ark 2’ was album of the month!) – ‘someone bought Mick Farren a Zappa album for Christmas’ (relating to either The Deviants’ ‘Nun’ LP or Farren’s ‘Carnivorous Circus’ album) was penned by ‘RW’. Keep up the good work.
Richard, Very well expressed. The mixed emotions of rock’s mega success. For some reason I felt dismay when learning that Springsteen and Obama had teamed up to produce a series of podcasts called “Renegades”. Two hugely wealthy men in late middle age and they’re renegades? I have huge admiration for Obama the politician and Springsteen the singer-songwriter but… Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true Or is it something worse That sends me down to the river…
Terrific reflections, beautifully written, as always, but where do they lead? Isn’t part of the point of rock ‘n’ roll that it was best as an adolescent howl? Now that I want more substantial, even (God forbid) reassuring, stuff, most of the form doesn’t really tick the boxes anymore. Even Dylan sounds like he’s trying too hard.
Hi Richard.
I have to disagree slightly. I’m not a lover of this type of gig, however I attended when Springteen did the show at Hyde Park when Management pulled the plug on the duet with McCartney. I was also there for the Stones BST show, Carole King’s Tapestry and Stevies Songs in the Key of Life. They exceeded my expectations and the syncing was pretty good
Terrific piece, thank you. I was one of those who saw the Stones in Hyde Park, and Pink Floyd there the following year, also for free. As you suggest, the point is that for a while back then, their music was percieved as being part of something new, rather than simply an offshoot of the old commercial capitalist system. Of course, that turned out to be hopelessly naive and wrong. Mick Farren was right.
” Mick Farren also wrote books about Elvis Presley, and he knew perfectly well that Colonel Tom Parker didn’t care about Elvis’s audience or the culture they represented ” Parker did not care about Elvis either to state the BO , likewise the privileged enclosures care less about Springsteen just another be seen part of the season , the caring is done by the specks Springsteen can just about see in the distance
Thanks for giving Mick Farren some posthumous time. I spent a little time with him—producing his 1978 Ork single âPlay With Fireâ b/w âLost Johnnyâ (as well as one other track, âTo Know Him Is To Love Himâ) and he embodied the true bohemian Rock ânâ Roll spirit 100%. He lived it. Great guy, very entertaining in the studio and out, he wrote about our session in his book GIVE THE ANARCHIST A CIGARETTE, accurately portraying it as a shambolic disaster experienced in person but somehow quite an entertaining record.
You’re right of course. As was Mr Farren. I also saw Bruce recently and am very glad I did. But it was nothing like the first time at Wembley in 81. He still works hard but obviously can’t move quite the same. Like you I was a long way away having to rely on (excellent) video some of the time. Great stuff even if none of it has the same wonder and surprise now.
But what’s to be done? Obviously keep looking for the next new and brilliant thing. But also accept I fear that it’s never as good as the first moment of discovery…before everyone else finds out. And enjoy it all the same.
We were in the “Gold Circle” and were closer to the Boss we have been in the many times we have seen him live. To be honest, I fully expected to feel the same as you but was totally surprised at how well he came over ( Saturday). The selection f songs was well balanced and everyone looked to be having a ball. However I still take seriously The comments about fans taking second place to HP royalty and I thinkmThe Boss does too. It is getting to the point where he is almost the only star Imwou
D go to BST foe now.
Thanks for writing this. I can’t help thinking of 10CC’s refrain: “Art for art’s sake, money for God’s sake” 🙂
Sunday’s gig was fun although I definitely share your feelings about the corporateness of it all
I was lucky enough to share my first Springsteen concert with you at Manchester Apollo in May 1981 – having just found your excellent review here http://www.shewan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-2019-05-01-at-16.53.59.png at the foot of this blog http://www.shewan.co.uk/bruce-springsteen-manchester-apollo-13th-may-1981/
I remain ever grateful to my dear sister (a Spurs fan) who passed on her ticket as she headed to the Cup Final replay at Wembley, the following night. As a Chelsea fan, I didn’t even mind that they won. I remember a sense of complete exhilaration at the end of that gig, without alcohol or drugs. One of the very finest!
Totally agree, I absolutely refuse to go to arena concerts and the like. It’s totally counter to what the rock concert experience should be. Plus, I absolutely loathe Ticketmaster and the like with a passion.
Great piece and some great comments… I don’t go to big gigs anymore. I always leave faintly depressed, with the added feeling – to adapt a John Lydon quote – that I have been cheated, in this case like some victim of pyramid-selling. And you can stick the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury… Good old Mick Farren for being so on the ball. I once woke up to find him and some of the Social Deviants in the kitchen of my student hall of residence where they’d crashed for the night after a gig in Norwich.
Yes I attended the Stones concert in Hyde Park and it was just as you say basic but good. I also travelled to see Dylan at Blackbush and although I’m pretty good at making my way through a crowd from the distance I was from the stage I couldn’t guarantee it was him up there and certainly couldn’t hear him. I haven’t been to an open air concert since.
Great piece Richard. I was put off by the ticket prices for Bruce, whom I’ve loved since I first him in 1974. Then again, I’m put off by all ticket prices these days. The last time (and it will be the last time) I saw The Who, my all time favourites, was in Hyde Park a few summers ago, and though I managed to blag free tickets I was appalled by the price of tickets even then. I wasn’t that impressed by The Who – The Two actually – either.
I’m glad that more or less every artist I have any interest in seeing – be it rock, jazz, folk or whatever – plays in small venues at affordable prices. Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny supported by splendid Belfast bard Joshua Burnside’s trio at a rural chapel during a small festival last weekend has been the biggest show I’ve been at for ages – maybe 400 people. Also the highest ticket price for ages – £25. Great sightlines, great sound, great night out. Some of the most memorable performances I’ve seen in recent years have been in pub rooms with a dozen or so punters. If only life (for artists like that) was a little ‘fairer’. Happily, Bruce and his blue-collar bombast has never floated my boat.
Mick Farren…The Deviants were (as were Jody Grind) booked by Linda at Blackhill Enterprises. We hung out a bit but I was so into Jazz and Mick was not a fan of Jazz calling “Music for Musicians”. However, I saw him as a smart guy and of course he could certainly write. We both thought we were going to be on the bill at The Stones gig in Hyde Park but King Crimson’s management came up with a chunk of money and that was that. We did attend tho…backstage was interesting with the Hells Angels doing security…thats another story.