In early December Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band were coming towards the end of a sensational run of dates that had taken them around America, and a large chunk of Europe, as part of the Wrecking Ball tour. Finally, after a ten-year absence, it was announced that the band would make it back to Australia. Backstage in Anaheim Sean Sennett caught up with Nils Lofgren for a chat. At this point it was still unclear if Steve Van Zandt would be travelling with the band or not.

SS: I said to Bruce that it’s going to be ‘more work for you and Nils’ in Australia without Stevie: you’re going to be a busy man.

Nils: Yeah, honestly it’s the first I really heard of it. First of all I’m thrilled there’s more work. We’re so deep into this; it would be a shame to knock it down. I heard distant rumblings about the Lillyhammer [TV] show, which was massively successful for Steven in Norway. But I guess we danced around Max and Conan and NBC for all those years; I just figured they’d figure it out.

SS: You’ve been enjoying the tour?

Nils: I’m loving the tour. I think, as deeply as I miss Clarence every night, I really think it’s the best shows we’ve ever done.

SS: They’re amazing. I can honestly say the other night in Oakland, it was the best show I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ve seen a lot of shows. I know you probably have that feeling every night.

Nils: That’s the goal [and that’s] because of the quality of musicianship, and Bruce’s sense of band leading, and improv, which has a lot to do with it. It’s kind of a way to surprise everyone, including ourselves. One of the things I’ve always loved about the job, and it’s not dissimilar to the great Neil Young and Ringo Starr who I’ve worked with in bands and even Patti: you have a musical freedom to really do what you want. Certainly it has to feel right, but the last thing you want is people you have to show every note to play. I’m not a good drummer. I can give you a beat and give you some direction, but then you want a great drummer to surprise you with your idea of a feel done by a professional drummer.

You multiply that by 18 in this band, and you mix in the improv and reckless joy of being able to fly seat-of-your-pants. There’s a spur-of-the-moment inspired by the audience. Bruce doesn’t follow the set. We all know that. Near the end of the last tour, I think we did 192 different songs.

Sean: Where do you catch the ‘audibles’ from? Does he turn to you and go “Youngstown” or do you see it from somebody else?

Nils: A couple of different things. He’ll pull a sign out of the audience and show signs. So a lot of times what I do is just run over—a lot of times he’ll first show it to Steve and Roy or that side. I don’t want to wait, so I’ll run over, look at it. Then I run over to tell Charlie and Soozie and the horns. Sometimes on the way over I see Max — and I run out and tell Max first because he really guides us with the tempo. So I’m kind of the Paul Revere of my side of the stage.

But it’s all fun. I’ve learned a long time ago, in the dark if, after a song Bruce and Steve are laughing about something, that’s just them—with their history—having a laugh about the song was great, there was a magic moment. But all of a sudden if they’re having a serious conversation, I know now not to wait. Bruce is so into the moment that he might say something to his guitar tech and get ready to do a song that nobody in the building knows about, except his guitar tech. That’s not good for us.

Sean:            On Devils & Dust had you played the solo the other night: had you played that before? Or you just knew when to come in?

Nils: For the first time we did an arrangement of it hundreds of shows ago at an earlier tour; haven’t played it since. We worked it up about a month ago, we did it once. Then we forgot about it. We hadn’t talked about it or practiced it, but we had a layout to it. Again I don’t even know who’s paying that much attention, but I used the opportunity to put a pog on my pedal steel with some distortion and create more of a pad that sounds like a church organ, which I used. Brendan O’Brien had me doing that in the studio. It doesn’t sound like a pedal of steel. Half the time you’re sure it’s a patch by Roy or Charlie. It’s actually my pedal of steel run through a pog and heavy overdrive, so it sounds like a church organ through a fuzz tone.

But that night we happened to recognise it, and a lot of times, I was saying in the dark, I’ll run over and interrupt Steve and Bruce. I realise if I don’t do that, I’m not going to know the song. That’s my way of like “Bruce, what are we doing?” He tells me, and then I rush off to tell the guys.

Sean: The other night did he threw you the solo on Because The Night? Were you aware that you’d be doing that song?

Nils: Yeah, that’s a funny story. I think on Because The Night, Bruce played the solo forty nights in a row… it was beautiful. That one night I’m getting ready to do my rhythm thing, which I love, and as he was going to the fuzz tone with his foot, he pointed at me, out of the blue. So I played the solo, and he had me play it a very long time. I thought that’s a bit long to just be improving the blues. And I love the song; it’s a very dark piece, one of my favourites.

I went off. I figured, well, you know, another 10-12 shows I might get the nod. So I started crafting some touchstones, just themes, I could bounce from one to the other, and then I knew it would grow over quite a long period of time. Of course in my own shows, when I’m ready to wrap it up, or I’m at the peak, I wrap it up. But if I’m peaking and Bruce is like ‘I want more’, what do you do? You just keep playing. Sure enough, for the entire rest of the tour, never once did he nod at me again.

So it was kind of funny to me that I put this work into a piece but then sure enough, the tour ends; we’re doing Christmas shows in New Jersey. He says, “Could you come and help me at the benefits?” I said, “Yes” He asked me to pick a couple of songs. I wanted to do ‘Because the Night.’” So I got to finally do “Because the Night” and I sang it, but I got to do this long solo. And he was like “Wow.” He noticed there was some time and effort and crafting going into it.

SS: Do you remember much about coming down to Australian in 1985 on the Born In The USA tour?

Nils: I remember having a ball there because it was exotic in the sense it was so new and far away.

Sean: No I meant the first time in the ‘80s.

Nils: That was great that was my first tour. In addition to travelling to places like that, which I’d never been on my own, there was the decision to go into the stadiums, after being determined to stay in the sports arenas. Just to meet ticket demands. So that was a beautiful thing.

It was a memorable trip. I’m just excited to get back, and kind of share what I think is a very different version of the band. And as much as I miss Clarence, I know he’s there in spirit. I’ve got to just look around; Bruce is doing the heavy lifting. But I got to admit, damn, this is some of the best shows we’ve ever done.

You can read and hear more from Nils Lofgren at www.nilslofgren.com While you’re there budding guitarists can enjoy a free guitar lesson from the great man.