E Street Band has game face on at ballpark

By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 9/5/2003

Fenway Park as a big nightclub? The thought may be hard to grasp, but not to Nils Lofgren, who has been in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band for 19 years.

"We were joking about it the other night when we did our last couple of shows at Giants Stadium," says Lofgren. "At sound check we looked around and it felt weird because it just looked like a big nightclub to us. And that's kind of how Bruce has gotten it to feel. And I went, `Wow, how many of these have we done for this place to look like a big club?' We've done a lot.' "

Springsteen and Co. did 10 shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey this summer. And they're getting ready to do two at Fenway Park tomorrow and Sunday, marking the first time a rock band has played there.

"You might walk out there a little spaced out and think, `Oh Fenway, how beautiful.' But you're not there to check out Fenway Park. You're there to get lost in the music," says singer-guitarist Lofgren, who is continually amazed by how the E Street Band takes risks onstage, even in a stadium, where many other acts just play it by the numbers.

"It's edgier than it ever was, from my perspective," he says of the band's attitude. "I'll take more chances and I'll improvise more. And if I make a mistake, I really feel it's OK with Bruce and with everyone else because it's made in the spirit of looking for an even higher ground."

Surprisingly, the band members receive song lists from Springsteen only 20 minutes before each show. And Springsteen

still often calls out audibles to shake things up. "Just recently we talked about doing `Roll of the Dice' or `Lucky Town,' and I had no idea which one he was going to call," says Lofgren. "Then he said, `Are you feeling lucky?' "And of course, instead of thinking lucky as in `Lucky Town,' I thought lucky as in `Roll of the Dice.' So I picked up the wrong guitar and counted it off and I just plowed full tilt into the wrong song with the wrong instrument. When that happens, you have to have a sense of humor about it."

When the tour ends in October, Lofgren will go back to playing with his own Nils Lofgren Band, which just released a double CD from a club show in Annapolis, Md., last year (check nilslofgren

.com for details). And that was at a real club, not a stadium.Landau on repertoire: Asked what songs to expect from Springsteen this weekend, his manager, Jon Landau, says: "The shows have varied substantially from night to night. They include a major component of `The Rising' [album] and I wouldn't expect that to change. But he's also been doing a lot of unusual songs from all of his different CDs. He's done `Lost in the Flood' and `Spirit in the Night.' It's hard to predict. And he's done `Glory Days' a few times, but he hasn't made a point of it." The song "Rosalita" has been in every show, but we may be seeing the end of Springsteen's famed unity rap regarding dissension from the Iraq war. "He didn't do it the other night, so maybe he feels he's done it enough to get his point across," Landau says.

Unlimited Sunshine: Not to be overlooked this weekend is the Unlimited Sunshine Tour at the Orpheum on Sunday night with Cake, Cheap Trick, the Hackensaw Boys, Detroit Cobas, and Charlie Louvin. "In a time when the music industry is in upheaval and confusion, you might as well have something of your own," says Cake's John McCrea, whose group debuted the Unlimited Sunshine Tour last year with Flaming Lips. The lineup is even more eclectic this year, ranging from hard rock to bluegrass. "For me, this concert is like a mix tape you'd make for a friend," says McCrea. "There's nothing wrong with variety." Bits and pieces: Expect the FleetCenter to soon land some big events, including a David Bowie tour, the Aerosmith/Kiss double bill, and a reunion by Simon and Garfunkel. . . . The well-respected Jodi Goodman, who books the Orpheum, Avalon, and FleetBoston Pavilion for Clear Channel, leaves Sept. 11 to do a similar job for Bill Graham Presents in San Francisco (also a Clear Channel company). . . . The new Songstreet Productions lineup has Kris Delmhorst at the Somerville Theatre on Oct. 18 (with special guest Peter Mulvey) and Ellis Paul and Vance Gilbert at the Somerville Theatre on Nov. 22. Call 617-628-3390. . . . Tonight: Billy Idol at FleetBoston Pavilion. . . . Tomorrow: Dashboard Confessional at the Tsongas Arena, Gipsy Kings at FleetBoston Pavilion, Honeyboy Edwards, Frank Morey, and Ronnie Earl at Arlington's Regent Theatre, and Debbie Davies at the Sea Note in Hull. . . . Sunday: the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Bellevue Cadillac, and Nicole Nelson at the Wachusett Mountain Bluesfest.