Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band haven't played a gig in five months.
And now the next one will be the most watched in their entire 36-year career, with nearly 100 million people, in this country alone, expected to tune in Sunday for the Super Bowl.
E Street guitarist Nils Lofgren says the band will spend three days rehearsing in the Tampa, Fla., area trying to perfect their best 12 minutes for halftime.
"He has 400 great songs," Lofgren says, "so he's going to have to decide what he's going to play and how many."
While he's down there, away from his mailbox, Lofgren plans to pop into a mall and pick up the 15 fresh ones that appear on "Working on a Dream," a new record that comes just 16 months after "Magic." This one is something of a surprise bonus to fans who are used to Springsteen and the band working at a far more glacial pace.
"We're proud of Bruce that he kept his nose to the grindstone last year and kept writing and finding ways to get the band into the studio during the tour, which is a lot of work and a lot of pressure," Lofgren says. "But, obviously, he was inspired with ideas and songs, and when we finished Aug. 30 I went home to rest and get ready for hip surgery and Bruce kept working hard to get the record done."
"Working on a Dream" is a departure from the previous two records, both in the optimistic tone and in the wider variety of styles, from the orchestral folk of "Outlaw Pete" to blues-stomper "Good Eye."
"I think it's as good a record as we've ever made," Lofgren says. "There's a lot of territory that it covers emotionally, but it's not maybe as political and ominous as the last two records. It makes it for me -- just 'cause I'm a big fan of Bruce's lyrics -- a little easier emotionally to get through and enjoy. I still put on 'The Rising' and listen to it, but it's a very emotional hour to get through. It's brilliant, but it kind of tears you up a bit."
Lofgren, 57, had a varied career before joining the E Street Band in 1984 -- playing in Crazy Horse and Grin, as well as releasing acclaimed solo records -- and he continues to pursue his own projects.
He recently cut an acoustic collection of Neil Young covers called "Nils Sings Neil" at the request of his manager. "I love Neil. I sang about 30 of his songs to my dogs and cats for a couple weeks, and I realized some of them stopped sounding like good karaoke and seemed to have something special."
While he's in Tampa, Lofgren will also hit a John Madden party playing music from "Tuff Stuff! The Best of the All-Madden Team Band," a 2001 CD featuring instrumentals Lofgren recorded to accompany football highlight shows.
Lofgren is a big NFL fan and grew up in Maryland cheering the Washington Redskins. Now, he lives in, um, Arizona, so, yes, he'll be rooting for the red team (although word is that Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt root for black and gold).
"I like the Pittsburgh Steelers and I've rooted for them in the past," Lofgren says, "but not this game. Pittsburgh's had many a Super Bowl and many glory days and we've had ... zero."
(Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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