Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan In Europe
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- £2.49
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- £2.49
Publisher Description
18 days, five countries, and seven concerts: this was how long-time Springsteen chronicler and veteran Backstreets contributor Caryn Rose spent her summer vacation, running from Paris to Prague to Vienna to London to Dublin, following Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on tour. Were European Springsteen fans that different from their Stateside counterparts? Were the shows overseas truly better than the ones in the States? Part travelogue and part rock and roll love letter, Rose takes you with her every step of the way: queuing in the rain, sleeping on the sidewalk, and watching Paul Mc Cartney from the front row in London.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rose (B-Sides and Broken Hearts) promises a literary jam session but misses every beat in this travelogue disguised as a set of rock-and-roll groupie confessional essays. Observations of people's appearances and weather fail to evoke excitement of either Springsteen or touring. Critiques of song sets are matched by observations of European audience behavior. Readers are subjected to the travails of long lines what Rose calls "the spirit of the queue" and snagging the best spot at concerts. Standing-room-only strategies and gender-based judgments display little sense of the psychological motivations inherent in concert culture. Rose offers insights on a journey of "eighteen days, four countries, and seven concerts," but this journal of reflections lacks cohesion. (BookLife)
