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Gigs & Bytes: The Boss Online
But along with a mix including folk, country-swing and New Orleans jazz, Springsteen is doing something else he’s never tried – he’s putting a video recording of one song from each U.S. show online the day after the performance.
AOL Music is your online connection for live Bruce. Incredibly, for a performer known to be a meticulous planner, the AOL Music / Springsteen combination came together just days before the U.S. tour kicked off in Mansfield, Mass., on May 27.
“When the album was announced, we had started to talk to Columbia about doing something with Springsteen and the record,” AOL Music’s VP & GM Erik Flannigan told Pollstar. “We contemplated every thing from full-on concerts to ‘AOL Sessions’ and the timing was such that it was hard to pull any of those things off. Then last week we started to talk to Columbia about doing something around the tour itself, and this idea was pitched. To be honest we almost thought this idea was too bold or too big to possibly have a shot to happen. And lo and behold, they liked the audacity of it, and we put it together rather quickly before the start of the tour.”
Each video clip is culled from the cameras capturing Bruce and the band for the giant TV screens flanking the stage. Springsteen’s people review the video recording and select the song to be shown the next day on AOL Music. The plan calls for a different song from each tour stop, resulting in 18 separate videos by the time the tour wraps up in New Jersey on June 25.
“For Springsteen fans like myself, the opportunity to watch highlights from every single show on the tour is almost too good to be true,” Flannigan said. “We are positively thrilled to be opening this unique window into the Seeger Sessions tour on AOL Music and to once again bring free on-demand live performances to the online audience.”