Bruce Springsteen reveals he still gets stage fright ahead of performance

• LOS ANGELES — Music legend Bruce Springsteen, who has been feted with 20 Grammy Awards and more than 140 million records sold, said that despite his 50-plus-year career, he “always” gets a bit nervous before going onstage..
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• “(It’s) what I call anticipatory anxiety. You’re about to test yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually,” Springsteen said on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, reports people.com.
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• “Every night you’re going to call on all those parts of your personality and you’re going to relive them and be as alive as you can be, which is, I believe that’s what the audience pays for, how alive you can be on any given night, more than what song you’re singing or what song you don’t sing.”
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• Springsteen has long been known for his energetic sets, which can sometimes last more than four hours. Once he gets rocking, his anxiety mostly dissipates, he explained.

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• “It’s how present you are. So there’s always some anticipation before I go out on stage, which pretty much disappears the minute I count in the band,” he said.
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• The singer currently has 16 European shows coming up, starting in May and running through July. In August, he balked at the idea of ever slowing things down after more than five decades with his E Street Band.
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• “We ain’t doing no farewell tour. Jesus Christ. No farewell tour for the E Street Band!” he told the crowd during a performance in Philadelphia.
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• “Hell no… Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name? Yeah, I wanna quit that,” Springsteen added.
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• “That’s it. That’s all it takes. I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”
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• Guitarist Steven Van Zandt also shut down retirement talk during a conversation with The Telegraph in July 2024, explaining that stepping back is not in the cards.
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• “I don’t see the end anywhere in sight, to be honest, especially in Europe, where we’re bigger than we’ve ever been," he said.
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• "I think we can play every summer for evermore, man.”
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