Bruce Springsteen Addresses Joy & Loss On ‘Saturday Night Live’

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band made their first live appearance in four years this weekend (December 12th) on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The band was down two players — violinist Soozie Tyrell and co-founding bassist Garry Tallent — both of whom chose not to travel due to Covid restrictions. “The Boss” alerted fans of their absences, posting on social media: “We’ll be missing our great bass player Garry Tallent and our compatriot Soozie Tyrell on Saturday night due to Covid restrictions and concerns. Garry and his family are fine as is Soozie, but we thank Jack Daley of the Disciples Of Soul for sitting in.”

Garry Tallent took time out to tweeted fans: “I don’t have the 'Vid and intend to avoid catching it. Stay safe and weigh the risk/benefit for whatever you do. I personally felt that a two song TV appearance was not worth a week long stay in NYC. Thanks for your concern.”

For the broadcast, Springsteen and the band tackled a pair of tunes from the new Letter To You album, which dealt specifically with loss; the rocking “Ghosts” and the soothing “I'll See You In My Dreams.” Whereas Springsteen's 2015 SNL appearance closed out with a joyful and exuberant take of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” — this time out, in the face of record numbers of infected and dead coronavirus victims, Springsteen hit the right note with the yearning but hopeful “I'll See You In My Dreams.”

During his December 10th appearance on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Bruce Springsteen recalled his debut performance in 1965 with his first band, the Rogues: “It was in the Elks Club in Freehold, (New Jersey). It was 35 cents, you played on Sundays — 35 cents to get in. There was a room about this size, the bands would set up in a circle. And every band would play about three songs, then the next band would play three, four, or five songs — and all the bands were playing for free. And y'know, maybe, there was less than. . . it was less than a hundred kids there, y'know? But it was an amazing place to kind of start out. And I remember, the only thing I remember the most is, I got up and I sang 'Twist And Shout' — and I've been singin' it ever since.”