Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Stephen Colbert welcomed Bruce Springsteen to The Late Show on Friday to plug his autobiography, Born to Run, and its companion album, Chapter and Verse. The legendary rocker also revealed his top five Springsteen songs.
The first two were easy for Bruce. “I got to put ‘Born to Run’ up there. I guess for me, ‘The Rising’ is a big song,” he answered right away, then struggled to complete the list. “What do we play every night? We play ‘Thunder Road’ really regularly. ‘Nebraska’ was a good one.”
He polled the audience for the fifth song, which seemed to be a tie between “Jungleland” and “Racing in the Streets.”
Colbert also read a question from “an anonymous band member” about Springsteen’s tendency to call out songs his backup band has never played before.
“The entire band is bar band veterans, so they played hundreds of nights before we ever stood out in front of an audience…so there’s a common well we draw from,” he explained. “If someone says, ‘Play “Wild Thing,”‘ you’ll be fired from the E Street Band if you don’t know [that song].”
Springsteen added there’s a “little man under the stage” who runs his teleprompter and sends him the lyrics within seconds.
The 67-year-old rocker also discussed his marathon shows, which have been known to last over three hours, and, in the case of his recent concert in Philadelphia, topping the four-hour mark. His band seems to be okay with that, for the most part.
“The band doesn’t complain until around three hours and 40 minutes,” Springsteen said. “It’s that last 20 minutes that for some reason even makes the E Street Band [angry]… slightly, someone may mention it to me.”
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
