Dave Grohl has shared a touching anecdote about an encounter with Bruce Springsteen, in an article about his love of live music.
The Foo Fighters frontman wrote a piece for The Atlantic as part of the publication’s ongoing “Uncharted” series.
In the piece, Grohl explained how he has come to terms with the current predicament for the music industry and revealed his hopes for its future.
He also recalled an early Foo Fighters gig at which Springsteen turned up, only to learn he was there to see the support act (”cue devastating humiliation”).
“But we chatted briefly before the gig, and I was again reminded of not only the human being behind every superhero, but also the reason millions of people identify with him: He is real,” Grohl wrote.
After the show, Springsteen apparently came backstage to say hello to Grohl and the band, and to comment on Foo Fighters’ rapport with their fans.
“Something he obviously understood very well,” Grohl wrote. ”When asked where he watched the show from, he said that he’d stood in the crowd, just like everyone else. Of course he did. He was searching for that connection too.
“A few days later, I received a letter from Bruce, handwritten on hotel stationery, that explained this very clearly. ‘When you look out at the audience,” he wrote, “you should see yourself in them, just as they should see themselves in you.’”
Grohl went onto explain how Springsteen’s words stayed with him for the next 25 years, as he looks out at the audience for every Foo Fighters gig.
His piece for The Atlantic comes as thousands of live events scheduled for 2020 have been cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full article here.
