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Boss Says It Won't Be 'A Novelty' Show

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By CURTIS ROSS

cross@tampatrib.com

Published: January 30, 2009

TAMPA - Bruce Springsteen has his reasons for playing the Super Bowl halftime show Sunday.

"We've got a new album out!" he told a packed news conference at the Tampa Convention Center on Thursday afternoon.

Flanked by members of his E Street Band - Gary Tallent, Nils Lofgren, Max Weinberg, Patti "Mrs. Springsteen" Scialfa, Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan and Clarence Clemons - Springsteen talked about the upcoming Super Bowl performance, his Inauguration Day gig and his upcoming tour at what the moderator said was Springsteen's first news conference since 1987.

Springsteen has turned down the Super Bowl before. He relented this year, he said, partially for "mercenary" reasons - new album "Working on a Dream" was released Tuesday. He also credited Don Mischer Productions, the halftime show's producers, for transforming it from "a novelty" to an event "where we can go out and be the band we are."

Springsteen was relaxed and affable, jokingly demanding that any reporter from his home state of New Jersey not be given the microphone.

He said Florida was the home of "bad, runaway New Jersey-ans."

"You get in trouble in Jersey, you eventually drift down to Florida," he said.

Prompted by a question from a reporter, Springsteen recalled his first Tampa show, a 1975 concert at the Jai Alai Fronton.

"That was memorable," he said. "We were back against the wall and all the seats went straight up."

He drew laughs when asked who decided the songs for the halftime show as well as his concert set lists.

"Well," he drawled, "I'm the Boss. The boss decides. Other people suggest. They hint. They cajole. They beg. But I decide."

He didn't reveal his song list for the Super Bowl, but he did confess that he's not much of a football fan.

"If you ask about football this is gonna be the shortest press conference ever," he said. "When I think of the Steelers, I think of Terry Bradshaw."

He pointed out that saxophonist Clemons had played football - "That's why he has the cane," Springsteen said - and that drummer Weinberg was a past Punt, Pass and Kick participant.

John Legend and Faith Hill met the media beforehand. Faith Hill will sing "America the Beautiful" at Sunday's game, becoming the first performer to sing both that and "The Star-Spangled Banner," at the a Super Bowl, which she did in 2000.

Legend will perform at the pregame festivities Sunday, and headlined a concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Thursday.

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.

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