Springsteen gets flat tire on way to show, but who fixed it?
Stories are all over the internet today about how Friday night Bruce Springsteen was on his way to work when he got a flat tire. Story has it his SUV’s front left looked like it was given the Tom Brady treatment and then some. It happened in Keyport not long after leaving his home for a show at Mohegan Sun.
The articles talk about where he broke down, how he posted on Instagram a pic of himself sitting up against his fender next to the pancaked tire, how he made it to the show in time in spite of it, what his setlist was, etcetera.
As of this writing the one thing I have not found in any article is how the tire got changed.
Now maybe by the time you’re reading this the rubber-on-the-road mystery will have been solved. But until then, I’m just asking. Did Bruce change the tire himself? Did he have personal assistants rush to his aid? Did he call AAA like us non-rock royalty and possibly have to wait two hours? Did fans recognize him and stop to help?
Look, I'm not trying to flat-shame the brother. I am a fan. I respect that he’s now 74, yet he’s in better shape than most 44-year-olds so you’d think he could work a jack like he works that gym equipment on chest day.
Hey, I’m not the one who cultivated this blue-collar everyman image, he did. Springsteen has often weaved car references into the fabric of his lyrics, too.
From “Racing In The Street”
I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down
Or from “Cadillac Ranch”
Eldorado fins, baby, whitewalls in skirts
Rides just like my little bit of heaven here on earth
Well, buddy, when I die throw my body in the back
Drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac
Cadillac, Cadillac
Long and dark shiny and black
Open up your engines, let 'em roar
Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur
Those aren’t the only ones. So all I’m saying is with the image and the songs, you’d kind of hope Bruce was there on the side of the road getting his hands dirty and changing his own tire to make it on time and not disappoint his fans. Until we hear otherwise, and maybe by now you have, I’m choosing to believe he did.
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