Bruce Springsteen Explains Why He Climbed Onto The Balcony At The Apollo Theater

Bruce Springsteen recently made an appearance on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio for an interview. He recalled when he climbed into the Apollo Theater balcony and revealed why he did such a thing.

On March 9, 2012, Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band performed at New York’s legendary Apollo Theatre. The performance lasted for two hours and five minutes, and they performed 20 songs from Springsteen’s catalog. Moreover, this was the first E Street Band gig without Clarence Clemons.

Performing in front of a crowd consisting of around 1,500 fans, Bruce Springsteen played songs from his then-new album ‘Wrecking Ball,’ such as his ‘We Take Care Of Our Own.’ The show also included his hits ‘The Promised Land,’ ‘Thunder Road,’ and ‘The Rising,’ as well as several classic soul songs.

On the other hand, fans also witnessed a landmark event during the show at the historic Apollo Theater. While performing Wilcon Pickett’s ‘634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.),’ Springsteen climbed up into the balcony and continued to perform among the fans who were watching the show from there.

In an interview with SiriusXM’s E Street Radio, Bruce Springsteen recalled that incident and revealed why he did this. He said he looked at the pipes during a soundcheck and thought of climbing on them to reach out to the balcony. The musician then added he was pretty athletic back then, and the band thought he was insane. According to Springsteen, he did this to make the audience laugh.

During the conversation, Bruce Springsteen said about the incident the following:

“I came out of soundcheck, and I took a look at where the pipes were. And I said, ‘Okay, that’s doable.’ I had to climb on. There wasn’t a ladder, and I had to climb on the pipes that were there. I was still pretty athletic, so I got up there and made it to the outside of the balcony. That was kind of fun. Well, the band thought I was insane.

The host of the interview then asked:

“What were you thinking? Did you just figure ‘Let me get out there into the audience and climb around?'”

In response to this, Springsteen said:

“It was just something to do, something for people to have a laugh at.

You can watch the interview below.