Joe Francis unexpectedly met Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney backstage at Glastonbury in 2022. He was hungover a little, but styling it out in denim shorts and Crocs whilst nursing plenty of coffee from the magical barista backstage. But, this is the important part ..... Joe is also a very talented musician and songwriter himself. He is the front man and face of Winter Mountain. Joe brings his guitar into the cafe today and starts to serenade the staff - especially Rosalita!! For more...

'I'm with my main man' says Bruce of Pete Harris in 1975. That's why the media couldn't get anywhere near him at the iconic Hammersmith '75 concert. Pete was a confident and self-assured sales rep for HP Sauce at the time, but had managed to talk his way into Bruce's inner circle on the day of Bruce's first and historic overseas concert with the help of an oversized jar of pickled onions! Again in 1981, Pete hung out with Bruce and the band on the River tour. A larger than life character,...

Eileen Chapman is the Director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Centre for American Music. She lives in Asbury Park and takes the short ride to Monmouth University each day for work, passing all the iconic New Jersey shore attractions. In this episode, Eileen joins Jeff and Dan to discuss the work of the Springsteen Archive Centre and the worldwide interest from Bruce fans. We discover the rarest item in the collection (prepare to be astounded) and of course the E Street Cafe team are...

These are the best clips and bits from Episodes 7 to 12 of Season 1. Listen to Hywel (rhymes with towel) Roberts try and engage with our waitress Rosalita, and make a new doggy friend for life. Tune in for the journalist Patrick Humphries impersonating one of our dear old departed friends. Nicki Germaine talks about photographing the band backstage in 1974, and Marc Ribler wonders what does 'Mikipedia' Saunders really wear behind the camera on a podcast. Jeff and Dan also catch up with...

In this compelling episode, Jeff and Dan chat to Warren Zanes, the author of the brilliant new book Deliver Me From Nowhere - The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. As Dan so eloquently observed - this book tells you more about Nebraska than you could ever pick up from listening to it for over 40 years. It's a deep dive and it's a truly magical conversation. Listen to Warren talk about his meeting with Bruce in the very house where the album was recorded, how Bruce and Nils jammed with...

Just before we launch into Season 2 fully - Jeff, Dan and Mike put their feet up in the cafe with some much needed Bruce Juice to review their favourite moments from Season 1. In this episode, we review Episodes 1 to 6 which includes guests Dick Wingate, Frank Stefanko, Bobby Chirmside and Donna from Bruce Funds. Highlights from Episodes 7 to 12 to follow. Don't forget that if you haven't heard all the episodes yet from Season 1 - it's not too late. Each episode is crammed full of E Street...

Jeff talks to Mike and Dan about the opening night of the European tour. Yes - they were there in the pit after a 7 year lay off for Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band in Europe. Reporting the following day from their Barcelona apartment (complete with live street noises filtering up from the street) - the guys share their first thoughts on the bands performance, the setlist and hopes for Barcelona Night 2. It was also Mike 'Mikipedia' Saunders' 65th birthday, so Rosalita, Spanish Johnny,...

Jeff and Dan welcome fellow Springsteen fanzine editor Paul Limbrick to the E Street Cafe podcast. How were fanzines produced, edited, sold etc ....? Put three fanzine editors together in the E Street Cafe, fuelled with coffee from Rosalita, and the 'dark art' of fanzine editing is exposed! Candy's Room, Point Blank, The Fever, Jackson Cage and Rendezvous were the 5 UK fanzines from the early 1980's. Back then, there was no Internet - everything was put together with a typewriter, letrasets,...

Marc Ribler is probably best known as Little Steven's guitarist and Musical Director. However, his wide-ranging talents stretch way beyond his role with Stevie. In this episode Marc talks to Jeff and Mike about the rebirth of the Disciples of Soul in 2016 after a casual invitation to play a one-off gig in London, his early musical forays, working with Darlene Love, his songwriting/solo work, the challenges of working with record companies and of course THAT infamous Little Steven gig at the...

Nicki Germaine had a chance invite to go along to Liberty Hall in Houston, Texas in March 1974 to photograph a band she had never heard of. Nicki captured some unique and distinctive images from backstage and onstage of Bruce Springsteen and his band at the time. Fast forward 49 years and Nicki has now produced a wonderful photographic document of those iconic gigs at Liberty Hall in a new book called SPRINGSTEEN: LIBERTY HALL. Nicki is also the partner of Garry Tallent and she shares some...

Patrick Humphries was recruited in 1976 by the NME as a hip young gunslinger. He was then employed by Melody Maker in 1980 as their Staff Writer. One of his early assignments for Melody Maker was to go over to see Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden in 1980 during Thanksgiving.  40 years of freelance journalism resulted in other meetings with Bruce, including a 2 hour interview in 1998 to promote TRACKS. He also met Bruce in 2010 at The Promise screening in London.  In this episode,...

This episode carries a health warning! It's rather funny. We explore if Hywel (rhymes with towel) and his brother were the real characters in Highway Patrolman. Besides, Joe and Frankie does sound better than Hywel and Alan after all. Jeff and Hywel get together live in the E Street Cafe with one mic and a rather amorous dog. It contains multiple references to Bruce of course - but it also covers all kinds of other random stuff from growing up in the North of England, Nebraska the album,...

Donna from Bruce Funds has been helping the E Street Nation for over 10 years. Her tireless work and dedication started in 2012 when she always bought two tickets for a concert. If her 'plus one' was unable to attend, she would donate her spare ticket to a person with a deserving cause. Other fans have also generously gifted spare tickets over the years, and Donna has now helped over 700 fans see Bruce for the first time. This is an inspiring story of 'kindness in action' by the E Street...

Bob Chirmside was Bruce's Road Manager and room-mate between 1976 and 1981. In this time, he describes his role as a 'glorified babysitter' for Bruce effectively doing everything from organising tours, cooking for him and actually living with him! Bob recalls some amazing stories from the road which will have you laughing throughout this episode.  Find out the truth behind the defaced Darkness billboard. What was life like in the big house on Telegraph Hill, especially during band...

'Hey Frankie - this is Bruce. How about we get together and do some photographs?' Frank Stefanko is the photographer who has been taking pictures of Bruce Springsteen for 45 years. In February 1978, his world was about to change with one phone call. His work features on Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and the biography - Born to Run. But how did Frank's journey in photography and music begin? In this episode Jeff talks to Frank about how he found a Box camera in the family home at the...

With the Bruce Springsteen world tour now up and running, we get some early eye-witness accounts from some of the lucky fans who were in Tampa for the first show. Thanks to Kevin, Karen and John for calling us. Jeff, Dan and Mike share their own thoughts on the early setlists. The guys also reflect on the sad news that Backstreets are no longer going to providing their fantastic news service/ fan forum and fanzine after 43 years.  Rosalita was on fine form in the cafe today and Dan tucked...

Dick Wingate was the Publicity Manager for Bruce Springsteen at Columbia Records not long after the hype of Born to Run. In this episode, Dick explains how Bruce turned up at his radio station in 1973 and was literally too shy to speak to promote Greetings from Asbury Park. Fast forward a few years and Dick gets a key job at Columbia Records. He has one condition - he wants to look after The Boss! His story starts with his first love of music, the iconic gigs of the late 60s and of course -...

If you like Bruce Springsteen and his music, then you are in the right place. In Episode 1, we open the doors of the E Street Cafe Podcast to talk about the 2023 E Street Band tour, our earliest Bruce memories and wonder if this episode will ever see the light of day!  With the help of Dan ‘Point Blank’ French and Mike ‘Mikipedia’ Saunders, our host Jeff Matthews talks about connecting again with the help of modern technology. We also reveal some of our forthcoming guests who will be...