Nils Lofgren: “There Is No Clarence II”
As Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band prepare to go back out on the road behind their new album, 'Wrecking Ball,' guitarist Nils Lofgren has been doing a lion's share of the press. In a recent interview with Washington D.C.'s WBIG radio, Lofgren spoke about how the concerts will be different following the death of saxophonist Clarence Clemons in June 2011.
"First of all, we can't be the band we were ever again," Lofgren told Tommy Griffiths. "In addition to the great saxophone playing, he was just a powerful presence."
Lofgren, who has stood next to Clemons on the left side of the stage for years, spoke about how he will miss "all the banter in the dark while Bruce would be doing something for a half-minute here or there, just getting a whisper at each other. We'd talk about how the next song went that we hadn't played in 20 years. There is no Clarence II. There's no such thing. "
Springsteen and the E Street Band, which now features a five-piece horn section (including Clemons' nephew Jake) that Lofgren calls, "powerful, great" will perform a special show at New York's legendary Apollo Theater tonight (March 9). The concert will be broadcast on Sirius XM satellite radio at 8PM Eastern. The 'Wrecking Ball' tour will begin in proper on March 18 in Atlanta.