(Credits: Far Out / Taschen)
Lynn Goldstein is one of rock’s most legendary photographers, having shot the likes of Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. She works with artists of such immense star power that fans flock to her intimate photography, seeing it as a rare snapshot of their favourite musicians in moments they’d never catch as fans. Of course, there are the adrenaline-filled onstage photos, but the ones Goldstein does best are the quiet periods between shows and soundchecks.
In the late ’70s, she joined her then-partner Bruce Springsteen on the North American leg of the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour with the E Street band. It went on to become one of his most prolific runs, with his biographer Dave Marsh writing: “The screaming intensity of those ’78 shows are part of rock and roll legend”. It was the beginning of Springsteen’s use of mammoth setlists, with him averaging about 25 songs a night.
The intensity Marsh wrote about was an interesting starting point for Goldstein because he was close to becoming one of roots rock’s most messianic figures. Capturing Springsteen as himself, without the bravado of ‘The Boss’, was challenging enough, but she also wanted to elevate the position of The E Street Band at the same time.
Goldstein told Billboard that was one of the “motivating actors” in releasing the 2023 book Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Darkness on the Edge of Town. “I felt that most people focus just on Bruce Springsteen, the band itself never got anywhere near the coverage that I felt should be brought to the attention of people,” she said.
“What Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show is that when there is a brotherhood, the power of something increases exponentially,” she added. “You have a group of individuals, led by someone, who [is] totally aligned with rock ‘n’ roll being the spiritual vehicle for saving people’s lives, for bringing people together, for celebration, as well as for reflection.”
In Bruce Jumping to the Light, Springsteen is suspended in midair on stage. You can’t see a single member of the E Street Band, but you sense them there, supporting him to new heights at the peak of his career. As Goldstein saw it from behind the camera, he couldn’t be lifted up like that without their efforts. “It’s like the music bringing you up into the light,” she told The Standard. “You go beyond and outside of your body. That was the point of rock’n’roll: to heal, to uplift.”
Elsewhere, she followed them through quiet moments of songwriting and standing around waiting on a tour bus. It doesn’t dent Springsteen’s rock-and-roll mystique but instead introduces viewers to another side of him.
