Bruce Springsteen Monza, music and… surfing: curiosities

Bruce Springsteen returns to play in Italy: July 25th the “Boss” will be at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, at Prato della Gerascia, to perform together with the E-Street Band. Among Springsteen’s many passions, there is one in particular: surfing. Not a simple hobby, but something also linked to his origins and the beginnings of his career. Springsteen, and with him the members of the faithful E-Street Band – his historic backing group – grew up in Asbury ParkNew Jersey, a real surfing paradise. And somehow, the passion for the sport has become part of the iconography of the “Boss”, e its tables in turn they have become real memorabilia.

Surfing and music

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One of the first groups in which Springsteen played, in fact, owes its birth to a surfboard builder: Carl “Tinker” West, who became the manager of “Steel Mill”, which included the “Boss”, guitarist Vini Lopez and organist Danny Federici. They often found themselves right in the their manager’s surfboard factory, and in the end the passion broke out: “It was the surfers who worked in that factory that brought the band to a passion for surfing,” Springsteen himself said. Another testimony of Springsteen’s passion for surfing comes from Jeff Salmon, who is making a film about the beginnings of the “Boss”: “They went surfing practically every day of the week, in Asbury Park. They surfed by day and played clubs in the evening”

Exhibition boards

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Bruce Springsteen’s surfboards have become real memorabilia over time. One of these was also exhibited in Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Famealong with other memorabilia of the American singer-songwriter such as his historic 1969 Chevelle Cabriolet, complete with security measures to prevent too many people from approaching it.

The love of the sea

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Springsteen’s passion for surfing is also linked to his love for everything related to the sea. On the occasion of the presentation of his show From My Home To Yours in 2020, he focused on this: “There’s nothing like the sea at night, even if the air is humid and the day was very hot. I love swimming at night, it’s all dark and mysterious, like a purification.”