What does Bruce Springsteen have to do with the No Time to Be Timid Manifesto? Everything. I recently caught Bruce live at TD Garden in Boston—from the second to last row—and couldn't stop thinking about how his 50-year career checks off principle after principle from the manifesto. From singing for three hours straight at 76 years old, to speaking truth to power since the 1980s, to calling an entire arena to be their best selves, Bruce Springsteen is a masterclass in creative courage. This one's personal, it's energizing, and it just might make you want to blast Badlands on your next long drive.
What does Bruce Springsteen have to do with the No Time to Be Timid Manifesto? Everything. I recently caught Bruce live at TD Garden in Boston—from the second to last row—and couldn't stop thinking about how his 50-year career checks off principle after principle from the manifesto. From singing for three hours straight at 76 years old, to speaking truth to power since the 1980s, to calling an entire arena to be their best selves, Bruce Springsteen is a masterclass in creative courage. This one's personal, it's energizing, and it just might make you want to blast Badlands on your next long drive.
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In This Episode
- What it felt like to be in the very back of TD Garden (and end up on the big screen)
- How Bruce checks off three key principles from the No Time to Be Timid Manifesto:
- Creativity is not a frivolous pursuit — 50+ years of music, storytelling, and human connection
- The riskiest thing you can do is play it safe — speaking against injustice and power since the 1980s without worrying about who he alienates
- There is courage in community — what it looks like when an artist calls an entire arena to rise up together
- Why 76 years old and three hours nonstop is the ultimate "no excuses" reminder
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Manifesto Principles Featured in This Episode
#1 — The riskiest thing you can do is play it safe
#4 — Creativity is not a frivolous pursuit
#9 — There is courage in community
Download the free No Time to Be Timid Manifesto: [www.triciaroseburt.com/manifesto](https://www.triciaroseburt.com/manifesto)
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Website: [www.triciaroseburt.com](https://www.triciaroseburt.com)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@triciaroseburt
Follow along: @triciaroseburt
Questions? podcast@triciaroseburt.com
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Credits
Written and produced by Tricia Rose Burt
Episodes produced and scored by Adam Arnone of Echo Finch
Executive Producers Amy Grant, Nancy Perot, and Sage Wheeler
With gratitude to contributors to Tricia's Fractured Atlas fiscal sponsorship
No Time to Be Timid is a presentation of No Time to Be Timid Productions.
TRICIA: Hey there, I'm Tricia Rose Burt. And in this podcast, we talk to artists who show us how to find the courage to take risks, step out of our comfort zones, and use our creativity to make our work and change our world. Pay close attention because this is no time to be timid.
So I must tell you that last week I went to go see Bruce Springsteen at the TD Garden. Now, Bruce Springsteen is the soundtrack of my life. I listened to Born to Run all through high school. And then when I went to college — I lived in Tampa, Florida, I went to school in Nashville, Tennessee — at the start of every semester, Hetty, Lynn, and I would get in Hetty's little tiny Fiat, cram in there, and drive 12 hours because we could, to school. And when we hit Mon Eagle, which was in the mountain two hours outside of Nashville, we would put in Darkness on the Edge of Town and we would blast that for the last two hours of the drive, singing like crazy, most specifically Badlands.
So this Bruce Springsteen is just like in my DNA. He's just great driving music. He's just been a part of my life since as long as I've been here. So I try to see him as often as I can. Not as much as my friend who has just seen Phish a hundred times, which is a very devoted fan. But I saw Bruce Springsteen in Dublin, Ireland. I saw him about a decade ago at the Garden in Boston again. And this year I'm like, I'm not gonna miss this guy. He's 76 years old. I'm not gonna miss it.
So I get my sweet little Irish husband to come with me — who, you know, he's Irish, he doesn't have this whole American Bruce Springsteen thing — but he's game and he's going. So we go.
To the Garden now. I bought these tickets at the last minute, so I will tell you I've never been so far away from a stage in my entire life. Like we were the second to the last row in the Boston Garden, which holds a lot of people. But it wasn't a big deal. Everybody was game and they have those monitors, those great big monitors, so you could see Bruce huge. Bruce himself on stage was a little tiny person, but you could see everything, you didn't miss anything. The crowd was — we were just so into it. And I said to my husband, I am going to embarrass you. Because I am gonna be up, I'm gonna be dancing through this whole thing. And then at one point the crowd camera comes on — and they only turn it on one time in the whole show. The crowd camera comes on and I'm like, hey, that's section 307 where we're sitting — and my husband's yanking at me going, you're on the big screen. So it was just like a big moment for me to be part of Bruce Springsteen's concert. He's 76 years old and sang for three hours nonstop.
Okay. While he was singing, I couldn't help thinking about the No Time to Be Timid Manifesto, because I think a lot about the No Time to Be Timid Manifesto. And he's checking off all of them. But one of the main ones he's checking off is that creativity is not a frivolous pursuit. This whole man's life has been about making music, telling stories, making connection, listening to people, being empathetic. And he's doing it all through his craft. He's been doing this for over 50 years. He knows the importance of creativity and making it happen.
The other thing that he checked off is the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe. He has been really speaking against power and authority and injustice since the 1980s. And he knows that he's gonna alienate some people and other people he's gonna get on board. So he's not worried about offending anybody. He is doing what is true and right and feels important to him, and he gets that word out there.
And then the last thing that I was really so struck by — because I had a bird's eye view from the very back of this arena — is that there's courage in community. People were going berserk, and he was rising everyone up and calling us to be the best we could be, and we were all able to do that in community. So it was a really powerful experience for me. Also, again, he's 76. Three hours without stopping. So if I ever feel like I'm too tired or I'm too old or whatever, I mean, buck up. I just need to find the energy, move forward, and be like Bruce.
At the beginning of the concert, Bruce said these words: "We call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in these dangerous times."And he had me on board as soon as he said that.
Because that's what we're all about here at the No Time to Be Timid podcast and YouTube channel — to give people the courage to put their work out there, their voice out there, to express themselves, to help put more beauty and courage into the world.
And if you are interested in more content like this, I encourage you to check out my YouTube channel. We've got lots of videos, a bunch of back episodes of the podcast, and we're gonna be introducing a new season in the fall. So make sure you check that out.
And remember in the meantime that this is no time to be timid.
Thank you for joining us. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at podcast@triciaroseburt.com. And if you liked this episode, please share it with one other person that you think will enjoy it, then maybe talk to them about the parts that resonate. It really helps build our audience. And remember, this is no time to be timid.
No Time to Be Timid is written and produced by Tricia Rose Burt. Our episodes are produced and scored by Adam Arnone of Echo Finch. Our executive producers are Amy Grant, Nancy Perot, and Sage Wheeler. I'd also like to thank contributors to my Fractured Atlas fiscal sponsorship, which helps make this podcast happen. No Time to Be Timid is a presentation of No Time to Be Timid Productions. You can change yourself and change the world.