Right before Bruce Springsteen took the stage at 12:30 p.m. CDT
Thursday for his keynote speech at South By Southwest, a half-hour later
than expected, conference co-founder Roland Swanson joked, “That’s why
they call him the boss.”
As Springsteen himself later said, when referencing a Danny & The
Juniors hit, “Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay,” “They had no idea how
terrifyingly fucking right they were.”
Working the crowd like a master performer who’s spent well more than
half his life on stage, Springsteen delivered what a few audience
members on the way out called the greatest keynote they’d ever seen.
Dressed in jeans and a button down shirt, holding his speech like
your coolest professor, Springsteen began with a comment about the hour
of the speech. “Good morning, why are we up so fucking early? How
important can this speech be if we’re getting up at noon,” he joked to
loud laughter. “Every decent musician in town is asleep, or they will be
before I’m done with this.”
