Artifact of the Month — November 2022
Song Request Signs
One concert experience that’s increased over the last decade are the song request signs that devoted fans lovingly create and bring along to shows in hopes that their favorite tunes will make it to the concert song list. Often these wishful suggestions can make for unforgettable performances.
They began as pieces of cardboard with some paint slapped but as fans got caught up in a quest to be noticed, the fan signs took on an artistic and sometimes comical element often embellished with wigs and battery-powered lights.
One man who wrote “I’d give my right testicle to hear Drift Away”
There was a 19 year old boy who just requested a man hug
And then there was a teen who was given the opportunity to play guitar with Bruce on stage after his sign read: “Missed school. In the shit now. Can I play ‘Growin’ Up’ with you?
Some others ask for dances, selfies or hugs. Some fans will say that the best concert moments are a result of the spontaneity and surprises brought on by the fan sign requests.
Whatever the request, it can make a stadium show with 50,000 fans seem suddenly intimate and engaging.
Some our fan signs are currently on display in our Bruce Springsteen Live! exhibit at the Grammy Museum, LA
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Recording Academy/photo by Rebecca Sapp, Getty Images© 2022.