Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan in Europe

Rose (B-Sides and Broken Hearts) promises a literary jam session but misses every beat in this travelogue disguised as a set of rock-and-roll groupie confessional essays. Observations of people's appearances and weather fail to evoke excitement of either Springsteen or touring. Critiques of song sets are matched by observations of European audience behavior. Readers are subjected to the travails of long lines%E2%80%94what Rose calls "the spirit of the queue"%E2%80%94and snagging the best spot at concerts. Standing-room-only strategies and gender-based judgments display little sense of the psychological motivations inherent in concert culture. Rose offers insights on a journey of "eighteen days, four countries, and seven concerts," but this journal of reflections lacks cohesion. (BookLife)