Bruce Springsteen and I don't know each other. We've never met. There are no Rolling Stone or NME-style backstage stories for me to recount about chats over beers after a gig — let alone memories of dancing onstage amid the E Street Band. And as a middle-class Brit who can't drive, I'm hardly the natural audience for an American singing about underemployed labourers driving '69 Chevies out west in search of work. Yet had I been one of the lucky fans asked about their relationship with The Boss for a new documentary released on Monday, that wouldn't have been a problem.

i Newspaper
 
TheIPaper
The Independent around the web
E-break Time
Independent Crossword

Palma Violets, Boston Arms, London

Crowd surfing continues with the band off-stage, a topless girl balances on a mate's shoulders and the bouncers look panicked. This year’s hotly tipped saviours of guitar rock take all this in their stride, at least until a chaotic finale, suggesting either they learn fast or this is typical of their gigs.

We live with our parents, act more politely and abuse fewer drugs. Is this Generation Zzzz?

To be a rebel you need a society to rebel against - but we adore the hell-raisers

BBC4's weekly Top of the Pops repeats are rapidly turning into a roll call of shame

The BBC’s decision to repeat every existing episode of Top of the Pops was supposed to provide a nostalgic insight into the cultural mores of the 70s. But BBC4’s weekly hit parade is rapidly turning into a roll call of shame.

Pete Doherty is auctioning his paintings and collected curiosities

For sale: thousands of pounds worth of Pete Doherty's blood, sweat and tears

Former Libertines frontman is auctioning his paintings and collected curiosities

Hat £100,T-shirt £69, waistcoat from a selection, all by Sandro, selfridges.co.uk

French fashion's entente cordiale

Their labels have already conquered women's wardrobes. Now Sandro's range for men will turn the guys Gallic too, says Harriet Walker

The Afterparty, By Leo Benedictus

Not enough story to tell – how very postmodern

Coogan: 'Neither the police nor the Government were willing to hold those responsible accountable for unlawful acts'

Coogan: Determined to show depths press can sink

Steve Coogan and Paul Gascoigne are among the latest people to have settled claims for damages over phone-hacking, the High Court has heard.

Joan Smith: Pete Doherty is not a child

I suppose it's one way of seeing whether short prison sentences work: the singer Pete Doherty was released on Wednesday after serving less than two months of a six-month sentence for possession of cocaine. It was his third spell in jail, and the judge who sentenced him remarked on his "appalling record", which includes at least 13 previous court appearances. Doherty has been arrested many times for drug and driving offences, and he could face another prison sentence after allegedly breaking into a record shop in Germany in March.

Howard Jacobson: Singing is the problem, not the drinking

Someone who can’t find anything better to do than admire and copy a rock star is a lost soul already

The School for Scandal, Barbican Theatre, London

Deborah Warner's production of Sheridan's 18th-century comic masterpiece is a blast. The stage is strewn with huge, leaning pieces of scenery, scrawled captions, ladders, shopping bags. A fashion show is in progress, models bearing down on the audience in torn clothes, with rough placards of character traits --"Mr Hypocrite"; "A Teasing Temper"; "Perverse and Obstinate".

Pete Doherty back behind bars

Musician Pete Doherty was jailed for six months today after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine.

Police accused of cover-up over death at Pete Doherty party

The mother of an actor who plunged to his death from a balcony following a row with the singer Pete Doherty and his friends has accused the police of a cover-up.

Career Services

Day In a Page

Independent Travel Shop See all offers »
Berlin - East meets West
Three nights from only £399pp Find out more
Europe’s finest river cruises
Four nights from £669pp, seven nights from £999pp or 13 nights from £2,199pp Find out more
Historic Sicily
Seven nights half-board from only £799pp Find out more
Lake Como and the Bernina Express
Seven nights half-board from only £749pp Find out more
Pompeii, Capri and the Bay of Naples
Seven nights half-board from only £719pp Find out more
Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

The great war photographer was not one person but two. Their pictures of Spain's civil war, lost for decades, tell a heroic tale
The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

Someone, somewhere has to write speeches for world leaders to deliver in the event of disaster. They offer a chilling hint at what could have been
Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Think comedy’s a man's world? You must be stuck in the 1980s, says Holly Williams
Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

The Dr Feelgood guitarist talks frankly about his terminal illness
Lure of the jingle: Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life

Lure of the jingle

Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life
Who stole the people's own culture?

DJ Taylor: Who stole the people's own culture?

True popular art drives up from the streets, but the commercial world wastes no time in cashing in
Guest List: The IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Guest List: IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Before you stuff your luggage with this year's Man Booker longlist titles, the case for some varied poolside reading alternatives
What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

Rupert Cornwell: What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

The CIA whistleblower struck a blow for us all, but his 1970s predecessor showed how to win
'A man walks into a bar': Comedian Seann Walsh on the dangers of mixing alcohol and stand-up

Comedian Seann Walsh on alcohol and stand-up

Comedy and booze go together, says Walsh. The trouble is stopping at just the one. So when do the hangovers stop being funny?
From Edinburgh to Hollywood (via the Home Counties): 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Edinburgh to Hollywood: 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Hugh Montgomery profiles the faces to watch, from the sitcom star to the surrealist
'Hello. I have cancer': When comedian Tig Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on

Comedian Tig Notaro: 'Hello. I have cancer'

When Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on
They think it's all ova: Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Our chef made his name cooking eggs, but he’s never stopped looking for new ways to serve them
The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

With its own Tiger Woods - South Korea's Inbee Park - the women's game has a growing audience
10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

Here are the potential stars of the World Championships which begin on Saturday
The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

Briefings are off the record leading to transfer speculation which is merely a means to an end