How popular was Bruce Springsteen at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday?
So popular that fans began lining up overnight for rush tickets to his “Mavericks” conversation with Ed Norton, with one holding up a sign offering $300 for a single ticket.
So popular that an hour before the event began, lines snaked through the small upper lobby of the TIFF Bell Lightbox, causing such a crush that one fan fainted and had to be attended by the three doctors who happened to be waiting in the line.
So popular that TIFF filled not only the 470-seat theater, but also a second theater to handle the overflow.
So popular that the festival had no problem taking an event sponsored by Blackberry and instituting a strict policy prohibiting tweeting, camera phones and indeed any use of cellular or mobile devices, going so far as to kick a couple of audience members out for checking their email.
(In the overflow room, though, tweeting was allowed.)
And that was just the first stop on Springsteen’s de facto Toronto Domination Tour, which went on to include a raucously received gala premiere of director Thom Zimny’s “The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town,” a documentary that started its life as a proposed extra disc on a deluxe boxed reissue of the 1978 Springsteen album, but subsequently landed a prime spot in the TIFF lineup and a deal for an HBO broadcast.
(Read the review: "How Broooce Became the Boss.")
“It’s a very special night for us,” said festival co-director Cameron Bailey when he delivered the opening remarks at the gala. “I don’t have to tell you why.”
The crowd immediately signaled that he indeed he didn’t, filling the room with a traditional chorus that goes something like this: “Broooooooooce!”
TIFF’s documentary and Mavericks programmer Thom Powers made a point of trying to tie Springsteen to the movies in his introductory remarks before the Springsteen/Norton conversation. Though he overstated the case a little bit, the ensuing hour-and-15-minute conversation did touch on the influence that films had on the young musician who made “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in the aftermath of his breakthrough album, “Born to Run,” more than 30 years ago.
“Martin Scorsese once said that the artist’s job is to get the audience to care about your obsessions,” said Springsteen, who pointed out that the artists who succeed are often the ones who go to extremes, “who care enough to get crazy about it.”
He nodded toward Norton, a friend for more than a decade. “It’s the way you work,” Springsteen told the notoriously difficult actor. “You get nuts.”
Norton laughed. “There are many who will attest to that,” he conceded.
Springsteen’s camp had asked Norton to conduct the interview; the actor was due to attend the fest already on behalf of the movie “Stone,” in which he stars with Robert De Niro.
