When you are as big a Bruce Springsteen fan as Brisbane teenager Nathan Testa was in 2017, it was a no-brainer to ditch school to see your idol.
Armed with a sign, Nathan went along to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre with a plan to get Bruce’s attention and perhaps perform on stage with him. And it worked! The sign read: “Missed school, in the shit now, can I play Growin’ Up with you?”
You can see the sign that caught Bruce’s attention at the start of this video. He said, “You know it on guitar?”
Nathan gave an enthusiastic “yes!” and Springsteen told him to “come on up!”
The video shows Bruce telling Nathan how to look like a rock star.
“When I was your age, I bought my first guitar and I realised, it wasn’t how well you played it, but how good you looked doing it. So I got in front of the mirror trying out different poses,” Springsteen said. The crowd cheered as he struck several of his iconic rock and roll poses and the excited teenager mimicked him (top photo).
However, this wasn’t the first time Nathan joined Bruce on the Brisbane Entertainment Centre stage. He first did it in 2013, at age 11, to sing Waitin’ on a Sunny Day and to slide across the stage with his idol:
Inviting fans on stage has become a regular feature of Bruce Springsteen concerts, especially since the 2000s. It reflects the unusually close relationship he has cultivated with his audience over decades.
Fans often bring signs requesting songs, asking for a dance, proposing marriage, or even asking to perform with him. Springsteen frequently scans the crowd for these signs and sometimes acts on them spontaneously. Nathan deliberately positioned himself in clear site of the stage in 2017, with his large sign standing-by.
From a young age, “Nathan has found great joy and satisfaction in making music and sharing it with fans and people all over the world,” according to his website.
Nathan believes that “music has the power to transport us into another time and place, filled with connection and happiness”. He says he loves to “harness that power during his live performances” for audiences of “fellow music lovers and passionate musicians alike”.
More about Nathan, with samples of his music: Nathan Testa
Here is Nathan in February 2025 with a Born to Run guitar solo:
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