I attended my first Bruce Springsteen concert, in utero, in 1989. Raised in New Jersey by a record store owning father who has seen Springsteen live 234 times, there’s no denying that the Boss’s music is an essential component of my character. Much to my mother’s chagrin, I have also been irrevocably influenced by The Simpsons, which aired its unimpeachable peak seasons during my impressionable youth. So, when Hank Azaria, the voice of countless Simpsons characters such as Moe Syzlak and Chief Wiggum, announced that he had formed a Springsteen cover band, I could not buy my ticket fast enough. (All profits went to Hank Azaria and Kate Wright’s 4 Thru 9 Foundation for education and social justice.) Azaria told Rolling Stone about his desire to maintain a Bruce impression for an entire set, a daunting task and possibly a terrible idea. I had to see how this was going to turn out. Could Azaria, a talented impressionist but by no means a rock star, take on the role of his idol and make it his own? Would this be a genuine tribute, or simply a vanity exercise from a fabulously wealthy celebrity? What balance would he strike between sincerity and parody?

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The debut public performance of Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band, which sold out Le Poisson Rouge in Lower Manhattan, was a lively and heartfelt 80-minute celebration—not just of Springstren’s music, but of the impact it has had on Azaria’s life. Azaria used the character of the Boss to revisit his triumphs and exorcize some personal demons, telling his own........

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