Across Timelines with Maddie Fry: Bruce, U2, and Music as a Spiritual & Political Awakening

Host Jesse Jackson welcomes London-based journalist Maddie Fry to a “timey wimey” episode of Set Lusting Bruce to discuss how she discovered Bruce Springsteen through a 2006 BBC broadcast of The Seeger Sessions, then worked backward through albums like Devils & Dust, Magic, and The River, becoming a deeper fan after a powerful 2013 London show and later attending the Liverpool concert where Paul McCartney joined Bruce onstage. Maddie also traces her lifelong devotion to U2, sparked in early-2000s adolescence by All That You Can’t Leave Behind and The Joshua Tree, and explains how music by Springsteen, U2, and Johnny Cash shaped her political awareness and led her into writing about religion, spirituality, and culture. The conversation explores faith’s relationship with power, modern politics, and ends with Maddie’s answer to the “Thunder Road” question and where to find her Substack, U2 and Us.

https://www.premierchristianity.com/culture/faithless-the-story-behind-bruce-springsteens-soundtrack-to-a-lost-spiritual-western/20448.article

https://u2andus.substack.com/

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:45 Meet Maddie Across Timezones

02:00 Growing Up and Early Music

04:07 Finding U2 First

06:23 Seeger Sessions Lightning Bolt

10:33 Working Back Through Bruce

12:40 Devils and Dust Deep Dive

14:12 2013 Show Turns Superfan

18:54 Concert Counts and Uncle Andy

20:45 U2 Origin Story

23:20 U2 Shows and Fandom Culture

24:52 Writing Religion and Politics

25:02 Music Sparks Meaning

26:24 Faith Through Lyrics

28:00 Reading Toward Belief

29:29 Faithless Research Journey

32:37 Religion And Power

36:13 Radical Gospel Ethics

41:01 Privilege Luck And Myth

44:03 Liverpool Show Reverence

46:06 Facing Cultural Mortality

48:24 Mary Gets In The Car

49:48 Where To Find Maddie

50:53 Podcast Wrap And Plugs

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices