The show was absolutely amazing. Here's the play-by-play.
"DRINKING WARM BEER IN THE SOFT SUMMER RAIN"
So this was my first tailgating experience. Probably have never seen so many drunk people in a parking lot before in my life. My warm Sam Adams Cherry Wheat was wonderful, and it was nice to have the chance to talk to Shallon, who I hadn't seen since April. It sprinkled the whole time, but it seemed like it would pass.
"THIS STORM WILL BLOW THROUGH BY AND BY"
So we get through security and walk down to the field. We walk through the arch in the back of the field, and already I felt so close to the stage. Shallon said if she had known we were so close, she would have brought a sign. I said "me too. It would say JUNGLELAND". We just kept walking through rows and rows of seats, getting closer and closer. I could feel my eyes (and my grin) getting wider and wider, and we finally get to our seats, soooo freaking close (28 rows back from the end of the stage), and I literally squealed. Like a ten year old. And then I jumped up and down a few times, and the people in our row laughed at me. But that's okay. One older woman was like "is this your first show?" and I said "No, I went to Buffalo in March, but I was wayyyy in the back", and she told me that she first saw Bruce in '77, and that makes her feel old, and I told her that I would give anything to have seen him then, and I'm jealous, and I think it made her feel good to have this young girl telling her that she's jealous of her age essentially. So we sit, then we stand and wander around and look at the shirts that I can't afford (yet) and then we lose her parents and go and sit back down. Then the sky opens up. Downpour. So I pull out the poncho (thanks Keen) and cover myself up, and kind of laugh. Then the sky literally opens up. And then there's a boom of thunder, and then we're told to get off the field and go up to the concourse. So we do. Finally around 9 we get back to our seats. The rain had let up and the thunder stopped. At 9:21, I heard the calliope come on, the lights go down, and there's...Max, Nils, Garry, Charlie, Roy, Soozie, and Patti. And then there's Clarence and Bruce. And off to Neverland (Bruce is Peter Pan. He knows this.).
"CUZ I PLAY IN A ROCK AND ROLL BAND": THE SETLIST
Summertime Blues/Tenth Avenue Freeze-out/Radio Nowhere/Lonesome Day/The Promised Land/Spirit in the Night/Tunnel of Love/Little Latin Lupe Lu/Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?/Hungry Heart/Who'll Stop the Rain/Youngstown/Murder Incorporated/She's the One/Livin' in the Future/Mary's Place/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands* * *I'm Goin' Down/Jungleland/Born to Run/Glory Days/Dancing in the Dark/American Land/Rosalita
"PROVE IT ALL NIGHT": THE HIGHLIGHTS
Summertime Blues: Not a huge fan of when he plays covers. I knew it was coming though, so it was okay, and honestly, it was fun. Oh, Clarence the Bear, your one-liners were hysterical.
10th Ave Freeze-Out: Fun, fun, fun. Clarence rocked the sax as always. It was good at pumping up the crowd, especially Bruce's ever-motivating cries of "sing with me now"...and so we all go "freeze out"..."Louder!"..."FREEZE OUT".
Lonesome Day: "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright...(our arms are up, palms facing upward)...YEAH"...how do all these thousands of people, myself included, know all of these hand motions? I swear, we're in a cult.
The Promised Land: THANK YOU!
Spirit in the Night: Bruce goes "like a spirit in the night" and we all answer "alllll night". Cult. Again, thank you. I do enjoy spending time with Crazy Janey. She's one of my girls.
Tunnel of Love: Patti, go away. I like this song but you annoy me. But then Bruce reminds me that I've got to learn to live with what I can't rise above, and I feel good about myself.
BRUCE: "SHOW ME YOUR SIGNS"...so he takes a bunch. I see one that says "The Promise" and I'm going "take that one, take that one", so he doesn't. He brings them onstage, starts going through them..."not that one, not that one, not that one, HAHA...the band won't be ready for this". I know it will be good. He turns the sign around...
Little Latin Lupe Lu...OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. He has rarely played that since the 70's. Suddenly, I'm watching history in the making. Bruce compliments the sign maker for putting the lyrics on the back. Good idea. You know Bruce doesn't know them.
Hungry Heart: Let's be honest with, well, myself. He turns around this sign, and I think "meh", but then Bruce tells the audience to help him, and right off I'm screaming "GOT A WIFE AND KIDS IN BALTIMORE JACK, I WENT OUT FOR A RIDE AND I NEVER WENT BACK". The audience carries the song through the first chorus (just like on the live CD), and he starts it at the beginning. I'll admit it, it was fun.
Who'll Stop the Rain: "Goin' out to the coach, He's out there somewhere. I don't think he has a sign though"...OMG! Bellicheck's in da house. Hey Bill, tell your team not to blow the superbowl this year. Thanks. Okay, so I love CCR. I love this song. But I love Bruce more. So please play your music. Thank you.
Youngstown: One of the songs I've always kind of been ambivalent about. But oh man, last night it brought tears to my eyes. I have a newfound appreciation.
She's The One: Chorus comes, lights on the audience, he played this in Buffalo so I know the deal, we're all singing "oh ohhhh she's the one", and my throat has started to get sore. Bruce is sitting on the stage, grimmacing, I'm wondering if he's okay, then he jumps up and starts doing high kicks, and I feel like he's 35 again. I like that feeling.
Livin' In The Future: Political rant, blah blah, damn Bush, blah blah, I'm tuned out, Bruce tells Max to help him out on the drums, and I'm back into it..."a letter come blowin' in..." Bruce raps into the camera, I love watching him try to rap, it's funny. What a cutie.
Max starts a slow drumbeat, Bruce is talking about some river of love and hope and dreams and all that jazz, and then he tells us that he and the band can only take us so far, and we need to take them the rest of the way...what was that Bruce? Did you want to go somewhere? I have the keys to my car in my purse. I'll take you wherever you want to go. We'll ride out tonight to case the promised land. I can't promise you that my machine won't turn into a dud and get stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey, but you've got bank, so I'm sure you could take care of it. Seriously Bruce, you know you're the love of my life and no one understands me like you, so if you want me to take you somewhere, just say the words. You're already my copilot.
Mary's Place: Another song I've never really payed attention to. But wow...EPIC! And is that a knee slide he's doing? OMG it is.
The Rising: Aw shit. Not good. This means we have four more songs until the encore. Damn damn damn. But I sing along, and I think about Danny Federici, and how much everyone in that stadium misses him.
Long Walk Home: I love this song. Bruce makes us sing (again, knew this from Buffalo), so we're all going "it's gonna be a long walk home, hey pretty darlin' don't wait up for me, gonna be a long walk home", and my eyes are watering, because I love this song so much, which is fairly recent (since Buffalo, because I def. didn't have the same appreciation then).
Badlands: Brings down the house. "Badlands" (fist pump), and we're all going carrying the whoas, just as he wants us to.
Aw damn, they leave. ENCORES. No "No Surrender" for Heathy. Never an encore song.
More signs. More signs. Hmmm..."And here's the rarely played, rarely requested..."
I'm Goin' Down...down down down...and again, we're witnessing history in the making.
Bruce takes another sign. He turns it around. It says...
"JUNGLELAND". I lose my shit. I'm jumping up and down. Beautiful. I completely lose myself in the story of the Magic Rat and the barefoort girl. This number two on my list of favorite Bruce songs. The state trooper standing behind me cried during Clarence's sax solo, and I think Bruce did too. The Big Bear rocked his sax solo, Bruce softly tells us the end of the story, and we all join in with "outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz/between what's flesh and what's fantasy/and the poets down here don't write nothing at all/they just stand back and let it all be/and in the quick of the night, they reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand/but they wind up wounded/not even dead/tonight in Jungleland" and we all scream with him.
Born to Run: So fun. "Ohhhh..." (arms up), the tramps like us fist pump, and our spirit fingers until Bruce counts off. 50,000 people doing that at the same time is incredible (esp. knowing 95% of them are behind me). Like I said, it's a cult, but it makes the show wonderful. Anyway, Bruce waits to count off until pretty much everyone's hands are up, 1234 and "we learn that the highway is jammed with broken heroes, just like us, on a last chance power drive-and I don't know in my intellect what that is, but my heart knows, and I don't care if I lose my mind, I'm headed there with [Bruce], and if it costs me my very life I'll die with him on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss. And somehow, at the moment we feel it, and it doesn't even sound stupid" (Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy).
Glory Days: Sweet. The song that started it all. 7 years old, front seat of Keena's car, on my way home from Maine (Grif and Tommy visit), being sad that I wouldn't see them for a year, until I heard this song on the radio, and I didn't really get it, but it made me think of playing on the beach with my cousins, and I felt better. I don't know how I remember that. Probably because that (along with hearing "M
y Hometown" at age 8 in the front seat of Dad's car, and hearing "Thunder Road" around that time with Ryan") was a life-changing, life-defining moment. So, we're all rocking out with Bruce and Steve, and they tell us that they're going down to the well tonight, and they're going to drink til they get their fill, and I think "ooh, I get to do that next week", and I hope when I get old, I don't sit around thinking about this concert (or seeing RENT last summer, or going to NYC next week), but...I probably will, just sitting back, trying to recapture a little of the glory of, and as time slips away it leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days, and I worry that this might be as good as my life is going to get. We join the band with the "woo-hoos," the song ends, Bruce and Steve freeze by the mic, and Bruce asks if we think he should play one more verse, and I'm thinking yes, because I know American Land is coming next, and I know that's the end, so Bruce needs to hear us make some noise, and I'm screaming. Ah yes, one more verse. Thank you.
Dancing in the Dark: Oh wow. We get both of them. Good deal. Keep it going. We're all rocking out like Courtney Cox, and it's amazing.
American Land: Ah, shit. This is it. We're singing along, thanks to the words up on the screen..."Dear, I hear that beer flows from the faucets all night long" and I'm happy because I finally know what he's saying on the Roch and Buffalo bootlegs that I have. They come to the front, Bruce introduces the band, I still can't tell Charlie and Roy apart, and we're informed "Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, wherever the fuck we are, you've just seen the...(can't remember the whole quote) pants-dropping, earth-stopping, ass shaking, lovemaking, viagra taking, legendary E STREET BAND" and we cheer, they play one final verse, and they bow, and I feel sad. Then I can vaguely hear some pit people yelling for Rosie, and Bruce is shaking his head at them..."we can't do that one tonight...not tonight, we can't do it, I don't think we can do it, we can't do it...YES we can, no we can't, YES we can, no we can't" and he totally knows he's egging the front sections who can hear this one, so we all start cheering, and everyone starts cheering, and Bruce tells us to cheer louder, so we do, even though I don't think half of the crowd knew what they were cheering for, and Bruce says "Here's one last fairy tale from NJ" and everyone loses their mind.
Rosalita: Unison: "SPREAD OUT NOW ROSIE..." We're singing, we're dancing, everyone is insane, I'm hot, sore, sweaty, my entire body hurts, my throat hurts, and I realize that nope, life is never going to get any better than this.
"THE TIES THAT BIND"
Last night, I really got the sense that Bruce fans really are a cult. And I love it. In Buffalo, I didn't get that quite so much. There's a massive difference between the fans in the uppers that paid MAYBE $70, and the fans on the field that paid at least $100 for their ticket. I sat through all of Buffalo. Last night, I didn't sit once. I danced, I sang, I cheered, I clapped, and it was one of the best experiences of my life, thanks mostly to Bruce and the band, but also thanks to the people I was sitting near.
"I'LL BE TRUE TO YOU"
Everyone knows I love Bruce Springsteen. EVERYONE. This is why I get emails from people at school that are like "have you gotten the new album yet? how is it?". I don't think everyone really understands exactly how much I love him though. Bruce Springsteen, or at least his music, is not only my best friend and the love of my life, but when I get upset about something, I don't think "I'm sad, I need to talk to someone", I think "I'm sad. I need Bruce". And magically, works. Like the line in Bobby Jean says "there ain't nobody nowhere nohow gonna ever understand me the way you did". So anyway, it was around this time last year that me and the rest of the Bruce community were waiting on word of the new album and the corresponding tour. I never thought I would get to see him live, let alone twice. It has been such an honor for me, especially last night, knowing Clarence's health isn't great, Danny is dead, Patti hates touring, Nils needs hip surgery, and Max is about to be on the Tonight Show permanently, and probably won't be able to tour much anymore. I feel the ESB as we know is almost done, and I'm glad I got to see it while it lasted. I'm hoping for one more show at least that I can go to, hopefully with Ryan, and I'm hoping that at that show, I'll be standing in the pit.
WHY BRUCE IS BOSS
And why I probably seemed kind of down today...
"After my first Springsteen concert I should have felt exhilarated and yet I felt desolate...I had started getting sad before the end of the concert, the knowledge that it would soon be over almost ruining my enjoyment. We had spent so long dreaming of this one evening that now it was over there seemed nothing left to look forward to (except the NYC trip, obviously); the real world was encroaching again."
-Sarfraz Manzoor.
Seriously, seeing him is such a natural high for me that when I come down from it, I feel like I'm going through withdrawal. Today I felt sore and tired, naseaus, no appetite, and I felt like I was going to cry for 1/2 the day. Thankfully, I had my family around and I had a wonderful birthday party and a great time playing with Matty. And thankfully, I have A LOT of things to look forward to.
"At a Bruce Springsteen concert with an audience of 15,000, 14,500 of them are seeing a great rock show. The other 500 are seeing the Pope."
-???
Consider me in the 500.
Next time, if Bruce wanted to introduce me to his friends Bobby Jean and Sherry Darling, and
take me to Jackson Cage and the backstreets, that would be wonderful. But honestly, I care so little about what he plays and doesn't play because I'm just thrilled to be there.
Soon, there will be youtube links and the review from backstreets.com, which is amazing.
Bruce, thank you so much. I've spent the last few years believing in the "promised land" that you always sing about, but last night, I found it.
Makes me sad 'lil bit.
