Talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now there ain't nobody, nowhere, nohow
Gonna ever understand me the way you did"
The first time I saw Springsteen live was back in October of 2005 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA. This was the Devils and Dust tour so it was solo Bruce. He went from pump organ, to acoustic guitar, to ukulele, to piano jumping through the then 30 plus year catalogue all by himself. It was amazing. Cool thing was that I got to treat my dad for his birthday with tickets.
I can't remember the first time I heard his music but it's been in the air in my household since before my existence.. My dad was/is a huge fan. Every family road trip featured whatever tape the Boss had released. Four year old me would ask for The River Album to be thrown on the turntable while I jumped on my hobby horse and went wild. This would of course be after I demanded everyone left the room. Hey, us introverts don't like to show all our hand in front of a group of people. Hungry Heart was my favorite. I've always felt like an old soul, so rockin and rollin to songs of infidelity and divorce sounded good to me at the ripe old age of 4.
Next time I saw Bruce, it was with the full enchilada. My dad and I drove up to Charlotte from Charleston and caught the 2008 tour which I believe was still the Magic tour? Glad I saw this because I got to witness the late, great Clarence Clemons in action. He wasn't well at the time, but he was able to keep his big presence alive despite illness. Clarence had a huge throne on stage where he sat while the band played and when it was time for his solo's he'd stand up and nail it everytime. You couldn't sense any weakness once he began to blow.
The next time I caught the band was with my wife in Munich, Germany at Olympic Stadium in 2013. My wife and I had the pleasure of bopping around Austria and Germany and as pure luck had it the last night we were in town Springsteen was playing. The first half of the trip supplied beautiful weather and then after a fateful hail storm everything went dark. Heavy rain was the name of the game and that was no exception for our last night in town. Was the show going to be cancelled? My wife and I showed up in the pouring rain. I remember taking refuge under a tent and sipping on a Paulaner before the show. We then found out the performance was on and we had GA pit seats so it was time to bite the bullet. We went out to into the pouring rain and accepted our situation. Bruce came out and played the CCR classic, "Who'll Stop The Rain" solo acoustic (the answer was NO ONE!) From that point on the band came out and despite rain and occasionally hail, Bruce and the band rolled through a 29 song set. This particular night in the middle of the set they played the Born in the USA album front to back. It was quite a surreal moment pumping our fists and singing Born in the USA with our new Munich freundins. Shows how great a leader Bruce is. He said he'll stand out in the rain the whole time with us (while the rest of the band hovered under cover, I don't blame them) but if the rain was alright with the Boss, it was alright with us.
The last time I saw the Boss is from the picture above. I was able to win the Ticketmaster lottery for the rights to buy seats..and got them!! to see Bruce on Broadway back in October of 2017. A little over 900 people in the theater so from where we sat we could've played catch with the Boss. A few minutes before the show there was some commotion below us and in came Oprah and Gail (hey, how did they get better seats than us?)
What a great 24 hours. We had a one night stand with NYC that trip. We arrived midday after a 45 minute flight with just a backpack that had stuff for my wife and I for the day. From the airport, pizza was a priority so since we were traveling light we got dropped of at John's of Bleeker Street. After a delicious pizza we walked across the street to grab a brew at the Blind Tiger. Been fortunate to visit the city many times after this trip and we still make a point to grab a pint at this fantastic craft beer bar. After that we checked into the hotel, got closer to Broadway and made a pit stop at one more watering hole (can't recall the name) and then it was onto the show. Afterwards we jumped in a cab for late dinner at Momouku Ssam Bar. Got up early, grabbed some coffee and a bagel sandwich and was home by lunch. It was a perfect 24 hours (being in NYC in October wasn't such a bad deal either.) And yes, the show was fantastic. Suppose you can also catch it on Netflix.
So tons of songs to choose from to highlight but I'm going with one from the Born in The USA album. Bruce has always done a fantastic job of presenting the youthful desire to break out of town and experience different worlds. Such a romantic look at what possibilities exist out there somewhere. This song is another example of that mentality. Plus one of my favorite horror movies is Evil Dead 2 and it has a character named Bobby Joe that makes me think of this song. She unfortunately meets her demise (spoiler alert) from a killer tree.
If you're fortunate, you meet certain people in stages of your life to enrich you in that particular moment. Not all these people stay with you, but their assistance at the time is quite beneficial. Whether it's high school friends, past girlfriends/boyfriends, college friends or coworkers, people will weave in in out of your life. If you're lucky, one or two from each stage will still be with you while others may become funeral and wedding friends. That's okay too, because when you see them it's always great, but in an unsaid way you both know it may be awhile before crossing paths again. That's what this song says to me. Whoa a bit wordy today, thanks for reading!!
