He Got Me Too!

So I went and saw Bruce Springsteen last night down in Auburn Hills. I think I’ve written a few things about Bruce in the past but, sorry to say, here we go again. I wrote to a friend of mine just last week about how I’m not really a huge fan of his but if I had to name my top 100 songs, odds are, eight to ten of them are Springsteen’s.

A few of them are the usual suspects, “Born To Run”, “Rosalita” “Blinded By The Light” and “Fire”. Manfred Man and The Pointer Sisters made the last two famous but, to me, Bruce’s original versions have so much more passion. Anyway, four more of his songs in my top 100 all come from the album, “Tunnel Of Love”. Three of which pretty much talk about the impending end of his marriage at the time.

Anyway, once again, way off track. Stay focused. The concert. The tickets said the show started at 7:30 and we got there about ten minutes early. The show didn’t start till 8:15. Sort of a drag but I can live with it. He opened with his latest single as most bands do and then went right into “Night” from the “Born To Run” album. He pretty much did that all night. One or two new ones then something you recognized.

One thing you really see at a Springsteen concert is the complete and utter devotion of his fans. If you are a real Springsteen fan, your loyalty is unconditional. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to Bruce’s music but there were a number of songs that I had never heard. Most, I’m sure, from the new album. The thing that got me though was the rest of the crowd. I was something like a mile and change away from the stage so I used my binoculars throughout the show. I spent a great deal of time looking at people in the crowd. I saw a number of folks literally doing dance routines to these new songs while singing along. Pretty impressive, at least to me.

“Badlands, you gotta live it every day.
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay. We’ll keep pushin' till it's understood.
And these badlands start treating us good.”

It’s really something to see a crowd react so strongly to certain songs. I’ve seen Springsteen twice and both times the song “Badlands” was a sight to behold. The crowd knows the whole song and it obviously means a whole lot to them as they are up and shouting the words throughout. I know this happens at most concerts but the fervor with which these fans do it is really quite different than any crowd reaction I’ve ever seen.

Every time I go to a concert I like to see how people react to songs. A couple that hears something that is “their song” or some 10 or 11 year old with his parents just going nuts with each song and you wonder how he even knows this music. It’s a complete range of emotions that lets one understand even more how powerful this art form is. There was a little kid being held up by his dad and just rocking on beat to each song. I kept watching him throughout the show and pointed him out to the friend I was with. It was really cute. After the band came out for the encore and did the first song of the final set, Bruce saw that the kid was holding a sign. The kid was being held up right in the front of the stage. Anyway, Bruce came up to the kid, bent down, and talked to him for a second or two and took the sign and held it up for all to see. On it was a request for the song “Ramrod”, it just said, “Ramrod please”. Bruce turned to the band and said, “Let’s do it” and told us all he hadn’t done the song in five years. Now, it’s easy to say that it was a setup and he had planned to play it but when I got home I went on line and found the set list, you can do that with concerts. Turns out that he dropped a planned song and put this in just for the kid. Imagine how that kid felt. Bruce kept coming down to the spot where the kid was and let the kid touch and slap the strings of the guitar throughout the song. A true rock n roll moment that that little boy will never forget. He connected with that kid in such a way that nobody there will ever forget, I even read about it in the morning paper.

“It ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough.
Man meets woman and they fall in love.
But this house is haunted and the ride gets rough,
And you’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above if you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love”

I also had one of those connecting moments with Bruce that night and I was as far back as one could be. I wrote earlier about the songs on the album “Tunnel Of Love” that are in my top songs list. Well there are two in particular that, every time I hear them, just shake my entire being. Well, he started playing title song from that album. As soon as it started I felt my eyes well up, as you all know I’m just a chick inside, and as I stood there I kept trying to wipe the tear that kept forming in my eye while not letting anyone see. Thank goodness it was dark. I was more moved in this moment than at any concert or movie I’ve ever encountered.

There is only one other song he could have played that could have possibly meant more and that’s “One Step Up” off the same album. I don’t think I could have kept my balance if he’d started that one. I mean it. My kids can attest to how many times in the car throughout their lives they’ve had to bear with me while I skip the rest of the cd to hear this song.

“When I look at myself
I don’t see.
The man I want to be.
Somewhere along the line
I slipped off track.
Moving one step up
And two steps back.”

No, I don’t think I could have handled that at all.