Overall, the concert was great last night- very glad I went!

The crowd was overall amazing. Such a different experience from seeing the band! There was the guy next to me (a few seats over thank goodness- the seats between us were empty) who spent the first two songs on his cellphone then left and didn’t come back. A screeching woman a few rows in front of us “Bruuuuuceeeeeeeeee! We looooooove yooooooooou!” thankfully stopped and actually spent half the show elsewhere (but of course, when she came back she was on her cellphone.) She did have one last “One more for Jersey Bruuuuceeeeee!” after the lights had come up. Lots and lots of people left early, don’t know if it was the music or the rules that scared them away (no food or alcohol in the seats, concessions closed 10 minutes before show time, no returning to your seat during a song.) Maybe both. At least it made for a quick exit at the end of the show, we were home a half hour after the last notes of Dream Baby Dream on the pump organ faded away.

The rest of this post is probably for Springsteen fans only :wink:.
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I just want to publicly thank my husband Pat for going to the Springsteen concert with me later tonight. He likes Springsteen, but I know he wouldn’t be going to see him on his own- he’s only going because I really want to go to the show.

And there’s no one I’d rather be there with. He “gets” my Bruce obsession. He doesn’t mock or judge me. He even finds bootlegs for me :cool:.

And best of all, in the moment, he’s right there with me when a song that touches my heart gets played. He can tell when it matters.

Oh come take my hand, we’re gonna ride all the way to the promised land
We’ll dance all the way…

Got a phone call Monday from a friend- she had a spare pair of tickets for this Thursday’s Springsteen concert- was I interested?

Duh.

Not as easily said as done, however. Pat had a meeting scheduled. I asked a number of friends- it was just too last minute for any of them. Then Tuesday morning I got an email from one friend- she could make it afterall. Great! So I tried to call Friend With Tickets- phone was busy. Then Friend Who Can Make It Afterall called back- nope, her roof is coming off (getting a second story addition) and while that might seem a great reason to NOT be home- her three kids kinda need her there. So now she’s back to One Of The Friends Who Can’t Make It.

Called Friend With Tickets and told her that I just couldn’t swing it, she should try to find another buyer. Boohoo.

This morning Husband With Meeting called and said guess what? I’m now Husband Who’s Meeting’s Been Cancelled! Called Friend With Tickets and why yes, the tickets are still available.

So I guess I’m going to see Bruce tomorrow night!

Never saw him perform without the E Street Band so I’m really looking forward to this. I’m just hoping it’s not an arena full of people who think it’s ok to talk through all the “quiet songs”. This being an acoustic solo tour- they’re all quiet songs! In NJ you get a lot of fans who “get it”. And you get just as many who “don’t”.

I’m in heaven- I’ve discovered the official Born to Run 30th Anniversary Podcast-
if you have iTunes subscribe to it at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BruceSpringsteen. It’s like an oral history of the album.

Almost makes up for missing the shows later this month… almost.

Bruce on U2- U2 on Bruce

Taken from their respective inductions speeches for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

My favorite quote, Bruce on Bono:

“Shaman, shyster, one of the greatest and most endearingly naked messianic complexes in rock and roll. God bless you man! It takes one to know one.”

I have to agree that it’s endearing in both of them. No one will follow someone who doesn’t have faith in himself, musically or otherwise.

Tickets are dropping for the Springsteen show in the Meadowlands tonight. I just went to Ticketmaster and was able to pull up seats with no problem. Terrible seats, but in the building.

But I’m being responsible, and I tossed them back :(. Pat has a meeting he can’t miss tonight, Timmy has a baseball game, and Andy and I are missing our bowling league because I can’t be two places at once. It would be completely irresponsible of me to ditch all of it and see Springsteen. Despite what Andy thinks- I do have my priorities straight!

Still, I’m a little bummed. Hopefully I’ll get plenty of chances to see him when he swings back through!

The new Springsteen album is released on Tuesday.

I, however, have one in my sweaty little hands now (or I did before I put it down so I could type.) My connections in the Sony Music shipping room came through :vbg: .

Initial reactions: Bruce is obviously tired of people misinterpretting his songs, because he goes way out of his way to make sure we know what he’s talking about, in liner notes and on the DVD side of the disk (not to mention all the media appearances…) He even translates the Spanish words in the lyrics (Pradera: Prairie).

The songs are little stories, and he talks about the way he voices the different characters. Lots of that falsetto, mmm.

Initial favorite songs are All the Way Home, Long Time Comin’, and All I’m Thinkin’ About (the DVD version cuz his wife and kids sing backup and I think that’s pretty cool.) It’s probably not coincidence that they’re the three most hopeful songs on a record full of questions and regrets and justifications. I’m in a more hopeful place right now- getting past the regrets and justifications.

For now.