Bruuuuuuuuce

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Happy birthday to my sister, Nancy!

We were in Brazil two days ago and tonight we went to see Bruce Springsteen.

Man, do we live the best lives!

The tickets were sold with dynamic pricing – meaning as we were looking at tickets the prices were going up. The first tickets available to us were too expensive. We refreshed. Higher up, but still too expensive. We refreshed and waited. Two tickets behind the stage popped up for a reasonable price and I yelled, “Buy them or we’re going to get shut out.” We chatted with the people sitting next to us. They had come from North Dakota for the show and were disappointed with their seats. They paid a little more than twice what we paid.

When we got to the Xcel Energy Center tonight, we went up in the elevator to section 230. Holy cow were we up high. At least we were close to the bottom of our section. The seats turned out to be just terrific. There was a small (relatively – compared to the giant screens facing forward) screen for us to see from the front. I just loved looking down and seeing everyone from the back. We could watch Max wail on the drums – we could see how taped up his fingers were before he even started. We could see the monitors and teleprompters everywhere. I loved seeing the chords along with the words for the guitar players. I had no idea that was a thing. There was an entire horn section, which was a surprise to me. There were 19 musicians on stage – how great!

The songs ranged from The E Street Shuffle from 1973 to Bruce’s recent cover of the Commodore’s Nightshift – all great tunes, but it’s not a win for me until he plays Thunder Road (which he did to lead off the encore) (never doubted it for a minute).

I remembered the first time I saw Bruce when I was a kid. My brothers took me and my sister (why? I have no idea. I am so glad they did). It was November and Bruce played his version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. It was snowing when we came out of the arena and we crunched down the street that was empty because it was so late.

I remembered going to Chicago’s Soldier field for an all general-admission concert. We were early in the morning and sat in the giant line outside the stadium. When they let us in (hours early because there were so many people already there {DUH} and there was a snow fence blocking out a section of seats – exactly where we hoped to sit. My sister said, “They said it was all general admission,” and she jumped over the snow fence, and everyone poured in after her. WHAT A GREAT DAY THAT WAS!

I remembered the time we saw Bruce somewhere in Illinois at an outdoor venue and we stayed and clapped so long that he came back out and played some more for the people still there. I always, always, always want everyone to stay now and keep clapping, even after the lights come up, because I reallllly believe he will come out and play some more.

Bruce is 73 and he played 2 hours and 45 minutes without a break. I watched him drink a soda at one point 🙂 It was waiting for him right in front of Max’s drums. People in the front didn’t see him do that. I did. 🙂

Tonight, Bruce said, “It’s about the passion that we follow as children, and what it turns into. At 15, life is all tomorrows and hellos and later on – a lot more good-byes. It makes you realize how important living every moment of every day is.” He dedicated the next song to all of us and wished us a glorious life.

I am certainly having a glorious life.

Review: Springsteen proves it all night during his latest marathon in St. Paul (startribune.com)