Well, I have to say last night was my favorite Bruce show and it probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was my first GA experience and we were four people from the stage and at the start, two people from the cat walk on Little Steven, The Professor and Soozie's side. We were numbers, 153 and 154 and my concert partner and I met some awesome people in the pit (If 151 and 152 are out there, thank you for a wonderful night!). This was simply an amazing night, although, not necessarily set list wise, but performance wise. Bruce didn't stop for one second and he never let the energy level sink.
While not all that much of a surprise was the recession pack with Working on a Dream at the head. I know a lot of people have problems with WOAD, but as I stated above, this was a concert that was working against me. I couldn't get tickets at the start date, when tickets became available, I couldn't get the car, and when I had transportation, tickets for Hershey fell through and then when I got tickets, the show didn't seem right, so I sold those and by the time I sold them tickets for Albany had fallen through. My motto through all of that was the song Working on a Dream. When every people in my dorm asked me how the ticket search was going, I'd always reply "I'm working on a dream" so that song was nice to hear. Seeds rocked and now it's in the list of my top 20 favorite songs (probably also because I heard them sound check it). The biggest musical surprise was Johnny 99. I heard it on bootlegs and what not, but it absolutely cooked live with amazing solos from Soozie, The Professor and Little Steven. I can't even begin to explain the energy that the pit had and how the band was feeding off of it. It's really amazing to see some of the interactions between Bruce and Steve up close and not on a video screen. This was probably my highlight of the night outside of a few others. The Ghost of Tom Joad... what more can I say that hasn't been said before... it was amazing and even more amazing when Nils gave a nod in my direction at the end. I'm not sure that it was me that he was taking notice of, but I'd like to think so.
Probably the coolest song moment was Thunder Road mid-set. Now, a little back story... the person I went to the show with, I met this September at college. She was one of the freshmen in the suite next to ours and one day, I was out in the lounge playing some Bruce when Thunder Road came and she walked out singing the song. We've been the closest of friends ever since. When it looked like I wasn't going to be able to go to a show this tour because of transportation, she volunteered to get me there. In essence, this song felt like a giant thank you to her. Then came Backstreets. It was one of the songs Amanda (my concert partner) and I had been talking about probably not hearing, even though it was high on my list. It was also the song that I had been talking about with the two people in front of us in line. There were high fives and fist pounds all the way around for that one. It was one of those magical moments of community that everyone talks about when talking about the pit of a Springsteen concert. More than an adequate replacement for The Wrestler, even though I wanted to hear that one. Thanks to Bev for requesting it! And I can't go on without mentioning Born to Run, I had seen it three times, so I spent sometime looking around the arena with everyone standing up and singing along and looked over to Amanda who had a looking of pure glee on her face at seeing THE song performed for the first time. I remember that same moment from my first show, which I way I'll never get tired of it.
Hard Times was a cool moment as we had someone really close to us really into it. I, myself, am a huge fan of American Folk Music and in my opinion, this is one of the best songs in the American songbook. It was really nice to have someone near us who seemed to appreciate it as much as I did, he even started a rally of fist pumping to it, making it into more of an anthem and a prayer than it already was. Another big song moment for me was Kitty's Back. Back when I hit my first show in the early parts of the 2nd US leg of the Magic tour, I got hooked on this song because he had been playing a lot of it and I wanted to make sure I knew it in case he played it. After Danny passed away, I became okay with the fact that I was never going to hear it, so when he pulled the sign for Kitty's Back, I exploded. It was even made better by the extended solo by the Professor, while the sound of the pit wasn't all that great for individual instruments. It seemed that Bruce just had him keep going and going, definitely a cool moment.
Then during LOHAD, I had the best and most powerful moment of the three Bruce shows I had been to so far. During Clarence's solo, decided to look back at Bruce who was scanning the crowd and he made eye contact with me. Not knowing what to do, I mouthed "thank you." Now, I'm not really sure what I was thanking him for... maybe helping me get through my first semester of college two years ago or maybe even thanking him for helping me for the bond with the girl next to me through Thunder Road, but none the less I thanked him. And to my glee, he got the widest smile on his face, pointed to me and gave me a little bit of a bow. Right afterwards, Amanda got a similar reaction from him. That was just so damn cool and I was floating for the rest of the night. I'm not going to start calling Bruce my friend or anything weird like that, but it was cool being noticed by the person that you've spent so much time listening to and watching. If anyone has videos of the song, please let me know. I'd love to relive this moment.
At that point, I went into full party mode. I had lost my voice halfway through Born to Run, but that didn't stop me from singing at the top of my lungs all the way through American Land. It's nice to have the whole band down in front for this one. Lots of interaction with the audience all around. Amanda kept getting acknowledgements from Soozie and I'm pretty sure I got a nod from The Professor and Steven, all though, I'm sure it was wishful thinking. One cool moment was when Nils and Charlie "switched" instruments and when the switched back, Charlie flipped up Nils' pick and Nils flawlessly caught it mid air, even though it appeared to be a surprise. The look on his face when he did so was absolutely priceless; a look of sheer surprise that quickly changed to "oh yeah, I'm good" as it it were planned. Then came Glory Days, which is not the most out of the box, but it made the crowd explode. It had oldies and newbies alike dancing and singing alike and that's well worth the price of admission. Now, I knew he was going to end it with a little bit of Louie, Louie, but it was surprising none the less when he pulled it out and what was unexpected is that he didn't end there. He went through another couple run throughs of the riff, which I don't think he's done yet.
Over all, it was an amazing, amazing show. But, the one thing I can't get over is Mr. Jay Weinberg. I love Max and next to The Professor, he's my favorite member of the band. And, surprisingly enough, there was not one moment where I thought "damn, I wish Max was here." He more than is an adequate fill in for the Mighty One and in some ways he out dos him. Max is the perfect drummer for Bruce, but he's nearing 60 years old. He can't do the things that Jay can do simply because Jay has more vitality due to his young age. He adds a lot of energy to the shows and practically before the show started, he had broken a snare drum that had to be replaced mid song. He has a huge future ahead of him.
Now, I'm glad I had this experience... thanks to 151, 152, the two college guys with the Spanish Harlem sign, Bev for the Backstreets sign, who ever drew the number 10, 170 who made sure the line was run correctly after the mess the arena people got themselves into, Bruce and the Band and especially my friend Amanda for making this a very special night!
P.S. Chairman, how was your show?
t:
). I was there when Gary US Bonds came on stage. They also had Al Leiter from the Mets playing tambourine during Rosalita, which was pretty funny. 
