Bruce Juice II and III
If you read my first blog post a couple of weeks ago about the (then) upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert that occurred last Thursday, Nov. 15, you were probably wondering what happened to the sequels I promised. Well, life got busy, and by the time the show rolled around, it was all I could do just to get there.
To make a long story short, the wife and I got there, with the obligatory last-minute parking lot hysteria in Albany, but by some miracle, at 7:30 p.m. we were in our seats, ready to rock.
Just like the army, following the hurrying up comes the waiting. Then more waiting.
Finally at nearly 8:30 – an hour after the show was supposed to start the lights dimmed and the Times Union, formerly Pepsi, formerly Knickerbocker Area roared with the keening of Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccce.
And we were off.
Oh my God. I’ve been a moderate to big fan of the Boss’s since the Born to Run days, but had never seen a live show before. I’m not going to wait another 32 years before the next one. Starting with the show opener “Radio Nowhere” (a perfect concert opener giving Bruce the chance to scream out before he kicked it off by asking if anybody was alive out there to the darkened audience, then through all the mega faves – “No Surrender,” “Candy’s Room,” “Badlands,” “She’s the One,” – God they all blur together after awhile, less than 24 hours ago - plus a bunch of stuff from the new album, which grew on me after a slow start - My favorite song “Girl’s in their summer clothes,” which conveniently was the first of four encores. Wow, the guy never stops moving. Song after song, many without a real pause in between. I never wanted it to end. This guy connects in a way that's unreal, and I'm well past the phase of viewing my rock star heroes as messengers from the Gods. It feels honest, authentic, like he really gets off performing and making music. He's one of the lucky ones who completely found his niche.
If there are such things as "old souls" and "new souls" - Bruce is a very old soul, ready to move on to the next level or being after this spin through the planet. There is nowhere higher to go as a mere mortal.
I sort of floated out of there, re-connecting with how cool it used to feel going to concerts. Hadn’t had that feeling in a while.
Kids, if you haven’t seen him yet, catch it before it’s too late. I don’t know what the E Street Band sounded like 20 or 30 years ago, but they couldn’t have been a lot better than this.
Here’s the other thing – how many groups that have been around that long are touring and doing fresh material that you actually want to hear? Nobody. Not the Stones, not Van Halen, not the Eagles. It’s oldies hour, and that’s cool, the old stuff still sounds great. But Bruce and friends are covering that, plus doing dynamite new songs that are just as good.
Who else went? What were your reactions?