We had our lives changed on Saturday night. I know it sounds extreme but anyone who has done what we've done will know the feeling.
We experienced Bruce Springsteen in concert.
(Excuse the excessive use of superlatives that may follow.)
Now, neither of us claim to be super fans but certainly fan-enough to drive 4.5 hours to Auckland to watch him play to a sellout crowd of 40,000. The show sold out in about 5 minutes back in September but we lucked out (in) and got two tickets. Yes, two way in the very back corner but tickets nonetheless.
We had definitely missed the memo that the standard dress was supposed to be a white t-shirt, blue jeans and a bandana. But in a crowd of 40,000, nobody noticed we didn't match.
We have heard he does a good show and the hype was building for months but we still didn't know exactly what to expect. I'd say this was definitely not something I would have ever guessed would start the evening:
(If anyone is not yet familiar with that song, it's won a couple Grammy's for Lorde, a teen hailing from Auckland.)
The crowd was a mix of people in their teens to people who were in their teens when Bruce started his career. We sat through a less-than-thrilling opener (an Aussie who was big in days gone by) and with some entertaining people watching to keep us occupied while we waited, we counted down until it was 8pm. Just before he got on stage the crowd was doing rounds of the wave and let out a big cheer once it finally made it around the entire stadium. We honestly thought he must have come on stage for how loud the cheer was but nope, just excited we all managed to put together a full circle wave.
Imagine how excited people got when the show actually began. It was big.
It started up with a mix of old and new, all sorts of energy from the 16 or so people on stage and many signs in the front standing section with song requests on them. Bruce would actually run down and pluck a sign out of the crowd to hold up before they played the song. He was constantly interacting either by calling out for the crowd to participate in the chorus, or getting right down close to the front row and letting them strum a few chords on his guitar, and of course the classic of inviting people up on stage - which he did in at least 2 songs, possibly 3 if memory serves me well.
I would wager anyone who was a lukewarm fan at the start couldn't help but be won completely over by watching someone operate in their element like that. The whole night he had at least a hint of a smile on his face and he would horse around with his bandmates through the songs. The feeling of how much fun he was having was definitely contagious.
After a wee while he announced they were going to play the Born in the USA album from top to bottom and then off they went. The great thing was that as similar to the album as the tracks were, there was always room for a bit of improv, or several reprises, or showing off the amazing talent contained in the E Street Band and Bruce himself.
One highlight was Tom Morello. Given what a big Rage fan I am, I was mesmerized watching Morello rock out during The Ghost of Tom Joad (which, many of you may recall, Rage covered several years ago). How cool would that be, to cover a song and then find yourself on stage with the songwriter! But, truly the guitar skills on display from him and the others was incredible.
He made us laugh, he made us cry (yes, I admit, a few tears of just pure emotional goodness may have been shed...) When he pulled 5-6 people on stage during Dancing in the Dark, he first did a waltz-style dance with a woman closer to his age than many in the crowd and then put his guitar on her so she could have a play!
There were only a few songs we were really keen to hear that we didn't but with a catalogue that must reach 200+ songs, it would be years of attending shows to hear each of them live and we would have had to start before we were babies.
Apologies for the poor videos (we were probably a kilometre from the stage haha) but if you want another glimpse of the greatness the night was, here it is:
We sang, we danced and just when it seemed like the night was coming to close, another round of magic was cast on the crowd and off they'd go with another high-energy song. After over 3 hours on stage, they closed out with an extended cover of Shout, and then the band left Bruce alone on stage to sing an acoustic solo of Thunder Road.
For those of you who are fans (Dad!), check out the set list for the show we were at to get an idea of the night.
I see he's announced some dates in North America - if he comes close to you, we highly suggest you go. Relive (or create) those Glory Days.
We experienced Bruce Springsteen in concert.
(Excuse the excessive use of superlatives that may follow.)
Now, neither of us claim to be super fans but certainly fan-enough to drive 4.5 hours to Auckland to watch him play to a sellout crowd of 40,000. The show sold out in about 5 minutes back in September but we lucked out (in) and got two tickets. Yes, two way in the very back corner but tickets nonetheless.
We had definitely missed the memo that the standard dress was supposed to be a white t-shirt, blue jeans and a bandana. But in a crowd of 40,000, nobody noticed we didn't match.
We have heard he does a good show and the hype was building for months but we still didn't know exactly what to expect. I'd say this was definitely not something I would have ever guessed would start the evening:
(If anyone is not yet familiar with that song, it's won a couple Grammy's for Lorde, a teen hailing from Auckland.)
The crowd was a mix of people in their teens to people who were in their teens when Bruce started his career. We sat through a less-than-thrilling opener (an Aussie who was big in days gone by) and with some entertaining people watching to keep us occupied while we waited, we counted down until it was 8pm. Just before he got on stage the crowd was doing rounds of the wave and let out a big cheer once it finally made it around the entire stadium. We honestly thought he must have come on stage for how loud the cheer was but nope, just excited we all managed to put together a full circle wave.
Imagine how excited people got when the show actually began. It was big.
It started up with a mix of old and new, all sorts of energy from the 16 or so people on stage and many signs in the front standing section with song requests on them. Bruce would actually run down and pluck a sign out of the crowd to hold up before they played the song. He was constantly interacting either by calling out for the crowd to participate in the chorus, or getting right down close to the front row and letting them strum a few chords on his guitar, and of course the classic of inviting people up on stage - which he did in at least 2 songs, possibly 3 if memory serves me well.
I would wager anyone who was a lukewarm fan at the start couldn't help but be won completely over by watching someone operate in their element like that. The whole night he had at least a hint of a smile on his face and he would horse around with his bandmates through the songs. The feeling of how much fun he was having was definitely contagious.
After a wee while he announced they were going to play the Born in the USA album from top to bottom and then off they went. The great thing was that as similar to the album as the tracks were, there was always room for a bit of improv, or several reprises, or showing off the amazing talent contained in the E Street Band and Bruce himself.
One highlight was Tom Morello. Given what a big Rage fan I am, I was mesmerized watching Morello rock out during The Ghost of Tom Joad (which, many of you may recall, Rage covered several years ago). How cool would that be, to cover a song and then find yourself on stage with the songwriter! But, truly the guitar skills on display from him and the others was incredible.
He made us laugh, he made us cry (yes, I admit, a few tears of just pure emotional goodness may have been shed...) When he pulled 5-6 people on stage during Dancing in the Dark, he first did a waltz-style dance with a woman closer to his age than many in the crowd and then put his guitar on her so she could have a play!
There were only a few songs we were really keen to hear that we didn't but with a catalogue that must reach 200+ songs, it would be years of attending shows to hear each of them live and we would have had to start before we were babies.
Apologies for the poor videos (we were probably a kilometre from the stage haha) but if you want another glimpse of the greatness the night was, here it is:
We sang, we danced and just when it seemed like the night was coming to close, another round of magic was cast on the crowd and off they'd go with another high-energy song. After over 3 hours on stage, they closed out with an extended cover of Shout, and then the band left Bruce alone on stage to sing an acoustic solo of Thunder Road.
For those of you who are fans (Dad!), check out the set list for the show we were at to get an idea of the night.
I see he's announced some dates in North America - if he comes close to you, we highly suggest you go. Relive (or create) those Glory Days.
I am sold! I will keep an eye for when he might be coming somewhere close to us :)
ReplyDeleteAnd my comment worked this time. Yay!
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