Hero Worship

I'm still riding the elated wave from the concert last night--BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN! I have wanted to see him live for years now, and let me tell you, he was worth the wait.

Here's the thing about my Bruce experience though: he has tons and tons of songs. I mean, he has 16 "major studio albums" (according to Wikipedia). But there are a few that I love so much that I listen to them first when I'm in a Bruce mood, and then I usually listen to them on repeat until I'm in a different mood. So for someone who considers herself a HUGE Springsteen fan, I'm really not nearly as familiar with his oeuvre (if you will) as I should be.

So the show started at 7:30. By 9, I was feeling a little disappointed. I was growing a little weary of all the theatrics happening on stage and I was starting to think maybe the songs I love the most are not the most popular, and they just wouldn't be included in a concert. Really, an hour and a half is a long time. How much longer could I expect the concert to last?

Well the answer to that is another 2 hours, for a total of 3 and a half. It was incredible. I don't know how Bruce did it--I was winded just dancing along that long--but he's the Boss, and the Boss didn't let me down. As soon as I had given up on the idea of ever hearing my favorite song performed live, he whipped out a harmonica and played the opening chord to "Thunder Road," and I pretty much lost it. I thought I was going to cry, but I was too happy. It was almost like a spiritual experience, complete with that sense of having your mind caught up in something else that you get when you meditate. Oh man it was just fantastic.

After "Thunder Road" was over I turned to my friend and said (breathlessly, rapturously) "Well we can leave now, I'm happy." But I'm so happy we didn't, because after that, all kinds of other awesome things happened. Like, Bruce called his son up on stage to play drums. First of all he was awesome, and second of all I couldn't get over how cool it must be to be 18 and rocking with your ultimate rockstar dad in front of thousands of people.

Then the guy from the Dropkick Murphys came out with his girlfriend, and PROPOSED! So then I cried. And he stayed on stage to play "So Young and In Love" with Bruce, and then ALL the Dropkicks came out and they played one of their songs with Bruce and the E Street Band. And then there were like 8 more finales, and each time I thought it was over and they'd play another huge and fantastic number. I started to worry that Bruce might have some kind of uncontrollable addiction to performance . . . lucky for the rest of the world.

The Boss, man. What a rockstar, and what an entertainer.