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Preaching to the Converted

A casual fan is blown away by the intense committment of the latest incarnation of Bruce Springsteen's unstoppable live performance.
By Adam Grayson - August 25, 1999

I will be the first one to admit I don't live and die by The Boss. I only own Born In The U.S.A., Greatest Hits and a couple of other Springsteen albums. My real music love is the classic rock of the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and of course, Whitesnake. Not all that different, but different enough to make me an outsider in the Bruce community.

When I heard that The Man would be staging a summer super-tour focused 30 minutes from my front door at the Meadowlands, I couldn't turn down the opportunity. It wasn't because I knew all the words to "No Surrender" (which I proudly do, by the way). I love his music, I love his lyrics and I love his image, but I'm not going to travel across the country for him like I might have for Jerry Garcia. Not a better-worse thing, just a personal preference. But I felt I had to attend, a lot of it because it might very well be my last opportunity to see Bruce perform live. I'd heard the legends of live performances, the magic of his New Jersey shows, but I wanted to experience it for myself once in my life.

I did shell out $75 for my floor seat (actually my super-super-cool mom treated, after she got up at 9 in the morning on a Saturday to get the tickets), battled rush hour traffic over the George Washington Bridge, and even paid the absolutely ridiculous parking fee at the arena ($16, I think...what the hell is that crap?). Every bit was worth it. For the three or so hours the Boss played straight through on that hot Jersey evening, it was incredible. And I don't impress easy.

Having 18,000 loyal Jerseyites in attendance set a beautiful backdrop for the evening, with the deafening "BROOOOCE" chants audible for the whole night. It was apparent throughout that every last soul in the crowd was having fun, but not as much fan as Bruce, Clarence, Stevie and co. were having. They were there to please, and were having a killer time entertaining us. The energy from the stage with every lyric sung and chord played was tremendous. Even if I only knew a third of the songs they played, every one was memorable and the energy didn't waver for the entire show. Of course, "Born To Run" and the like was the stuff I was there to hear, but the tunes I'd never heard off of Tracks and The Ghost of Tom Joad rang just as true.

I can't say that I walked into the arena that night and was converted by those three hours. I loved Bruce's music before, and did after. But I picked up a lot more about him and his fans during that time--a different, deeper perspective on his music. If I got the opportunity to see him again in six months, I'd plop down the $75 in a second. If I never have the chance again, I will still appreciate the fact that I did get to be part of "it" for that one time.