Blinded By The Light

After seeing Rush for the (I think) 11th-ish time, I followed that up Friday evening seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the first time. My seats weren't nearly as awesome this time around but that's OK.  Here's the view from our seats at Nationals Park:

Bruce and the band are somewheres in there

There isn't much that I can say about Bruce Springsteen that has not already been said much more eloquently. I will say this: every rock fan should see Bruce at least once, no matter how you feel about his music. The band puts on a HELL of a show. It was long, it was rocking, it was a great marvel of endurance on the band's part. There wasn't a break between songs for the first 4 or 5, Bruce and the band just blazed through them.

My wife made a funny observation: she has no doubt that Springsteen's last words on his deathbed will either be "Where are you, Steve?!?" or "1..2..3..4!!!!" After seeing this show, I am going to work more counting in my band's shows! Seriously though, you can tell the band, especially Bruce and Silvio...errrrm...Little Steven, have a real rapport. I guess that happens when you've been playing together for a thousand years. I am sad I didn't get to see the Big Man Clarence Clemons who sadly passed away a year ago. His son Jake did a terrific job in his spot. They incorporated a nice visual tribute to Clarence during "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."

The band is tight. They did killer versions of "Blinded By The Light," "Prove It All Night," "The Ties That Bind," "Spirit In The Night," "Darlington County," "Jackson Cage," and "Hungry Heart" (with the crowd doing most of the singing). Of course there was "Badlands" and a truly nerve-tingling moment in the encore with "Thunder Road" followed by "Born To Run."

I was never a big Bruce Springsteen fan until I started writing songs myself. It was only then I began to appreciate him as an artist. The record of his for me is Nebraska. This record is just Bruce and his guitar and harmonica and a 4-track, singing songs about killers and losers and used cars and dreamers and just not being able to have the the life you thought you would no matter how hard you try. It's stunning in how resonant and deep such a simple sounding record can be. When I started writing songs it was a touch-point for what I wanted to do, admittedly at a stunningly meager level compared to that. I can't even say fractionally because it's an insult to fractions. The same thing happened with me and Neil Young and CS&N and those kinds of artists. Before I picked up a guitar and tried to create art those acts never really stood out to me. Once I discovered how hard it is to make meaningful, interesting, beautiful music, those acts, and especially Springsteen, became clear to me.

Nebraska aside, my favorite Bruce song is "Racing In The Streets" off of Darkness At The Edge Of Town. Here's a song that is just stunningly good, stunningly well-written.

The closing lines:

With the eyes of one who hates for just being born 

For all the shut-down strangers and hot rod angels 

Rumbling through this promised land 

Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea 

And wash these sins off our hands 

Tonight tonight the highway's bright 

Out of our way mister you best keep 

`Cause summer's here and the time is right 

We're goin' racin' in the street

Yeah. If I ever wrote something that good, well...it ain't gonna happen so forget it. Bless you internet, here's a video of that song from the Nats Park show. And on a sad note try to ignore the doofuses talking in the background. The same thing happened to me with two slobs yapping the entire time during the song. Here's one of Bruce's most affecting, emotional, powerful songs...and you are talking the entire time about nonsense. What kind of fans are these people?  Anyway, enjoy. And THANKS< Bruce and band. Awesome show.