I may be an amateur concert goer, however there is one thing I do know. It is tough to outperform Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in putting on a show. Granted I haven’t been to any of his shows when he was in his prime back in the late 70’s and 80’s, but if he is this good now, at the age of 60, I can’t imagine what he was doing 30 years ago.
In the summer of 2008, I went the Bruce Springsteen concert in East Rutherford, NJ, old Giants Stadium for Bruce’s 3rd night in town. I am an avid Bruce fan, have all of his cds and know most all of his songs. I was absolutely pumped, could not wait for the concert to start! In my mind however I kept telling myself not to be disappointed if he did not sound like he used to. Being that he was 60 years old, how much can you truly expect from him, so I didn’t get my hopes up too high beforehand.
Well, I realized something as soon as the concert started… I was absolutely dead wrong! Bruce started the show off like fire, rolling through both new songs and the classics but mostly sticking to the classics! By the time he was done singing the first 23 songs you would normally think alright the concert is over. How many concerts have you been to where the artist actually plays 23 or more songs? It’s very rare, but Bruce wasn’t even close to done yet. After rocking out to Bad Lands the band left the stage and the crowd was roaring for Bruce to come out for the encore. A few minutes later Bruce was back out on the stage ready to go and did it with style, singing the ballad Jungleland. He continued to sing 6 more hits, Born to Run, Bobby Jean, Dancing in the Dark, American Dream, Jersey Girl, and Rosalita! Nothing can end a concert better than Roasalita to top off the 7 song encore!
Ok let’s do the math, 60 years old, 30 songs, 3rd night at Giants Stadium, midway through his tour. Absolutely mind blowing and the best concert I have ever been to. I can honestly and truly say that it was the best concert that I ever will go to, hands down.