Dancing in the Dark
Though I can’t seem to locate all my ticket stubs, I can tell you from memory I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert roughly sixteen times. For some of you this sounds insane. For others who are die hard fans, you are not impressed because you’ve seen Bruce on every tour from 1975 on. I grew up on the Jersey Shore and worked in the bar scene where the overwhelming majority of people are Bruce fans. My hometown consists of the famous 10th Avenue and E Street which, to some, is an intersection and to Bruce fans is something so much more. I was spoiled enough to experience my first Bruce concert in Asbury Park’s Convention Hall for a rehearsal show. I’d seen Bruce close down Giants Stadium and light up MSG. I’d seen him from the nosebleeds and from twenty feet away. I’d seen him with the E Street Band, the Seeger Sessions Band, solo, with Danny, without Danny, with Clarence, without Clarence. Every show was not just memorable but legendary.
As an adult I relocated to the South where I met my husband. He grew up in South Carolina and went to college in South Carolina. The name Bruce Springsteen didn’t mean much to him when we met. The only thing he loved as much as I loved Bruce was college football. It wasn’t until he heard me ramble on and on for months about what an amazing writer and performer Bruce is that he finally gave it a listen. It wasn’t long before he too became a fan and wished he could experience one of the epic concerts I never shut up about.
Luckily enough for us, Bruce and the band made a trip to the Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta in April of 2014. Set aside the fact that my (now) husband proposed the morning of the show, and it was a pretty great day on its own. I saw my fifteenth Bruce show and got to watch my husband take in his first show. He instantly understood what I was talking about and began to love Bruce and the band even more on his own. It wasn’t until February of 2016 that we had another chance to experience another concert together but this time it would be a true arena show at Philips Arena. This is a big difference from the outdoor amphitheater environment where we’d seen him last. The other big difference this time around was that I was pregnant.
Woohoo! Baby’s (in utero) First Bruce Show! Suddenly it dawned on me that this would be the first totally sober show I’d attended since I was eighteen years old. Does that sound bad? The best way I explain it to people down here in the South is that we tailgate for a concert the way you tailgate for a college football game. This is our gameday. It’s not that we needed to be drunk but going to a concert was always a celebration amongst me and my friends so we treated it accordingly. I was about to go to my first major celebration sans alcohol. I started to question, “would it be as great?”. Did I need the booze and the big group of friends to loosen me up and really get me into each song?
I am pretty disappointed in myself for even thinking that thought. I took a nap, packed up my saltine crackers and ginger ale, put on my sea bands and got my butt to Philips Arena. I’m here to say that being at a Bruce show feeling like you might hurl at any moment is just as much the religious experience it normally is. I still got up out of my seat singing, dancing, SHOUTing and appropriately pump my fist into the air at just the right time. I didn’t need the tailgate or the beers or the big group of friends. Me, my husband and our baby-to-be showed up as the show started and were blown away for the next three hours. I heard many of my favorite old songs and some of the band’s new tunes and they all moved me just the same. Bruce and the band did NOT disappoint.
While I was relieved that my musical obsession over the past several decades was just as amazing as I believed it to be, I did, however realize a down side to the sober concert-going experience. That, my friends, would be the people. The family tripping on acid in the seats across the aisle from us was a little more difficult to ignore. The long bathroom line behind those who had “broken the seal” felt a little bit longer. And the smells…well anyone who has been pregnant knows exactly what I mean about all the smells.
At the end of the night I left smiling, singing and feeling like a million bucks. After all, we’d just seen the heart-stoppin’, pants-droppin’, earth-shockin’, hard-rockin’, booty-shakin’, earth-quakin’, love-makin’, viagra-takin’, history-makin’, LEGENDARY, E Street Band. And the best part is, the next morning I remembered the entire setlist! Cheers!
Readheaded Woman 