A little over a month ago, my mom and I were in a rental car with satellite radio and we stumbled across the all Bruce Springsteen channel. We were stuck in a traffic jam at the time, and my mom turned to me and said "I've always wanted to go see Bruce Springsteen play."
Just a couple of days after that conversation, they announced that Bruce was playing a show here in DC, so I got tickets. And last night, we took my mom to her very first rock concert.
Everyone always says that Bruce puts on a killer live show, and I'm here to tell you that everyone is not lying. No one could ever accuse him of phoning it in. They played the entire Born to Run album, which is my personal favorite. He went out into the audience and crowd surfed back up on to the stage during Hungry Heart. He pulled a little boy up on to the stage and let him sing, then prompted him to say "take it away, big man." Clarence, by the way, really is a big guy. And he has a lovely gold manicure to match his saxophone.
The whole band sounded great. Bruce said something about it being toward the end of the tour, but instead of seeming tired or sloppy, they were totally on every note of the music. Even better, they played the songs as they were originally recorded (Sting, I'm looking in your general direction here).
The contrast between this and the last show I went to -- U2 and Muse -- was fascinating. U2 puts on a fantastic show and I had a fabulous time at that concert. I'm probably a bigger U2 fan than I am a Bruce Springsteen fan! But U2 is polished and fancy where Bruce and the E Street band are just stripped and basic and about nothing more than the music and the connection with the audience.
I think as rock concerts go, this is the best one I could have taken my mom to for her first (and most likely only) concert experience. She got to feel the thrill of the house lights going down, the roar of the crowd, and the magic of that first chord on the guitar. She sang the lyrics along with the rest of the crowd. She clapped and danced and cheered and ran into friends in the crowd, just like you're supposed to at shows. And I had a pretty darn good time too.
Now I'm curious. What was your first show?
My first concert was Whitney Houston with my mom when I was in 7th grade. My second concert in 8th grade was -- no shock here -- Poison! I haven't changed much since 8th grade.
Beck (and some god-awful German opening act) with you in like the 7th or 8th grade!
Blondie. Parallel Lines Tour. Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts, Las Vegas. I think I was 8 years old. Maybe 9.