March 21 – Friday – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Live/1975-85 – Pt. 1

Seeing Bruce in concert is an experience that everyone should have. And it’s not too late. I didn’t know what to expect from my first Bruce concert in 1980 at the beginning of The River tour. I didn’t expect the NYPD to come at us with horses to push us back against the wall outside Madison Square Garden. They could have yelled “everyone move back” or thought ahead and put up barricades. Instead we, the properly excited concert goers, were threatened with these poor big beasts coming at us, and the cops on top of them not saying a thing. It was a weird way to start. But the concert itself was of course amazing. Four freakin’ hours. Our seats were so high up we had to be strapped to the ceiling, and the guys in front of us kept yelling for “Jungleland” as if Bruce could hear them. But when Bruce did play the song, even from my nosebleed seat I could understand why they were so persistent. I wasn’t as familiar with that song at that time, but it quickly landed in my top five favorite Springsteen songs.

I do have to warn you, this is a five record set, and while I’ll be brief here, I can’t make any promises about the next four posts. This is my favorite time of Bruce, and hearing him in concert brings back the memories so strong I can see him in my mind’s eye as the record plays. And bittersweet memories too, hearing him goofing around with Clarence Clemmons, and Danny Federici coming down on stage with his accordion to accompany Bruce on “Sandy.” I did say that Born in the U.S.A. was the last Springsteen album I bought, and that is true. This was a gift. And a really good one.