March 26 – Wednesday – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Live/1975-85 – Pt. 4

The wind is so fierce it’s blown the gulls in to my south end of the Hudson and I got to watch them soar and struggle and glide up-river as I worked out this evening. I have to confess that in concert, I prefer Nils Lofgren to Miami Steve. He does, or maybe did as we are all much older now, these amazing back flips on stage from a standing position, with his guitar. He also had this Mini-Me thing going on with Bruce, and with Neil Young when he played with him. He was like an adorable little clone. Plus, he’s just a really good guitarist. And if I haven’t already said it, Max Weinberg is a hell of a drummer, and Roy Bittan has great fingers. And please let us not underestimate Garry Tallent on bass.

The last time I saw Bruce in concert was in 1984 and we were back in New Jersey. I went with the ex, his friend a one-handed bass player also named Bruce, and my friend Amy, who we lost just about five months before Vicki passed. We three were friend from high school. I don’t remember if the time that Vicki and I went to Roseland Ballroom to see Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers was before or after the Born in the U.S.A. tour. Please, if interested, you may scroll all the way back to November when I worked out to Robert Gordon to see my first reference to the Roseland concert. I am enjoying listening to Bruce in concert, which reminds me that not only was this a gift from the ex long ago, but in early 2009, he had called me to tell me that I may want to turn on the Super Bowl, knowing that I was of course not watching it. I took his word for it, and was oh so very glad for it. It was not long after Danny Federici died, but we still had Clarence, and Bruce and The E Street Band put on the best Super Bowl half time show I have ever seen in my entire life.