"Dream ticket."
Those are two great words that would accurately describe my Sunday night spent in Buffalo, NY this past weekend. I found myself unexpectedly crossing another item off of my rock and roll bucket list - by attending the final show of the tour for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. These tour-ending shows are always amazing, full of surprises and often, special guests. I've had offers, I've been tempted, but until now - I never took the plunge.
Cleveland pal John Hannibal reached out to me late last week - he had just purchased two tickets off of StubHub, and had an extra - did I want to go?
I had plans on Sunday - multiple sets in fact. Instantly, I started making calls and sending emails to cancel all of them - Buffalo, here I come!
This was no ordinary tour wrap-up, because Bruce had announced plans less than two weeks prior to play his classic debut Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ in its entirety. Faster than you could say The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, we were on our way to Buffalo.
The night itself was magical - plenty of moments waiting to see if Bruce would do what you thought he might. For instance - will there be a story for "Growin' Up," or will he just play it straight? The song begins with no story, seemingly answering that silent question....until they got to the middle of the song - and there it was!
Buffalo hit all the marks, covering everything that's great about a Springsteen show, with a feeling on-stage and in the air - both spoken and unspoken - that perhaps we haven't seen the last of Bruce and the band. I'll agree with my fellow Bruce lovin' buddy Pete - I think they'll be back around sooner rather than later.
Here's an audio memento that captures a lot of the magic that we experienced this past weekend in Buffalo that will also perhaps ease the pain a bit for those of you that weren't able to make the trip.
Kudos go out to "travitz" for a great recording - you can grab full-resolution files here via Dimeadozen, if you're a member.
My extreme gratitude also should be expressed to John for offering up the ticket, and to Karen and Nancy for getting us there and back in one piece!
Enjoy!
Wrecking Ball
The Ties That Bind
Hungry Heart
Working On A Dream
Album Story
Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ
Blinded By The Light
Growin Up (w/ story)
Mary Queen of Arkansas
Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?
Lost In The Flood/The Angel (w/ full band)
For You
Spirit In The Night
It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Waitin On A Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Restless Nights
Surprise Surprise
Green Onions (sign collection)
Merry Christmas Baby
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
I Don't Wanna Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes
Boom Boom
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Long Walk Home
The Rising
Born To Run
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
PSA
I'll Work For Your Love
Thunder Road
American Land
Dancing In The Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Higher And Higher (with Willie Nile)
Rockin' All Over The World
Related Links:
Twitter pal Caryn Rose has an entire set of photos + a couple of videos from the show that can be viewed here on Flickr.
An interesting analysis of the Greetings album cover
Ickmusic has a nice recording of the full album performance of Darkness on the Edge of Town from Philly.