Springsteen. Amazing.

I got to cross off one of my 43 Things this weekend - well, ok, I only have 7 listed so far, but that's beside the point. The point is that I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert for the first time ever this weekend in Seattle at the Key Arena, and it lived up to everything I'd ever heard for the last 30 years. 30 years. In the 70's, at like 10, I'd heard about this guy Bruce Springsteen who was the biggest touring act in the world and selling out stadiums - but I had never heard any of his songs - nothing on the radio - who was he? So I couldn't grasp the arena sell-out, huge ticket prices for what I thought was an unknown guy, so couldn't quite grasp that at 10. Thus started the mystery of Bruce. And his concert legend status kept on growing. In the 80's, Born in the USA hit right in the heart of my high school days creating pop radio rock anthems that define that age of my life still today. Through the next two decades, his studio albums continue to show incredible power and inspiration (note The Rising). And his live shows continued to get legendary status. Yet, as much as I love music and live shows, somehow, I had never made a Bruce show. Shameful. Until Saturday. This show proved that he is not an aging rock act just drawing on an old memory. It was all energy, entertainment, great sound, and big. It was a thrill to see the E Street band in all its glory with Clarence Clemons still belting away big on Sax and Steven Van Zandt sharing the main mic with Bruce again and again.

Bruce is almost 60 - but he looks about 35 and brings a non-stop energy to his audience for over 2 1/2 hours. At one time, he was holding the mic stand, and his body was 100% horizontal to the stage floor about a foot off the ground - I didn't see Sting doing that at the Police concert! At times it felt like the gospel of Bruce. We heard classics from 4 of his first 5 studio albums, mixed in with a long list from his latest, "Magic". The only disappointment was that there was nothing from "Born in the USA" - turns out that was intended for the encore, but instead, he took sign written audience requests such as "Rosalita", and "Tenth Avenue Feeze-out" - hard to argue with that!

All in all, this experience proved that yes, it was justified to be on my 43 Things list and it may have to stay on there for a second round.