It was just that kind of night.
The kind of night where you win the pit lottery and find yourself front and center for the longest Springsteen concert in the U.S. since 1980 and the 6th longest show anywhere, ever. (That record would be shattered multiple times by the end of the tour, but we didn’t know it that night.)
The kind of night where you discover the complete stranger to your left is going to be next to you in Seattle (because you hooked up his buddy–who you also have never met–with tickets months ago); and you instantly recognize the person to your right because you met while hiking the Cape of Good Hope two years ago in South Africa.
The kind of night where you find yourself at ground zero in front of the stage during the crowd surf, and you end up carrying Bruce to the stage (in the process, handling more of his body than anyone not married to him or employed by the TSA ever should).
The kind of night where you’re so close to the action you can see the band members goofing with each other and hear their side comments. (See the clip of “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” I recorded below to see just how amazing my vantage point was.)
The kind of night where Bruce knew it was his last opportunity to play the Sports Arena, and he wasn’t about to let the Dump That Jumped meet the wrecking ball gently. For three hours and 46 minutes, Bruce played 35 songs leading to a final, fitting “Bobby Jean” send-off for the arena.
But most of all, it was the kind of night where the entire crowd realizes they were witnessing something special, even by Springsteen standards. Check out the video of “Drive All Night” below–even though he plays it every night on this tour, this particular performance was so powerful that audience members were moved to light up their phone flashlights–first one, then a few, then a scattering, and then, as Bruce noticed and built the song back up to a second climax–and kept building as more and more lights appeared–an explosion of spontaneous light around the arena. Skip ahead to the 10 minute mark if you must, and you’ll get a sense of how special that moment was. And at the end, you’ll hear Bruce say, in an understated fashion that belied the emotion on his face, “That was nice.”
More highlights from the show:
Brilliant!