Every Springsteen show has at least one special moment. You never know what it will be–maybe a never-before-played song, maybe a special guest or a special request, maybe a performance that goes off-the-rails and way past curfew. You also never know exactly when it will be.
At Night 2 of the 2012 stand at the LA Sports Arena, that moment came 90 minutes before the show even started: after the few hundred of us in the pit had been let in, we settled in for what is usually a long, boring wait for the show to start. But within minutes, a pre-wardrobe and makeup Bruce Springsteen strolled out onto the stage to give his relatives a guided tour. And then this happened… (and remember there were only hundreds of us in the arena at that time).
It was the closest I may ever get to a private Bruce concert. I’d heard about Bruce’s rare pre-shows before, but I never expected to see one, let alone at a venue like the Sports Arena.
When Bruce and the band opened the show with the tour premiere of “No Surrender” ninety minutes later, the crowd energy was off the charts.
On paper, the main set was unremarkable, but the intensity level was high. Tom Morello made four non-consecutive appearances throughout the show, “Racing in the Street” had a rare outing, and even “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” was special–watch Bruce fake out Kevin Buell to mark the occasion of his 1,000th show.
The encores held one more special moment: the tour premiere of and Jake Clemons’ first outing on “Bobby Jean.” I’m sure the return of “Jungleland” much later was more emotional, but this was still quite the moment–you can see the satisfaction on Bruce’s face and you can tell how much that moment meant to Jake.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen some fantastic shows at the L.A. Sports Arena, but (pre-)start to finish, this will always be one of the most memorable.
Round 2 at the Sports Arena!! Another great show. I am so glad I was there early to see Bruce bring his relatives on stage before the show. He even started introducing them by name to the crowd! I will probably never get a chance in my lifetime to talk with Bruce, but the morning following this show I did get to speak to someone who is very close to Bruce, Kevin Buell. I saw Kevin standing by himself near a departure gate at LAX on Saturday morning and went over to introduce myself. Kevin is a big celebrity in my eyes, but no one in the crowded terminal knew who he was or who his famous boss is. Out of respect for his privacy, I kept my conversation brief and congratulated him on 1,000 shows and told him I thought it was great he was recognized at the previous night’s show. He was on his way with the “Wrecking Crew” to the New Orleans Jazz Festival and ask me if I was going also. Unfortunately I had to tell him I needed to fly home to Phoenix. Kevin was super nice to me. Great Experience.
Sadly in retrospect, April 27 would be the last concert I attended at the LA Sports Arena. There were 3 subsequent shows at the Dump That Jumps during the 2016 River Tour that I unfortunately missed.