Where the Band Was: New York City, November 8, 2009 (Marietta’s Story)

There was the 1980-1981 River Tour.

There was the 2016 River Redux Tour.

And then there was that night back in 2009 at Madison Square Garden when the record was performed in its entirety for “one time only” (or so we thought).

Between coming down after the phenomenal show the night before when he performed  The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle and the anticipation of what we were about to experience, walking into the Garden on that Sunday night was like marching in an electric parade.

From the opening notes of “The Ties That Bind”  through “Wreck on the Highway,” the arena was bouncing and beaming with unbridled surreal bliss.

About halfway through the record, inside the Garden felt like that last scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when Charlie, Grandpa, and Willy Wonka are in the Wonkavator on their way to blasting through the roof.

At that moment, I looked around from the back of the pit at thousands of happy people dancing, took notice of the completely unguarded middle riser, and was struck by a bolt of inspiration to jump up on it if Bruce didn’t pull someone up during “Dancing in the Dark.” I thought if I grabbed as many other people as I could, we’d stand a better chance of not getting pulled right off, and it’d be hilarious fun. I scanned the crowd to see who was nearby, ran up to some folks, and shrieked as loud and quickly as I could: “Do you wanna jump up there during “Dancing?!”

Well, no one said no…

When Bruce launched into “Dancing in the Dark,” we made our way to the back, leaned against the riser, watched, waited, danced, leaned, watched, and waited. He pointed around the arena, “You’re looking good out there! In the back! Looking good up top!”

Then, “C’mon, C!” During Clarence’s solo, Bruce kept on with, “Shake it up there, waaay in the back,” and I knew the dance was ours. I shouted, “Go!!!” and up we went!

Bruce kicked into some “old soul clapping” and then laughed when he looked out and spotted Sharon, Rebecca, Anne, Bev, and me jumping around and dancing and waving. Bruce shouted, “Go Girls Go!”

We lasted about a minute, until his call for “Security!” in between giggles ushered over a few men who politely escorted us down, despite Clarence shaking his head with his hands on his hips, as if to say, “Let ‘em dance!”

Right before she gets down, Sharon looks over at Bruce and gives him a little wave, like she’s checking with him to make sure he’s good with us leaving. It slays me every time I see it. He called out, “Let’s hear it for the ladies!”

During “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,” the final encore, as Bruce ran through the crowd, he waved over the singers and brought them up on that riser.

The next day, a friend of mine said he got the idea from watching us up there. I laughed and shrugged it off, but he went on to say you could see the band didn’t know what was going on. Bruce probably didn’t think a group of people could fit up there until he saw us dancing, so he spontaneously directed them to follow him. After that show, he occasionally brought the band out to that middle riser, so maybe my friend was right.

Less than a week later, I was at the show in Auburn Hills and bumped into Max. We were chatting about his son, Jay, sitting in on drums, and I finally asked him how our dancing escapade looked from the stage. He said, “That was you?! Bruce loved it! He was talking about it after the show! The band loved it! It was great!”

I noticed security was guarding the middle riser during the show that night.

Hilarious fun, indeed!