Before the concert date, an email was sent out by TicketMaster:
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Dear Ticket Purchasers
for the Bruce Springsteen concert, July 20, 7:30 p.m.
At the Artists request, please find below some important information about the
night of the show:
ARRIVE EARLY!
* Doors to the Arena will open at 6:00 p.m.
* All concession stands will close 10 minutes prior to the start of the show and remain closed for the duration of the show.
* All guests must be seated by the start of the first song.
* There will be no seating until the end of the third song. After that, there will be no seating during each song.
Also, please note the following:
* The show is solo/acoustic performance, set in a theatre style arrangement.
* NO cameras, video, or recording devices are permitted.a
* The artist requests that you do not bring Flowers/Gifts. If you do,they will not be admitted into the building.
* There will be no intermission.
* Curtains to the concourse will remain closed during the entire performance.
* Please turn off all mobile phones and pagers during the performance.
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Well. This was a very unusual email to receive. I had never been told there were rules for going to a concert before. It suddenly felt as though I was being warned by Principal Springsteen before a middle school assembly to act accordingly or I'd receive detention. I shared the email with a friend who simply replied: "Well... he IS the BOSS."
On the way to the arena, I drove through at least three blocks worth of completely boarded up businesses. Bridgeport is in need of some serious help, or at least this neighborhood was. The few shops that were actually open had bars on the windows. So you can imagine how comfortable I was to be driving through the area alone. Needless to say, I was very happy to see civilization thriving when I finally arrived at the HarborYard Arena.
After security check, I walked through the gates and was handed a flier reminding me of the rules. Further enforcement in case you weren't listening the first time I guess. By the time 7:30 rolled around, we were all obediently in our seats as requested. However, Bruce was nowhere to be found. As I waited for the show to begin, I watched the poor souls who had pre-gamed on beer and food sprint out to the hallway restrooms to try to make it back before the first song started. For the rest of us under Bruce's control, we didn't move from our seats. I think we were afraid to. I mean, what if we missed the opening song or, God forbid, disturbed a precious second of the performance? No one wanted to find out what the consequences of invoking Bruce's wrath would be. The waiting and the fear that went with it felt like some kind of weird punishment for doing the right thing and eating dinner early so that we would be able to be seated by showtime.
Finally after 45 minutes of torture, he sauntered out at 8:15. Any nasty thoughts I had about Bruce and his tardiness were immediately replaced with "Woah. There he is." I have actually seen him live before (in 1999 during the 15 night stand at the Meadowlands). But as a music fan in general I always get goosebumps whenever I see living legends. The musicians whose songs stand the test of time, who can still draw a sizeable crowd, all the while maintaining their integrity, will always have my respect. Without question, Bruce falls into this category.
The show lasted a little over two hours. Bruce didn't just sit in his chair and strum an acoustic guitar the whole set, as that would have been quite boring. He incorporated other instruments such as the harmonica, piano and pump organ. For "Reason to Believe", he stomped on an electronic drum pad to keep the beat while he played harmonica and sang through a mic attachment that distorted his voice. This combination of effects gave a cool, drawn-out bluesy style, reminiscent of "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters, to a song that normally has a quicker, more upbeat feel to it.
As for the setlist, I'm only familiar with the songs I have heard on the radio or that were on the more popular albums. So as a result, there were times I found myself spacing out every once in awhile during the unfamiliar tunes. One of the most memorable was "Matamoros Banks", which is inspired by the inhumane immigration policy in the U.S. As Bruce pointed out, "There are people dying every day to get across our borders just to be able to clean our houses." It is about a Mexican trying to cross the Rio Bravo near Brownsville, Texas, and has a very original concept; from the song's lyrics: "Each year many die crossing the deserts, mountains, and rivers of our southern border in search of a better life. Here I follow the journey backwards, from the body at the river bottom, to the man walking across the desert towards the banks of the Rio Grande." Another standout for me was a cover of a beautiful, soaring song by a band called Suicide that repeated the line "Dream Baby Dream" played on the pump-organ.
In case you were wondering, there was a violation of the rules that took place. Being that it's Bruce, he's going to have lots of diehard fans that show up and chant his name like they would at any other of his shows. But the Boss is on some kind of weird ego trip, and is trying to create a serious ambience where yelling and fist-raising aren't welcome. As a result, most of the show was so quiet that there were times you could hear a pin drop. I give him credit though, because not many people in this world can command attention like that.
However, as much as Bruce and his people tried to pound the rules for attending this show into our heads before we even entered the arena, there were still a handful of fans that didn't listen. Some rebels in tonight's crowd couldn't control themselves and would bellow out "BRUUUUCE" during songs as if they were attending one of Bruce's rocked out shows with the E-Street Band. This did not go unnoticed by the man himself, who finally joked "I understand hooping and hollering is a form of self expression, but don't do it in the middle of the f***ing song." Later in the show when the guys repeated their violation, Bruce addressed them again: "Don't make me come out there and slap you. Because I will. AND I'll enjoy it! I'll have the people around you do it for me!" he laughed. As someone who is used to being able to go crazy and scream along to songs all I want, and in at least one case having been reprimanded for not clapping along, I found this to be a bit too much, even bordering on diva arrogance. But whatever. I forgive him. I mean I have to. He's the Boss.
Setlist:
1 Into the fire
2 Reason to Believe
3 Devils and dust
4 Empty sky
5 Long Time Coming
6 Highway 29
7 The promise
8 All that heaven will allow
9 The River
10 State Trooper
11 Nebraska
12 Maria's bed
13 Reno
14 Nothing man
15 Racing in the street
16 Lost in the flood
17 The rising
18 Spare Parts
19 Jesus was an only son
20 If I should fall
21 The Hitter
22 Matamoros banks
23 Ramrod
24 Bobby Jean
25 Land of hope and dreams
26 Promised land
27 Dream baby dream
