The Boss and I

Last night, I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert. No cameras were allowed so you get the lame image, above. I'm not one for arena concerts; I've had very poor seats more times that acceptable or good seats. So, I started off with a slight negative vibe.

We had SRO/main floor tickets courtesy of some friends who had purchased 4 tickets. They needed 2 for themselves and offered us the other 2. I got a second slightly negative feeling knowing that we would be among the masses on the main floor. I'm not one to push to the front to be squeezed like a piece of fruit being tested in the market. So, I envisioned being in the back of the mob scene on the main floor.

On Saturday, the day before the concert, we found out that there were rules to follow to get in with our SRO/General Admission tickets. Wrist bands would be given out beginning 4 hours "before doors". Doors were at 6:15PM; wrist band distribution started at 2:15PM. The process was to receive a numbered wrist band, line up in numeric order at 5:15PM, a number would be drawn and that would be the first person into the arena followed by the next consecutive numbers up to about 300 people. These 300 would be in the pit, the closest to the stage; the remaining SRO ticket holders were in the back half of the floor divided by a sturdy barrier. I began wonder if this was going to be a good thing.

We arrived at the Erwin Center arena on the campus of the University of Texas at about 3:30PM. We were assigned wrist band numbers from 00322 to 00325. Was this good or bad? We would be required to wait until 5:15PM to find out. We went to Scholz Garten, a few blocks away to eat something and fret about our fate. At Scholz's, we encountered more than 50 revelers with The Boss' green wrist bands. This turned out to be a group of hard-core, Springsteen concert goers. Many had attended more that 130 Bruce Springsteen concerts. A few had even accomplished seeing all the concerts on a single, Springsteen, US tour. Many were starting in Austin, going to Tulsa, then on to Houston to see 3 consecutive concerts. I thought, "These are the true fans. Maybe they will have some comforting advice for me." One fellow from Corpus Christi, TX, transplanted from north Jersey, offered some advice. I inquired as to the number of concerts he had attended; 37 was his reply. He was on of the zealots going to Tulsa and Houston after the Austin concert. He advised that if we got into the first group to enter, we would have a GREAT view (he used capital letters when enunciating GREAT even though he admitted that spelling was never his forte). I took him at his word as I had lived in New Jersey, like he and Bruce.

We lined up in proper numeric order at about 5:15PM. By 5:45PM; I felt the same order in the lines as I had experienced in Catholic grammer school only without the nuns. We were advised that there were more than 600 wrist band holders in line (there were actually more than 600 SRO tickets purchased; those not receiving a wrist band would be automatically relegated to the back section of the arena floor). Tension was in the air; a number was announced. We heard 611; we were screwed! Wait, that's the number in line. The actual number was called, 195. We weren't screwed; we were in the first group. More orderly line movement and wrist band checking led to an additional American flag like band being added to our wrists. This was our passport to the area adjacent to the stage. More line standing, in numeric order until shortly after 6:30PM. We moved in and staked a claim to some spots that looked good and near the center of the stage. Now, we had to wait until some time after 8:00PM for the concert to start. In anticipation of standing through a long concert, we opted to sit on the floor. This conserved our energy and likely saved more floor space for us later.

We stood up just before 8:00PM; we fended off people pushing to the front for a few tense minutes with success. The Boss came onstage with the band at about 8:20PM and got started. We found ourselves to be 6 people from the stage. I can't say that they were the best seats, as we had no seats, but our position was the greatest. Springsteen and the E St. Band played for 2 hours without a break. They left the stage for about 2 minutes, then came back and played for another hour. Not only did he play recent songs from the Working On A Dream album, but he collected requests from the audience in any type of written form. Many of the requests were in the form of signs, but one was written on a gum wrapper. As they were finishing the last song of the evening, Springsteen saw a sign with Glory Days scrawled on it. He motioned to pass it up to the stage. He stood it in front of his microphone stand and went into a 10 minute rendition of Glory Days. This was one of my top ten concerts ever. Because of our location, perhaps, it is in my top five.

One final note about Springsteen. I found out from the couple that went to the concert with us that Springsteen donated a block of tickets to the Capital Area Food Bank. They raised $17,000 through a silent auction. Springsteen didn't mention this gift, but he did give 2 plugs for making donations to the food bank. He even allowed for them to be at the exit doors to receive donations.

Handwritten set list for the concert in Austin.

The songs actually played including the requests.