In 1984, I sat in the nosebleed section of the now-demolished JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, shivering in the rain, waiting for the show to begin. It was to be one of the biggest concerts of the year and my first show ever. The one thing that bothered me is that my mother wouldn't let me buy a red leather jacket and sequined glove. No matter -- I was about to witness Michael Jackson and his five brothers on the Victory tour.
Michael Jackson wasn't the only big act that year. Bruce Springsteen released a little record called Born in the USA. In the United States alone, the album sold 15 million copies, produced seven singles, and catapulted not only the Boss to mega-stardom, but Courtney Cox as well.
Flash forward 23 years and look at the career trajectories of Springsteen and Jackson. Springsteen has just produced the moderately successful Magic, his third album in the last three years. Jackson is hiding behind a veil and skirting bankruptcy, and he hasn't made a record since the poorly received Invincible in 2001. What is it about Springsteen that has allowed him to maintain a modicum of integrity these past two decades while being so popular?
Getting into the concert was a major clusterfuck. A few lucky thousand fans scored general admission tickets, which earned them a chance to get a spot up front. Arriving early at the stadium, we all received numbered armbands and were told to line up sequentially at five. Can you imagine 1,000 people -- some drunk, some handicapped, some just plain stupid -- trying to figure that out on their own? Finally, someone called 821, and the 200 fans behind that number got into the pit. I had number 559. It was 5:15 PM. I decided to get out of line and get a salad.
We finally staked out spot on the floor around 6:45 PM. Almost two hours passed before the Boss took the stage. I am tall, and I could see. My friends could not. One guy stepped in front of us, a middle-aged guy with a scarred face, and after my friend asked him to move, he curtly responded, "In a civil society, maybe. This is a mosh pit." A mosh pit? What did Scarface know that we didn't? Judging by the fat, balding, suited hordes waiting for their hero to arrive, the only moshing that would go on was if one decided to have a heart attack during the show.
The Boss and his Band finally took the stage amid gasps of excitement (“There's Bruce!” “There's Silvio!” “There's the guy from Conan!”) and tore into "Radio Nowhere," the first single from Magic. While the album has received decent reviews, the common complaint is that the music suffers from Brendan O'Brien's vapid production. This guy has produced Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, and Train (among others). What the fuck, Bruce? But stripped of that flat production, the song really took flight. Bruce had the audience from the first chord.
What is most amazing about a Springsteen show is the font of energy from which this guy draws his power. He's 58 years old, yet the amount of vigor he put into the show was astounding. He jumped around; he screamed; he spit water into the air. Bruce Springsteen was on fire.
While the Boss played most of the songs off the new album, it was the more obscure, older tracks that most intrigued a fan like me. "The Ties That Bind" and "Jackson Cage," both from The River, positively killed, and hits like "The Promised Land" and first set-closer "Badlands" still sounded fresh. Springsteen even made a few political swipes at our dear Commander-in-Chief, and while there is no doubt a good chunk of the crowd were lobbyists, GOP aides, and Log Cabin Republicans, no one could boo loud enough over the cheering of "Bruuuuuuuce" to make a difference.
Now, tickets to this show were not cheap. We're talking $100. I could have seen 10 shows at The Black Cat for the price of this one. But the encore was worth the admission alone. I had hoped to hear "Thunder Road," a song that inspires memories of college and the feelings of getting into a car and running off with a girl, and when the piano kicked in, all those feelings swirled back.
Though I've heard "Born to Run" and "Dancing in the Dark" a million times before, nothing prepared me for the emotional impact of the one-two punch these songs would have. All the house lights went on, and I could see the entire arena, filled with people dancing and singing and smiling as Springsteen dove into these two hits. Call me a sap, but it amazed me that something simple like a song could make so many people happy. This is why Bruce is still popular. Though he doesn't have the edge of all our favorite indie bands, he can touch a special place, a little part of Jersey in all of us. It felt good to be part of it.
The show finished with a Pogues-sounding number called "American Land," and as we retreated to the back of the floor, I still found myself smiling. If I had just seen a Michael Jackson show, I knew that smile would be one full of irony. Not this time.
[Photo: Mike Kurman (bonobaltimore)]
