A Bucket List Concert - Bruce Springsteen In St. Paul

     Made some progress on my "Bucket List" a few month ago but haven't found time to post. For a long time I have been wanting to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert and I finally had the chance when his toud came to St. Paul, MN. I only found out about the show the week before the date from a colleague at work so was unsure whether I could even get tickets. Bruce was playing two nights in a row; Sundays show was essentially sold out but Ticketmaster did have seats left for the Monday night show. I would have to drive north like a bat out of hell after my last class on Monday to get there on time and leave early in the morning to be back for class on Tuesday, but what the heck, especially since it meant a chance to see my youngest daughter who now lives in the Twin Cities.

     My seats appeared to be in the risers next to the stage and were labeled "May have an obstructed view" - probably why they were still available so close to the concert date. I hoped they wouldn't be too obstructed. I met Annie in downtown St. Paul and we grabbed a quick dinner at a pub, then rushed off to park my car at my hotel about a mile from the Xcel Energy Center. It wasn't the best weather and we worried about being late, so grabbed a cab rather than hoofing it to the arena. We needn't have rushed.
Being a first-timer at the Bruce concert I didn't know that he routinely comes out 45-60 minutes after the scheduled concert time!! We had plenty of time to chat with the older gentlemen sitting next to us - avid Springsteen fans who had flown up from Tampa for both nights' shows. I told them I had done the reverse in the past -- flown down to Tampa for Keith Urban's shows : )

     We were lucky - our seats turned out not to be obstructed at all, so had a great side view of the stage. This was the first big concert I've been to where they seemed to be quite serious about no videos - somehow that just didn't fit with Bruce's 'working man' personna. I did, however, sneak a few clips during the night.

     Springsteen is certainly a charismatic performer and I envied his energy and agility moving about the arena ( he is the same age as me!). Although I guess it is totally routine, Annie and I were amazed when he not only played while weaving through the densely packed general admission floor to a catwalk mid-arena, then - after saying to the fans near the catwalk "Are you ready?" flang himself backwards onto to the raised hands of the audience and the proceeded to pass him hand to hand all the way back to the main stage!!! Now that's a man that trusts his fans! At other points he pulled fans up onto the catwalk for a little dance.

     I've followed Bruce on and off over the many years of his career, so I am familiar with some albums but not others. With the arena acoustics (and being sidestage), I could not follow the lyrics of unfamiliar songs, which really is a disadvantage. But I enjoyed my old and new favorites (I had gotten his newest CD in preparation for the concert) and especially loved some of the slow heartfelt numbers.
Stolen Car
Waiting on a Sunny Day
The Rising
Born to Run

    We were kind of worn out after the THREE hour, no breaks show - I can only imagine how Bruce must have felt!!