Monday, March 27, 2023 Entry #51
Back at the Orlando concert in early February, I was in line with a couple from Washington D.C. and when I told them I would be seeing Springsteen in their city soon with my son, a Georgetown University undergrad, my new friends said they had tickets to that one as well, and insisted we all get together before the show.
And so, Gabe and I found ourselves, a few hours before the concert, at an old-school steakhouse near the arena. We were seated in a private room with a group of relatives and friends of the couple I had met just a month earlier. A few rounds of drinks and a whole lot of Bruce Springsteen conversation ensued (”I’m actually wearing the t-shirt I got at my first Springsteen concert in ‘78!”, etc.), and a good time was being had by all. Problem was, the place was jammed with Springsteen fans, and our meals seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to arrive. Word filtered in that the lines into the venue were long and moving slowly. We all seemed to decide at once-better to get to the concert in time than eat dinner, and out the door our party streamed, albeit on empty stomachs. Since Gabe and I needed to enter through a different door than the rest of the group, we exchanged hasty ‘have a great show’ good-byes all around.
Gabe and I lined up and made it to our seats mere minutes before the lights dimmed, perfect timing and a far cry from the hours I would spend standing in the pit before the February concerts started. The concert began, and I admit that I missed the rush of being so close to the stage in GA, but we had great seats (not that we ever sat down in them), and being in the midst of the sea of people instead of having just a row or two of people (if that!) in front of me was a nice change of perspective actually.
But, the real reason that this Springsteen concert was different from all the other Springsteen concerts that I had gone to earlier on the tour was that I was there with my son. Frankly, I had been excitedly anticipating this moment for quite a long time and as the concert started, I found myself periodically looking over my shoulder to gauge Gabe’s reactions, surreptitiously watching him watch the concert. Eventually, I settled down and, assured that Gabe was dually impressed (if not as ecstatic as me, lol) with Bruce and having a good time, I stopped checking on him (though once when he stepped away to go into the lobby, I was a little anxious, not out of worry like when Gabe would slip out of my sight when was a kid, but because I just didn’t want him to miss anything!) and immersed myself fully in the Springsteen experience.
Overall, though I am generally an outgoing and social person, I was definitely leaning into my plan of attending these #YearOfSpringsteen shows solo. This was working powerfully for me, being “alone” with Springsteen and the band was allowing me to focus directly on what I was experiencing and feeling without any “diversion” that might arise from having a companion with me. However, the exception to this rule was being side by side with Gabe, my own kid after all. I loved the moments when we would catch each other’s glances, his face mirroring the thrill, joy, and excitement of mine. Placing my hand on Gabe’s shoulder during a tender moment in the show, taking selfies with him, and sing-shouting together along with thousands of others to “Born To Run” were father-son moments I knew even in the moment would stay with me forever.
The penultimate song at every concert on this tour is “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” the ‘origin story’ of the E Street Band. After introducing the band members, with the house lights fully on so the whole audience feels at one with each other and with the band, Springsteen leaves the stage and enters a ramp that is built in a semi-circle, jutting out as far as the 8th row or so. On it, he does a lap, all the while singing, dancing, goofing, and engaging with his audience. Springsteen pauses his super-human energy (this being close to the three-hour mark, Springsteen being 73-years old) just once during this part of the show, for the “important part,” as Springsteen exclaims, when he sings the line, “When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band,” and scenes of Bruce Springsteen with the late E Street saxophonist Clarence “Big Man” Clemons are projected reverently onto the screen.
When I am in the pit, the General Admission area in front of the stage, this “Freeze Out” marathon marks the one time when The Boss suddenly moves away from my prime vantage point. Where Gabe and I were positioned, Springsteen getting on the ramp meant he was getting closer to us. I felt the excitement of the crowd as Springsteen made his way around the ramp, and when he was aligned with me and Gabe, I attempted and failed to take a dream selfie with my son, one featuring the Boss himself. Gabe, knowing well my mediocre tech abilities, swiftly took the phone out of my hands and nabbed a stunning photo, the one that begins and ends this post. It’s a “keeper picture” if there ever was one, an image of my boy and me with Bruce Springsteen looming over us. I had the photo enlarged, printed and framed, and it is already one of my most prized possession.
Springsteen once spoke eloquently to a concert audience about his own children and the blessings they have brought into his life:
“They have a window onto the grace that’s in the world and they just bring it with them when they arrive and they bring that into your life. Because I think that as you get older, that window closes down for you sometimes, maybe that’s just what the world does. I think that’s why people go to see films, or read novels, or listen to music, all to bring that grace back into their lives. And the kids, they’re just plugged into it somehow, I don’t know how. I remember when my first son was born, we come out of the hospital and the wind felt different on your face and the sun felt different on you.”
I can relate. Gabe certainly brought amazing grace into our lives when he was young (still does), and it was awesome to introduce him as an adult to an experience that brought back some of that beautiful quality to both of us through the special performance we witnessed together.
In his Broadway show, Springsteen expressed some of what he hoped would be his legacy, and that bold vision came true for me that night with Gabe in Washington D.C.
“I wanted to rock your very soul, and have you bring it home and pass it on, and I wanted it to be sung by you and your folks and your children.”
You may remember that Gabe and I had to skip out of a restaurant before eating so we wouldn’t be late for the concert. And so, father and son had a ‘little faith’ believing, even after a transcendent, 3-hour Bruce Springsteen concert, that there was still some more ‘magic in the night’ left for us. We found a restaurant open late, so we were able to close out our time together with a meal, a few beers, delightful concert post-mortems and gloriously fun-loving, meaningful, and familiar-feeling conversation.
It was, to quote a Springsteen song title, a true “Kingdom of Days.”