We actually managed to buy our tickets on the phone, though I'm not quite sure how. We were surrounded by people who had been upgraded by the man-in-black; the couple in front of us was seeing their first show ever, and the only thing bigger than their state of shock was their smiles. We warned them about the stage rush at the end of the show, and they were ready. Lori, I wasn't so sure about -- had to take her to Judi and Cheryl and Paul and Allison to do some convincing.
The show? Well, the setlist was - with the exception of a relatively rare appearance in the encores of "Spirit in the Night" - mostly standard fare for late in the tour. But, that wasn't important. Bruce and the band were on. The show cooked, and I'm pretty sure the house was rocking. Not that we looked too often! But when we did, we were able to see some crazy girls in the first row behind the stage who managed to dance to everything (and, lemme tell you, dancing to "My Hometown" is quite a feat!). Two women just behind us had a sign reading "We R Y-Town," a reminder that we were in Northeast Ohio. A few rows back behind the stage, a woman was holding up a baby who couldn't have been more than a year old, as if to say, "Bruce, please bless my baby!"
And, there was Bruce. To me, what was most impressive about him from this distance was watching how he worked the crowd. A gesture here, a glance there, a pose, some prowling, whatever it took. Working, working, working. All the while, putting out magnificent -- and occasionally wild -- renditions of his songs. I had never noticed before that Bruce wears knee pads during the show; during songs like "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," it was apparent why he needed them.
The show occasionally went into giddy wildness. Little Steven was in rare form (well, for anyone else; I think he's pretty much *always* in rare form!), mugging at anyone who looked his way, even going out of his way to acknowledge a fan who was holding up a CD jacket from his latest release. Occasionally, he even lost his place -- holding Bruce up for the start of "Two Hearts, and at one point toward the end of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," going over to Garry Talent and asking, "what are we playing?," to which Garry could only reply, "I have no idea." The serious moments held up well, though, including a magnificent acoustic rendition of "Born in the U.S.A."
The stage rush finally came after "Light of Day." Made sure the chairs in front of me were sufficiently separated to make it easy, waited for the signal, grabbed Lori and went. Got to bang on the stage this time (louder than clapping). And had to pull back every time Bruce walked through -- amazing that everyone down there understood that if he wasn't kneeling or putting his guitar in the crowd, that touching him or his instrument wouldn't be a cool thing to do. Well, ok, I think Lori might've -- accidentally, of course -- gotten a brush of his pants on one pass, but that was it. She's sure about the stage rush now, though. Dancing down there was necessarily restricted to bump and grind, thus making "Ramrod" the perfect set closer.
On Monday, it would be back to vinyl -- sort of. 11th row. Damn, I love this tour!
The Orel Family