When we got to the Hall of Fame and Museum, there was Garry Tallent, along with Southside Johnny. And there was the fan whose seat I climbed over during the stage rush last night. And there was Dave G., and a bunch of other familiar faces. That place would have been nearly empty without Bruce fans.
The Hall of Fame portion of the facility has been much improved, as a result of being moved to the 3rd floor. The old mausoleum has been replaced by a loud audio-visual presentation of the inductees, showing some of what they did to put them there. Bruce, of course, was represented by "Born in the U.S.A." Bruce's displays, though, were disappointing; a few lyrics sheets that weren't there in '95, but otherwise nothing much new or particularly interesting. It almost appears that, were it not for the participation of Garry Talent and Billy Smith, Bruce might not have a display at all.
Went back to the Ritz to crash and meet up with Paul and Allison. There's Max, passing through. Finally, here's a family coming through the back room where we are. Changing a diaper -- thank goodness, someone different! Then I notice, that pacifier looks like the one I saw in 117 last night. And the 3 year old is wearing a Bruce shirt. Sure enough, it's the blessed baby from behind the stage! His name is Grant. Wish him well (yes, he was wearing earplugs).
Went to the soundcheck with Cathy and Dave, and got there just in time to hear Bruce run through a searing rendition of "State Trooper." Then, another arrangement, more rocking, with a great guitar solo that must have been coming from Nils' guitar. A third try at an arrangement, and by this time we're guessing that we won't get that song tonight. After run-through of "Don't Look Back" -- the probable show opener -- Bruce starts on "No Surrender." By now, it's 6pm and they're ready to let the crowd in. But, 5 minutes later, Bruce is back, and "No Surrender" is on again, in a Texas swing!
I've now seen Bruce over 40 times. Last night's show was the wildest of them all. As with the last 2 shows in Philadelphia, only the core 12 songs from the previous night wee repeated. And even those songs seemed somehow different. "Prove it All Night" was hotter than I had ever seen it, just fire and fury and passion throughout. During "Darlington County," Bruce spotted the Cleveland Boys (wasn't that difficult, they were holding up a 10-foot sign announcing their presence), and went into zany overdrive. Not that he needed much help -- by that time, we had already witnessed weirdness from various band members -- was that really Nils jumping to give Clarence a high ten during "Two Hearts"? And, oh yeah, the crazy rear stage girls from Sunday night rear stage were MIB upgrades tonight, and I think Bruce might've been trying to show who had the better moves (they did).
For me, this 13th show of the tour brought out a couple of songs that I had not heard previously. First was a wild "You Can Look," with Bruce and Steve trading off lines at the end. (Bruce: "You can look" Steve: "I can look?" Bruce: "YOU can look" Steve: "I can't look?" Bruce: "You can LOOK!" Steve: "But YOU can Look!"). Then, the hottest "Because the Night" of the millenium, with Bruce nailing an extended solo at the end.
This final show also brought out the goobers. I had the pleasure of being seated between the Stadniks and Chris and Bryon, and every big goober snort had us all doubled over. Bruce, get some Claritin! Geez, some of those goobers must've cleared half the stage before landing. He'd get off a huge snort and go right into a pelvic guitar thrust.
After the new "No Surrender" made its debut, we got one more reminder of why we're all here -- a transcendant rendition of "Backstreets." Finally on to "Light of Day." Is Nils doing a shimmy? No, Lori says, he's surfing. And, then, shit, the whole goddamed band is surfing up there! It's a surfing song! Just to keep things properly nuts, Bruce then talked about people "LOST, in Cleveland Browns memorabilia," and then sticking pins in (former Clevelander) Art Modell voodoo dolls. The selected zany town was Caledonia, Ohio. By this time, Bruce had pretty much wiped Lori and myself out -- and possibly had wiped himself out as well. The encores included a couple more surprises, as well as a wonderful rendition of "If I Should Fall Behind," but it seemed that Bruce was just flat-out out of gas. But Bruce made it through, and after one last goober snort, even managed his somersault.
And so, here I am, back at a desk the day after a Bruce concert in another city. Again. On the way home, we stopped at a rest stop in Sandusky County (about 75 miles out of Cleveland) for some soda. The Burger King was still open. There was a line. Some of them were going back to Toledo. A pair of women, still wearing their Gund bracelets from their MIB upgrade, on their way back to Port Huron. Mini-Bruce city, one last time.
The Orel Family