You know what's awesome? Seeing someone who
so loves what they do. I honestly don't know if there's anyone I can personally say this about, but after attending my fourth Bruce Springsteen concert last night, I can say that Bruce himself seems to enjoy the s*** out of his chosen profession. Oh, sure, you can be cynical about it and say all the money he rakes in probably makes it that much easier to like his job, but even if that's the case, the dude makes sure he puts on a show - and makes it look like he's having the best effing time possible while doing so. Dude runs around on stage for three hours, slides around on his knees with a little kid, carries said little kid around, then stage dives and crowd surfs, and basically makes you, almost 30 years younger, feel really out of shape while watching him.
Sure, I may be biased. My first musical memory is
Born to Run spinning on our record player and I can essentially associate any Bruce song of any era with whatever was going on in my life at the time. I've grown up with him, so to speak. But to see the utter delight on his face when he stops singing the opening of "Thunder Road," and lets the giant-ass crowd sing it instead, it's quite awesome, no matter how many albums the guy's put out.
Also - and let me get a little cheesy right here - the moment itself was pretty damn near perfect. You've got an entire stadium full of people singing a song that has obviously meant so much to them (myself included. Like,
it's almost eight years later, but it's still my No. 1 favorite song), and in that moment - and let me get a lot more cheesy right here - you get the full meaning of "Jersey Pride." Now, let me tell you, I kind of hate that term because it's been so co-opted by people/manufacturers who use it for evil rather than good. Like, I hear that and I think "Obnoxious Guido Stereotype Used to Perpetuate Bad Ideas About My Home State." But whilst singing with tens of thousands of others, most of whom are probably from your Garden State, who know what a dusty beach road looks like, and singing it because the guy who wrote the song, also a Jerseyian, is standing right there, looking so delighted... well,
I had goosebumps. And yes, in that moment, I was righteously proud of the Jerz. So there.
Yes, I was way up in the hinterlands of the 24th row to the left of the stage, and yes, I arm-thrusted to the "Roll down the windows and let the wind blow back your hair." Because it is in my DNA to do so. And also, because I wanted to.
