A Good Night

Tonight, for the 28th time, I will wait for the lights to fade to black, watch Bruce follow the rest of the E Street Band up the stairs, and be blown away for more than three hours.

It's been a long time coming. Since November 22, 2009 to be precise.

And I'm pretty fired up as you may have guessed because this morning I remembered.

I remembered:

Seeing the first Springsteen show of my life at the Aud in Buffalo. I was with my brother John, my buddy Tom and the girl I went to my high school senior prom with. Tom wasn't a big Springsteen fan. At the short intermission he went out into the lobby and bought three concert shirts. Lord knows how many times he's seen the Boss since.

But I remember one other show Tom went to with me. It was in Long Island right around the time Bruce's marriage was breaking up. Bruce played from about 7:45 to 12:40. He was on the stage doing cartwheels. My college buddy, Rosie, told me to stop clapping because maybe he'd leave.

There was the concert on the lawn in Mountain View, California. My brother Jim had talked me into buying tickets from a scalper. I don't remember what we paid, but I remember how much fun we had, and how Bruce played until well after one because he took the stage after Neil Young, Tom Petty, Robin Williams, Glenn Frey and his band mate Nils.

There were the concerts in Washington, D.C. With a group of college buddies I saw Bruce on back-to-back nights. He played and played and played. We drank a lot of beer in those two days.

And then life shifted. My beautiful wife loved Bruce because of the influence of her brother and because I loved him. In fact I wasn't sure if she loved Bruce because I loved him, or because she did.

I don't mistake that now. She doesn't love him because I do. She loves him because she just does.

We saw him together for the first time just after we found out that Jake was on the way. During one of his talks during the show Bruce told me that life doesn't really begin until you feel the love you have for a child. He told me this three days after Kathy broke the news. It wasn't new news, but it felt like he wrote the speech to tell me it'd be just fine.

And from there it was on...we couldn't get seats that were good enough, although we certainly tried. There was the show at Darien Lake where eight of us danced in the spot reserved for two. There was the show in Rochester where we were a mere hundred feet away. The show in Cleveland where Kathy "forgot" half the tickets.

(I had nothing to do with that mistake - as I've told her - everything that goes wrong is her fault).

This morning as I thought about all of the past shows I thought of my brother Jeff and how fired up he'd be tonight. As Bruce is going to say tonight about Clarence and Danny, two of his lost mates:

"If you're here and we're here then they are here."

And they will be.

In fact, there will be so many people there tonight even though they aren't.

My college buddies, Pops, my prom date, my high school friends...my Mom and Dad. My sister Corinne (who is not a fan), my boys...everyone.

Tonight we are even bringing a newbie to the show. JC will be buying three shirts on the way out.

Because through 28 years and 28 concerts I have been the same man at each show.

I'm still the guy who believes the promise.

I still have the faith, hope and belief that someday I'll be

pulling out of here to win.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Suits

My Buddy, Dave

Hot & Dusty