Wings For Wheels

That description can only mean one thing: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were in town tonight. I don’t care how many times I see him (this was the ninth), that’s what one of his shows does to me. This was the first time I had seen him since my move here, and so much has changed in my life since the Richmond show that inspired three posts here that it seemed so long ago, even though it was only last August.

I took advantage of a perfect day and had been walking around West Town that morning.  It reminded me a lot of Adams Morgan in DC. The stretch of Chicago Ave. between Ogden and Damen was a lot like Columbia Road with all the Latino shops and restaurants. I had an amazing Cuban lunch, my preferred pre-Bruce meal since the Atlantic City show in 2005, of a ropa vieja sandwich at Habana Libre, but I digress.

I got to the United Center at about 1:15. I had General Admission tickets for the floor and I wanted to get a wristband for the lottery to get into the Pit, the front section of the floor. At 2:00, they began giving out wristbands and I wound up with #11. I was told to come back by 4:45, at which point they would line us up and pull out the number.

Because I had been out all morning (see, there was a reason I mentioned it), I wanted to go home to change, drop off some stuff, and put my contacts in. I had two hours and forty-five minutes to get back up to Edgewater and back again. I wasn’t sure if I could make it and was prepared to cab it if the trains were delayed for any reason, but there was no need. I got back to the designated spot with about 30 minutes to spare.

Everbody lined up in numerical order and the guy running the show explained that they had given out 1,050 wristbands and could let 550 people – a little more than half – into the Pit. The number drawn was 750, which meant that people with number 750 – 1,050 would be the first group allowed in, at which point they would start from the beginning and let in 1-250.

I WAS IN!

I wound up about 20 feet from the stage, a few steps left of center so I could see both Bruce and Max. We still had about 90 minutes before the show, so I started talking to the people around me, who were very nice and had been to a lot of shows over the years. I wanted to be alone tonight for various reasons, but it was really good sharing the experience with them. There’s a stereotype of the Springsteen fan as the knuckle-dragging, Joey Bagodonuts type, and they definitely exist, but most of the hardcore fans I’ve met over the years at shows have been incredible. I think it’s because a Springsteen concert brings out so much joy that we want everybody to have the best possible time.

I’m now at about 600 words at 1:50 AM and the concert hasn’t even started yet. So at about 8:15, the lights went out. The opening song was Badlands, as it has been throughout the tour. Very strange to have it at the beginning (I don’t think it’s been the opener since 1978), but it works as well as an opener as a closer. But more importantly I was reveling in how close I was to the stage. The sound in the Pit was also fantastic, probably clearer than any other arena show I’ve ever been to.

After a blistering She’s The One and a solid Working On A Dream came the most inspired threesome of Seeds, Johnny 99, and The Ghost Of Tom Joad. The reason why the highs of a Springsteen concert – the Born To Runs, the Dancing In The Darks – are so high is because he brings you so low with these. Three songs of people facing hard times, perfect for everything that’s going on today. And Tom Joad featured an incindiery outro solo from Nils Lofgren.

Bruce has made the sign collection bit from the last tour a regular part of the show now. First up was Trapped, which I hadn’t gotten since my first Springsteen show in 1992. God, I love that song. Then Max began rolling on his hi-hat. CANDY’S ROOM! Cross that one off my “Songs I Need To See Bruce Play Live Before I Die” list.  Then he said, “Continuing the tradition of songs we’ve never played before…” he holds up a sign requesting Mony Mony. Bruce, Steve, and Garry conversed for about a minute to figure out what key it was in, but once they started, you would have thought they had been playing it for years. Bruce was also toying with a double-sided sign with Like A Rolling Stone and Not Fade Away, but instead went with the Tommy James and the Shondells classic.

They came out of the request period with Waiting On A Sunny Day. About 30 seconds in, I looked up at the drums and noticed that Max had been replaced by his 18-year old son, Jay, who will be taking over full-time when Conan O’Brien starts up again next month in the new time slot. I had heard great things about Jay and, holy crap, he’s amazing! Maybe not as rock solid as his father (who, to be fair, has been playing with Bruce for nearly twice as long as Jay has been alive), but he had some great fills and had tons of energy.

There was another fantastic segue in two new songs, The Wrestler and Kingdom Of Days. I really love The Wrestler. It fits so well into the Springsteen canon, this guy who has been broken down and still comes back for more because it’s all he can do. It’s impossible to not see them play it and not think of it as an allegory for the aging band, as both Clarence and Nils have had double-hip replacement surgeries, and, of course, the death of Danny Federici thirteen months ago.

But once again, Bruce takes us out of the dark and into the light, and four songs later, The Moment comes when the house lights come on and we all sing along with Born To Run before the band leaves the stage. After a cover of Stephen Foster’s Hard Times, he looks for some signs, tells the people in front to put away the Rosalita sign (he played it last night in St. Paul – Michele’s review is here – so I didn’t think he would play it, even though I was wearing my Rosalita t-shirt), and tells Roy to begin. Ah, Jungleland. It’s like a frosty chocolate milkshake delivered with a blowjob.

It wasn’t played on the Magic tour (I think once in Europe), but Land Of Hope And Dreams is now back in the encores, followed by American Land (with Promised and Jungle, that makes four “Land” songs in the set, but no performance yet of This Hard Land this tour). Dancing In The Dark follows. As the song comes to a close, Bruce is pointing to something on my left. I look over and see nothing. He’s still pointing and he’s gesturing for something to be brought to the stage. I look behind me and see a sign making its way towards the front. I catch the letters “OSI” on it and begin jumping up and down like crazy, half in tears with delight. He takes the sign and shows it to the crowd.

ROSIE
Come out
to Chicago

It took 16 years for me to get Rosalita and now I’ve seen it my last two shows. During the second chorus, Bruce and Steve are sharing a mic (still the coolest thing ever) and Bruce sings “Mamacita, come sit by my fire.” Both he and Steve are laughing so hard they can barely finish the chorus. It doesn’t matter, because we’re all singing along.

As incredible as tonight was, between the performance, my first experience in the Pit, and the sound, I have to say that Richmond still remains my all-time favorite show because of the setlist. Although Working On A Dream has grown on me, the immediacy of the political material on Magic, coupled with rarities like Quarter To Three, Crush On You (!), and solo piano version of For You, put that concert on a higher plane. That said, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band still put on the greatest rock n’ roll show on the planet. Everything else is just nitpicking.

Setlist:
Badlands
Spirit in the Night
* Outlaw Pete
She’s the One
* Working on a Dream
* Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost of Tom Joad
* Raise Your Hand (instrumental during sign collection, followed by vocals)
Trapped
* Candy’s Room
* Mony, Mony
Waitin’ on a Sunny Day (Jay comes in on drums and stays the rest of the night)
The Promised Land
* The Wrestler
* Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
—–
* Hard Times Come Again No More (Stephen Foster)
Jungleland
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

* Songs I never saw Springsteen play live before