“Still 30 years after the show, when I hear this song played, like Pavlov’s dog, I get a physical reaction … it’s when Bruce comes to the end of the story, where he belts out the message he got from God himself about what he should do with his life, ‘And then I heard just three words: Let it rock!’ Hearing these words always send a release of adrenaline or endorphins shooting through me in waves."

“‘Darkness’ is haunting, listening to it hurts,” writes Stefanie Oepen. “It opens a wound deep in my heart and then tells me how to mend.” And Annabel Nanninga, a Dutch woman who says the album pulled her out of severe depression at 15, says she “found my fears and worries expressed on this album, better than anybody could have put it.”

Douglas “took me into a small area just off the living room. It was a shrine. Gold and platinum records hung from the walls … as Douglas Springsteen showed me around the awards and industry accolades amassed by his son, I couldn’t help but feel the pride he held for his boy.”

Like its predecessor For You, Lawrence Kirsch's The Light In Darkness is a beautifully put-together, limited edition coffee-table sized collection of reminisces from Bruce Springsteen fans. What makes this a must-have for the Springsteen fan on your holiday shopping list are the hundreds of photographs here — many of which were shot by fans as well, and thus are seen here for the very first time.

The difference with The Light In Darkness is the fact that this volume focuses specifically on the 1978 tour behind the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. As most longtime Boss fans will tell you, this was the tour where Springsteen and the E Street Band largely solidified their reputation as one of the greatest live attractions in rock.

On this tour, Springsteen shows rarely ran under 3½ hours, and when multiple encores were factored in, would often push closer to the five-hour mark.

These were the days so fondly remembered by the fans who were there, when songs like "Prove It All Night" began with a blistering guitar intro that was longer than the song itself, and where "Backstreets" included a lengthy mid-song rap (then called "Sad Eyes") which eventually formed the foundation for the song "Drive All Night" on the 1980 album, The River.

Here, on page after lovingly assembled page, these same fans recall their memories of seeing such legendary performances as the oft-bootlegged December 15, 1978 show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom — one of the very final rock concerts to take place at the legendary venue. In the case of this particular show, several stories are recounted, including a beautiful photo essay of the show from Backstreets photographer P. Jay Plutzer, that includes many never-before-seen photos.

In addition to the hundreds of images and personal anecdotes from fans, there is a list of every show and every song played during the Darkness tour. In another section, writer Roy Opichinski examines the songs left over from the original sessions for the Darkness album that failed to make the final cut — including both the ones Springsteen gave away to other artists like Patti Smith ("Because The Night"), and such lost masterpieces as "The Promise" and "Iceman."

The release of The Light In Darkness comes at a time where there is a renewed interest in the 1978 Bruce Springsteen album which forms its central theme.Springsteen and the E Street Band have been recently featuring the album played in its entirety — most recently at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and at Giants Stadium in New Jersey — as part of the theme nights closing their current tour, where a classic album is performed from start to stop. It is also widely expected that a deluxe, remastered edition of Darkness will see the light of day sometime next year.

In the meantime, this beautifully done new volume from Lawrence Kirsch serves as the next best thing. For those who were there, it serves as a reminder of a time where great rock and roll seemed to make anything possible. For those who weren't, it does a nice job of telling the story of just why Springsteen and the E Street Band are so revered by the fans who were.

As a postscript here, a few Blogcritics have stories of their own that made the cut in the book. Look for Mark Saleski on page 96, and yours truly on page 52. The Light In Darkness can be ordered at the author's website.

Dylan Detained By N.J. Cops on Springsteen's 'Backstreets'

By CHRIS FRANCESCANI

Aug. 15, 2009 —

Was Bob Dylan looking for the home where Bruce Springsteen wrote "Born to Run" in 1974 when he was detained by police near the Jersey shore last month?

The 68-year-old music legend was picked up one Thursday last month by a 24-year-old cop who failed to recognize him as he walked the streets of Long Branch, N.J. in the pouring rain.

It may have been as simple as it appears: Dylan told police he was talking a walk and looking at a home for sale.

But the area where Dylan was picked up was just a couple blocks from the beachside bungalow where Bruce Springsteen wrote the material for his landmark 1975 album "Born to Run."

In the past nine months, Dylan has visited the childhood homes of Neil Young and John Lennon, in both cases appearing without fanfare and barely identifying himself after he was recognized.

Last November, Winnipeg homeowner John Kiernan told Simon Fuller that Dylan and a friend arrived unannounced in a taxi to his Grosvenor Ave. home, where songwriter Neil Young grew up.

Dylan, Kiernan said, was unshaved and had the brim of his hat pulled down over his head. He asked for a look inside and inquired about Young's bedroom and where he would have played his guitar.

Dylan has shown a deep affinity for the Canadian rocker over the years, most recently in his 2001 song "Highlands." And Young said at a Nashville concert in 2005 that he once lent Dylan one of his most precious musical treasures -- Hank Williams' guitar, for which Young wrote the ballad "This Old Guitar." Both men revere Williams, a country music legend.

In May, Dylan joined a public tour of John Lennon's childhood home, according to the BBC. A spokeswoman for the National Trust, which runs the home as London landmark, said Dylan "took one of our general minibus tours.

"People on the minibus did not recognize him apparently," the spokeswoman told the British news agency. "He could have booked a private tour, but he was happy to go on the bus with everyone else."

Springsteen spent two of the most creative years of his young career in the house on West Court in Long Branch in 1974 and 1975, penning "Born to Run," "Thunder Road" and "Backstreets" while living there.

Dylan's spokesman did not immediately return a call or e-mail for comment.

First, he quit on his team midway through a season. Then, he turned on his former coach. Next, he took a shot at the quarterback who ultimately led the team to a Superbowl title. Well, Tiki Barber is at it again. Only this time, he’s taking aim at the fanbase’s biggest cultural icon.

 Neil Best from Newsday sums it up.

“This Bruce Springsteen deal, I guess I’m too young to get it,” the former Giants running back said during an NBC conference call Wednesday. His tone was light, but he wasn’t kidding.

“I went to a concert last year and I didn’t get the euphoria. But I guess I’m a couple of years too young.” (Tiki was four months old when “Born to Run” was released in 1975.)

The Boss is unveiling his latest single during half-time of this week’s Sunday Night game on NBC.

Hey, Tiki, guess what. I’ve seen Springsteen at Giants Stadium a few times.  He’ll have his number retired there some day.  Can’t say the same for you.

One also can’t underestimate the ability of a ninety-minute set of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel hits to bring a theater packed full of middle age tri-staters to screaming fits of hysterical joy. “Good evening bridge and tunnel elite,” Springsteen said in the middle of an early show mini acoustic set. “I know you spent a lot of money, but like you did with the vice presidential debate: lower your expectations.” Three songs into Billy Joel’s set — when Springsteen, his wife Patti Scialfa and E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan joined Joel and his band for a rousing “10th Avenue Freeze-Out” — expectations were already exceeded. From here, an only-for-Obama supergroup was born. Springsteen stayed onstage for the next hour and a half, with the setlist rotating back and forth between Joel and Springsteen classics. Each sang big portions of each others’ tunes, often with their eyes focused on what was surely a teleprompter.

The pairing worked surprisingly well. When Springsteen sang “they’re closing all the factories down” in “Allentown,” it sounded like it could have been a Darkness On The Edge Of Town outtake. Likewise, Joel made the sweet nostalgia of “Glory Days” seem like one of his own. “Movin’ Out” was dedicated to Bush and Cheney, and featured Springsteen singing the verse about “Mister Cacciatore’s” and the “Cadillac-ack-ack-ack-ack.” Other highlights included “Thunder Road,” “A Matter Of Trust,” “Spirit In The Night” and “New York State of Mind.” If anyone on earth was ready for such an evening, it was Joel’s multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero, who toured with Springsteen in 1992/93 tour. Whether it was playing the bongos on “River Of Dreams” or filling in for Clarence on the sax “10th Avenue Freeze-Out,” the woman knew what she was doing.

Earlier in the night John Legend and India.Arie played “Ordinary People” and U2’s “Pride (In The Name of Love)” during a brief acoustic set. They came out again at the end for a cover of “People Get Ready” and the grand finale of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” during which Barck and Michelle Obama stood center stage clapping and occasionally singing along. It was a great night — worth every penny — though there was much work to be done. As Caroline Kennedy told the crowd before the show while urging them to volunteer: “This is the last time you can have this much fun for the next twenty days.”

Hi, my name is Stuart and I’m a Bruce-aholic.

“Hi Stuart.”

I remember my first taste of Bruce juice. It was 1981 and I was a freshman at Cal State Northridge, vegging out after class in the student union music center where you could choose a record — yes, we’re going back to the days of vinyl — and listen to it in sound-proof booths.

Familiar with the legend of “Born to Run” but not having listened to it in its entirety until then, the music captured me in a way no song or album ever had to that point. Growing up in New York, I was a fan of Billy Joel — that’s the law if you’re raised on Long Island — but Joel’s songs never grabbed me the way Springsteen’s did.

From the opening harmonica of “Thunder Road” to the closing primal scream of “Jungleland,” “Born to Run” left me virtually speechless. It was a masterpiece on first listen and remains Springsteen’s greatest work.

The joy of the live show
But Springsteen, the maker of albums, and Springsteen the concert performer are two entirely different creatures. The music at a Springsteen show doesn’t just come alive, it encompasses you in the way a train would affect your balance if you were standing on the edge of the platform and it passed at 150 mph. It leaves you barely holding on, as you feel the rush of energy move through you on every note, on every lyric sung.

My first show came during the 1984 “Born in the USA” tour, but that’s a somewhat sad story in the fact that I could’ve attended one of “The River” shows three years earlier. In one of those decisions that you regret as soon as you’ve made it, I passed on a ticket because I had English homework that night.

So I’m forced to wait an excruciating three years — after collecting all the bootlegs, buying the albums, reading the Time and Newsweek cover stories, making friends who had been to the ’78 Roxy show and the famed Winterland set in San Francisco — and it’s finally Oct. 25, 1984. I have no idea what time my daughter was born, but I still remember everything about that day. The drive on the Santa Monica Freeway to the Los Angeles Sports Arena, finding a parking spot, checking out the T-shirts, getting to our seats, and waiting … and waiting some more for the show to start. And then, when the venue went completely dark at 8:13 and, above the screaming, all you heard was Springsteen counting down, about to burst into the title track, and it sent me a place I hadn’t been before.

From that point on I was hooked. Springsteen played seven nights in L.A., and I went to all seven shows. On the second leg of that tour, he played the cavernous Los Angeles Coliseum and I was front row, dead center. By that point, the album, tour and even his own persona had taken on industrial-strength proportions.

A staggering seven singles were released from “Born in the USA,” including “Dancing in the Dark” (yes, that’s Courtney Cox dancing with him in the video), “I’m on Fire” and concert fave “Glory Days.”

His energy on stage had no bounds. He’d play a 90-minute first set, an hourlong second set and then three encores, closing out around midnight. The set list changed every night but you could be assured of the staples, songs that had more resonance that others, that, as Springsteen liked to say, “made you glad you‘re alive”: “Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “The Promised Land,” “Rosalita” and the traditional closer, the “Detroit Medley.”

Change is good
When Springsteen hits the road for the upcoming “Magic” tour, I certainly don’t expect to hear those same songs in concert that I heard over 20 years ago. That’s OK as I’ve been to over 100 shows and I’ve pretty much heard everything. He’s added a lot to the canon since those days — and grown up as a musician and family man. He once said he’d never be able to write songs about being a father, but he has, and, whether he’s liked it or not, has taken on the role of Everyman, commenting on the American experience.

Look no further than Sept. 11, when he watched the Twin Towers fall from across the Hudson River. From that he came up with “The Rising,” in which he delivered the album’s powerful message of agony, sorrow, redemption and joy.

While Springsteen will forever be connected with the E Street Band, their association in the last 20 years or so has been tenuous at best. From 1973’s “Greetings at Asbury Park, N.J.” to “Tunnel of Love” in 1987, he and the band were inseparable, but Springsteen has taken a more solo route since then, offering up material that seemed better suited for an acoustic guitar than a full-band treatment. Understandable? Absolutely. He deserves to present his material in any way he seems fit.

But that’s what makes both the upcoming “Magic” album and tour such a joy. It’s the Big Man (and, at 65, a much older Clarence Clemons) back on sax again, Professor Roy Bittan tinkling the piano, Little Steven Van Zandt (aka Silvio Dante from “The Sopranos”) strumming guitar and sharing a mic during “Two Hearts,” and all the other E Streeters returning to deliver the goods again. Back in the day, we used to take the band’s contributions for granted. Now, longtime fans treasure every show, every song.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, traveling around the country to see a Springsteen show was always de rigueur, never even given second thought. Jersey shows, Philly shows, maybe a stop in Texas, or Boston, or D.C., or even somewhere in the heartland was something that wasn’t discussed so much as implied. Of course, these days — with jobs, families, bills to pay — road trips are a bit tougher, though certainly not impossible.

At 58 years old, it’s hard difficult to say how much longer Springsteen will be able to play these marathon concerts. And though he said a “farewell tour” now or later is out of the question, one needn’t be a mathematician to figure out that, with the band getting older as well, there will be fewer and fewer tours to come.

So, to repeat what the late, great American songwriter Warren Zevon said when asked what advise he would give just before he passed away a few years back, he said, simply, “Enjoy every sandwich.”

Relish in the revelry of “Cadillac Ranch,” in the quiet pleasures of “If I Should Fall Behind,” in the communal nature of “10th Avenue Freezeout.”

And know that more magic is on the way.

Stuart Levine

By Chris Dolmetsch

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Poor Tillie.

A two-story cartoon-faced mural, Tillie once lorded over Asbury Park from the side of the Palace Amusements building near the New Jersey shore town's boardwalk. Today, he sits in a plywood box outside the city's sewage plant, the paint peeling on a clownish smile once aglow in neon light.

When the Palace -- immortalized in song by New Jersey's Bruce Springsteen -- faced a redeveloper's wrecking ball 10 years ago, the rocker's fans rallied to Tillie's rescue.

``Save Tillie,'' a group first formed to restore the building, raised $70,000 -- some from Springsteen himself --and collected thousands of signatures urging officials to preserve Tillie and two other murals, of women in bumper cars.

Before the cinderblock building was demolished in May 2004, volunteers helped cut out the murals and bolt them to steel frames. Sixteen feet high and 10 feet wide, Tillie's 14-ton face was lifted out by crane.

Thanks to the fans, a redevelopment permit required that the murals be preserved in sheds built to conservator specifications until they could be put on public display.

Two sheds, designed by New York-based conservator Paul Himmelstein, were built but remain empty. Himmelstein said in a 2005 report that the wastewater-plant boxes weren't protecting the murals from rust stains, mold and ``physical damage from blows to the outside.''

Boardwalk Life

Those conditions remain, and Springsteen fans feel betrayed. So they again are rallying, gathering more than 2,300 signatures on a petition calling for the city and Governor Jon Corzineto enforce the preservation requirement. The Asbury Park Press backed their efforts with an Aug. 18 editorial.

``The Palace and Tillie and the murals in many ways have become the icons of Asbury Park,'' said Bob Crane, Save Tillie's president. ``Every time people were driving by the Palace, they were stopping to take pictures.''

The joint venture behind Asbury Park's redevelopment effort ``recognizes the iconic significance'' of Tillie, said Courtney Johnson, a spokeswoman for Washington-based Madison Marquette, one of its partners. ``Respecting the past and looking to create something incredible for the future, we are making decisions on each item as things progress,'' she said in an e-mail. ``We will continue to work with the community to determine the best course of action for Tillie.''

Coney Island Roots

The Palace, an arcade of rides and games, was built in 1888. The murals were painted in 1956 by sign designer Leslie Thomas. He based Tillie on an image at the entrance to Steeplechase Park on New York's Coney Island and named it after its founder, George Tilyou.

As tourists abandoned Asbury Park, the city fell into disrepair. The Palace closed in November 1988 and sat vacant until its demolition and Tillie's relocation.

``The murals need to be moved,'' said Don Sammet, Asbury Park's planning director. ``There are trucks going in and out of that facility there, and there is construction going on. We don't want them to be damaged.''

Springsteen, 58, has used Palace images on T-shirts, calendars and videos. ``Tunnel of Love'' was named for one of its rides. On ``Born to Run,'' he invokes Tillie's former home when singing of wanting to escape:

``Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard

``The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors

``And the boys try to look so hard

``The amusement park rises bold and stark

``Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist

``I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight

``In an everlasting kiss''

`The Sopranos'

A Springsteen publicity photo from 1973 -- the year he released his debut album, ``Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey'' -- features Tillie. Since then, the mural has appeared in ``The Sopranos'' TV show and in the Robert De Niro movie ``City by the Sea.''

Tillie's face today is ubiquitous in Asbury Park. A replica is painted on the outside of the Wonder Bar, the saloon where Springsteen saxophonist Clarence Clemons played the night they met. Vendors sell Tillie T-shirts, mugs, magnets, rugs and clocks.

``I was kind of afraid I would never see it again,'' said Matthew Gerony, 24, co-owner of a boardwalk T-shirt shop. ``I hope they put it on the biggest pedestal ever.''

Saving Asbury Park

Kate Mellina, who helped negotiate the redevelopment agreement when she was on the City Council, credits Tillie with helping save Asbury Park itself.

``You see how much Tillie's done for the economy,'' she said. ``And you wonder why the hell these guys aren't doing anything to protect it.''

Asbury Park redevelopment efforts have undergone fits and starts for years, and much of it remains run down. Asbury Partners -- a joint venture of New York-based MD Sass Investors Services Inc. and Ocean Front Acquisitions LLC -- was granted the redevelopment permit in March 2004.

In 2006, Asbury Partners teamed with Madison Marquette. Since then, they have spruced up the boardwalk and its 1930s-era Paramount Theater and adjacent 3,600-seat Convention Hall, where Springsteen rehearses before tours and performs benefits.

Springsteen has donated proceeds from six shows to Save Tillie, said Crane, 65, who wouldn't disclose the total. The musician declined to comment on Tillie's fate through a publicist. For You

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Glory Days" are here again for Bruce Springsteen, whose upcoming tour could make him the biggest touring artist of the year in North America.

Springsteen and his E Street Band, who kick off the second leg of their North American tour in New Jersey on Sunday, will vie for the crown with fellow Garden State rockers Bon Jovi and country singer Kenny Chesney, according to Pollstar magazine.

Each artist should end the year with ticket sales of about $70 million (35 million pounds), said Gary Bongiovanni, the editor of the Fresno, Calif.-based trade publication.

That's a modest sum by past standards. The Police were tops last year with $132 million, while the Rolling Stones led the field in 2006 with $138.5 million and in 2005 with a record $162 million. Springsteen won the 2003 derby with $116 million.

The last time a year's top touring act earned less than $70 million was in 1999 when the Rolling Stones grossed $65 million from a relatively brief arena tour.

"The economy's got to be affecting everything," Bongiovanni said in an interview.

The credit crunch and higher fuel prices are keeping fans at home. Concert promoters have responded by cutting prices of their cheap seats, while many rockers are seeking economies of scale by playing bigger markets.

At the half-year mark, Bon Jovi led with $56.3 million, followed by Springsteen with $40.8 million, Van Halen with $36.8 million, and Chesney with $35.3 million, Pollstar said.

Springsteen's tour begins with three dates at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The last time he played the football field, five years ago, he grossed $39 million from 10 concerts. His top ticket price is now about 20 percent higher at $95. The quick monthlong jaunt, a follow-up to a two-month arena trek earlier this year, sticks largely on the eastern United States. Last year, he grossed $38 million in North America, No. 14 on Pollstar's list.

Pollstar is still crunching data for Bon Jovi's tour, which finished earlier this month with a pair of shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. Chesney -- the No. 2 act last year with $71 million-- is on the road through August 23. Van Halen, whose 2007 tour ranked No. 5 with $57 million, wrapped their trek in early June. For You

One of those real special nights

Posted by Stan Goldstein May 08, 2008

Wednesday night's benefit show for the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, was one of those real special Bruce Springsteen performances, one that will go down in the history books as a great, great show.
For the first time, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed a whole album from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album.
But it wasn't just one album, it was two. Fans were treated to the entire "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album, then the entire "Born To Run" album. To cap off the night, Bruce played four fun, fun encores.
Before the show started, Patti Scialfa came out to talk to the audience. She said she goes back more than 25 years with the Count Basie Theatre. She told the crowd that she grew up in Deal, just north of Asbury Park and the movie theater she remembers was the Mayfair Theater in Asbury Park. "It was so beautiful. It has this arched ceiling with the stars and the sky. And they had little love seats in the balcony that everyone got their first kiss in. Not me though!," said Scialfa.
She said how it was so sad when the tore down the Mayfair in the early 1970s and she wants to make sure what happened to the Mayfair Theater doesn't happen to the Count Basie.
Scialfa then introduced Brian Williams of NBC News. Williams, a native of Middletown and a graduate of Mater Dei High School, said he goes way back with the Jersey Shore, to the Stone Pony and to the Tradewinds. Said he spent many a night seeing the band Fresh and hitting those places after hearing rumors that Bruce might show up and play.
He talked up Jack's Music Shoppe in Red Bank, as "they sold more rolling papers than records in the 1970s."
Williams said: "I've been all over the world and there's no better place to be than right here."
Williams then introduced Bruce who came on at 8:39 p.m.
"Good evening" Bruce said to the packed house. He said: "We're going to do something different tonight. We're going to take the Darkness and Born To Run albums and play them in sequence for you.
"So that should be interesting."
Bruce said he was going to play the Darkness album first, so "we don't send you home suicidal."
He talked about writing the Darkness album. How in 1977 he was livining in a house on farm in Holmdel and it was a tough period in his life. "
When the band broke into "Badlands" the first song from the album, things were a bit messed up and Bruce said: "We ******* it up already."
The setlist:

1. Badlands
2. Adam Raised A Cain
3. Something In The Night
4. Candy's Room
5. Racing In The Street
6. The Promised Land
7. Factory
8. Streets Of Fire
9. Prove It All Night
10. Darkness On The Edge Of Town

They took a 15-minute break and came back to play the "Born To Run" album.
Bruce talked about how it took him six months to write and record the song "Born To Run" and another six months to finish the rest of the album. He said it was make or break time for the band, as they were in danger of being dropped from Columbia Records.

.

11. Thunder Road
12. Tenth Ave Freezeout
They brought out a four-pience horn section for the song. Mark Pender, La Bamba, Jerry Vivino and Ed Manion played.
Bruce jumped into the crowd during the song. He jumped off the front of the stage in front of Little Steven, then walked over, past N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine, to the left side and jumped up on seats. As the crowd swarmed him, they lifted him up a bit. It was like a 1976 show again!

13. Night
14. Backstreets
15. Born To Run
16. She's The One
17. Meeting Across The River
Beautiful trumpet on this song by Mark Pender.

18. Jungleland

Encores:
19. So Young And In Love
Bruce had a lot of fun in this. He told the band to remind him that there was an instrumental part in there some where.

20 Kitty's Back
All the horn players did solos.
21. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
22. Raise Your Hand

Show ended at 11:14 p.m.

Bruce also jumped up on Roy Bittan's piano several times and did some dancing up there.
Bruce didn't talk between songs, he just right into one song after another.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was sitting in the front row, just off center. He left during the start of the encores.
Great show, great night. One of my top Bruce Springsteen shows of all time.
To see Bruce in a 1,500-seat theater at this stage of his career is phenomenal.
A very special night. For You A New Bruce Springsteen Book.

 Growin' Up
By  BILL MARTIN

On the evening of November 7, 1974, while wandering the mean streets of Rockdale as we were apt to do, my partner-in-crime Danny Randall and I were kidnapped by a bunch of older guys and driven to Austin to go to the Armadillo World Headquarters and were told that we were going to see something called Bruce Springsteen.
 One of the kidnappers in question was Bobby Moore who recently became a, gulp, grandfather.
 The trip accomplished two things. One, it probably kept Danny and I from getting into some kind of mischief, which we were also apt to do. And two, it changed my life forever. At least my musical life.
 Fast forward ahead to two Sundays ago when I saw Bruce Springsteen for the 17th time in my life.
 Oh things have changed for sure. The first time I saw him at the legendary Armadillo, it cost $2 to sit on the cement floor. I remember the outrage the next time we saw him about a year later and tickets had soared to $4.50.
 A couple of weekends ago, we happily shelled out $150 per ducat to see “The Boss.”
 So you ask what inspires such loyalty in a rock-and-roll singer? Well, conversely, his inspiration and loyalty to us for nearly 35 years.
 Bruce was a departure from the normal fare that we were dialing up on the radio and 8-track players as teenagers.
 KISS, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Montrose, Aerosmith and Rush were more to our adolescent liking. When Bruce sang about the angst of being a teenager, it was from a poet’s perspective.
 He sang about trying to get the girl like his rock-and-roll peers, but he also sang of the pain and consequences of getting her or even what it was like to fail to get the girl.
 When he sang “when they said sit down, I stood up” or “when they said pull down, I pulled up” in “Growing Up”, we knew exactly what he was talking about.
 After that first show, in which he played until his hands bled, Bruce became an obsession for those of us who a day earlier had never heard of him.
 Eight-track players all over town were filled with “E Street Shuffle” and “Greetings From Asbury Park” and little else.
 His stories about the characters in his songs mesmerized us and were as memorable as the songs he serenaded us with.
 He was from a small town too—Freehold, New Jersey—and he could relate. So could we.
 Sadly, he no longer shares those stories with us.
 And no longer does he perform the marathon four and five hour shows that earned him his audience in the first place.
 The Dallas show was an economical 2 hours and 20 minutes with just one encore.
 
Encore, encore
 It was almost a year to the day—November 12, 1975— of the Armadillo show that we were able to see him again.
 “Born to Run” had just hit the stores. He was featured on the cover of both Newsweek and Time magazines.
 The “future of rock and roll” was having a coming out party.
 To perfectly illustrate the hold he had on us, there were about a dozen or so of us who missed the Rockdale-Cameron football game that Friday night to see Bruce at Municipal Auditorium in Austin.
 Most people consider that particular Tiger-Yoeman clash as the best in the history of the Battle of the Bell.
 I’ve got to be honest, if I had to do it all over again, I would go to the game and watch my friends play.
 The pull was too strong.
 Whenever he swung through Texas, we followed him around like cultists which to a certain degree is a true description, because his shows could be a religious experience.
 We would see him three or four times, following him wherever he plays. Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio.
 If he played four nights in a row, we were there.
 Just getting a ticket to a show could be quite a chore.
 We once spent the night outside the Erwin Center in Austin waiting in line to get tickets for a 1980 show.
 At about four in the morning, someone jumped up and yelled, “the ticket booths are open” and everyone rushed to the front.
 Of course the tickets booths weren’t open, it was four in the morning, but we had to stand there crammed against each other for hours.
 The Bruce caravan has diminished some in recent years. First, he just doesn’t tour that much and his Lone Star state shows have been trimmed to just one or two.
 And then there’s those pesky responsibilities we’re all forced to deal with. Jobs, kids.
 There was still an impressive group from Rockdale or former Rockdalians that attended the Dallas and Houston shows.
 Along with the ex-cheerleader and myself, Carol Naul scored our tickets for us and set next to us at the show at the American Airlines Center.
 She also sat next to a cute 26-year old guy who was there by himself and knew every word to every song. It made us feel good that another generation was digging the vibe.
 Waylon and Valerie Allen made it a family affair with kids Erika, Blake and Paige in tow. Erika’s husband Landon was seeing Bruce for the first time. Welcome to the family!
 At the Houston show, Randy and Patti Morgan (who’s kids have gone to Bruce shows in the past) chauffeured Big Al and Cathy Johnston down the road where they hooked up with Miller and Kathie Bassler and Waylon and Valerie again, this time sans kids.
 It was Al and Cathy’s first appearance at a Bruce show.

Leave ‘em wanting more
 No matter how good he is in concert, everyone leaves a little disappointed because there’s that one song everybody wants to hear that somehow doesn’t make it onto the playlist that night.
 For instance, he had been playing the concert classics “Rosalita” and “Kitty’s Back” on this current tour, which had been missing in action for decades.
 While he whipped out the poignant and seldom heard “Meeting Across The River” and the sprawling epic “Independence Day” for the first and only time in Dallas, somehow, it didn’t make up for the absence of the old gals Kitty and Rosie who did not come out that night.
 Not even the surprise appearance of fellow New Jersey-ite Jon Bon Jovi on “Glory Days” took away the pain.
 Irritatingly, he played “Rosalita” the next night in Houston.
 That’s part of the genius and generosity of Bruce. He makes every audience feel like every show is special and for the most part it is.
 On this tour, his setlist is a smorgasbord of songs from past and present that can appear at a moments notice. There was a little too much of the present, most of his audience would say I’m guessing.
 With all due respect, when he chose selections off the new album “Magic”, that’s when most people headed for the beer window or the bathroom.
 That goes back to the disappointment I referred to before.
 You’re thinking, he could just as easily have played “Fever” instead of that.
 His voice was as good as I have ever heard it and the tunes from his over-produced new album presents many vocal challenges for the arena rocker.
 And the fact that he is 58 years old now didn’t stop him from running, leaping and jumping all over the stage.
 He also spoke of his family life, now the father of three teenagers and what he left behind.
 “There were black helicopters hovering over my house ready to drop beer, the pot cookies were coming out of the oven and all my favorite clothes were up for sale on e-bay.”
 Who knows if he will ever tour again, but if he does, we’ll probably all load up the grandkids and head on down the highway, because as you know, tramps like us, baby we were born to run... For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans