An Accident, A Reunion & A Concert
This has been an eventful few days, so I thought I'd write about them. First and foremost, this weekend I learned that a childhood friend of mine, Jake, had a terrible accident on his skateboard and is in a medically-induced coma. As of this writing the swelling in his brain has gone down, which gives me hope, but he's still in critical condition. I can only imagine how devastating this has been to his family, especially his twin brother Sam. I really hope he recovers, not just because I don't want to lose another friend but because I don't want his family to have to endure such a tragedy. The doctors are planning on waking him in a few days, so we'll see what the outcome is.
On the lighter side of things, Sarah came to visit this weekend and provided a welcome respite from the news. Her visit also gave me a reason to not do any work, which I greatly appreciated. We did what we usually do - watch trashy TV while intoxicated, read "Sweet Valley High" books and mocked them, drove around town, went to Bog Garden, ate at TGI Friday's and did other assorted activities. My suitemate Jeffery occasionally joined in the reverie as well. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend.
On Monday came the event I'd been looking forward to for months - the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Greensboro Coliseum. This was the second North American leg of his "Magic" tour with the E Street Band. I'd gone to see him with my mom and her entourage of Bruce fans in November in Washington D.C. because that leg of the tour didn't have any North Carolina dates on it. However, when we discovered he would in fact be coming to N.C. we didn't hesitate in picking up tickets. This time my mom opted for seats instead of standing on the floor, so we didn't have to worry about standing in line for hours waiting for wristbands as we had done in D.C.
Despite the fact that a Bruce concert is one of the most fun events imaginable, an air of gloom hung over us as we went to the Coliseum. One of Mom's friends and an avid Bruce devotee is Jake's mother, so she opted not to attend. In addition, Bruce's longtime keyboardist Danny Federici had recently passed away from melanoma, so we expected a more melancholy performance from the band. Unsurprisingly, the concert began with a moving video tribute to Federici, accompanied by the song "Blood Brothers." After that the E Street Band took the stage. Luckily for us, there was nothing melancholy in their performance.
The show blew away the one we had seen in D.C. Everyone in the band was in high spirits, blasting through the setlist with vigor. Bruce even displayed some of the acrobatics that he seemed to have largely abandoned as he grew older - sliding down the stage, hanging from microphone stands and jumping on top of speakers. The concert also boasted some searing guitar solos from guitar players Nils Lofgren and Steve Van Zandt (a guitar duel between Van Zandt and Bruce in "Gypsy Biker" was a highlight of the concert). There was also some spontaneity when Bruce took a banner from an audience member that requested the song "Waitin' On A Sunny Day" and then had the band play it; during the last chord he autographed the banner and gave it back to the fan (my mom whispered in my ear that the fan was unworthy). The concert got better and better as it went, and the encores were explosive. The audience loved "Born To Run," one of Bruce's most famous songs but one that I've never really liked. "Ramrod" was a true showstopper, with fiery solos and some very amusing strutting from saxophonist Clarence Clemons. The show ended with "American Land," a hard-stomping folk song Bruce wrote for his Seeger Sessions tour (the keyboardist from that tour has replaced Federici). All in all, it was a magnificent show, exactly what we needed to boost our spirits. It had that spark that has made E Street Band shows so legendary, a spark that was largely missing from the D.C. show.
All I have to look forward to now is schoolwork and exams, then the beginning of summer and the job(s) that go along with it. If anything happens I'll be sure to write about it. Below is the setlist from the Springsteen concert.
01. Roulette*
02. Don't Look Back*
03. Radio Nowhere
04. Out In The Street
05. The Promised Land
06. Magic
07. Gypsy Biker
08. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
09. Trapped
10. Because The Night
11. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
12. She's The One
13. Livin' In The Future
14. Mary's Place*
15. Waitin' On A Sunny Day
16. Devil's Arcade
17. The Rising
18. Last To Die
19. Long Walk Home
20. Badlands
(encores)
21. Backstreets
22. Bobby Jean
23. Born To Run
24. Ramrod
25. American Land
*Tour premiere.
On the lighter side of things, Sarah came to visit this weekend and provided a welcome respite from the news. Her visit also gave me a reason to not do any work, which I greatly appreciated. We did what we usually do - watch trashy TV while intoxicated, read "Sweet Valley High" books and mocked them, drove around town, went to Bog Garden, ate at TGI Friday's and did other assorted activities. My suitemate Jeffery occasionally joined in the reverie as well. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend.
On Monday came the event I'd been looking forward to for months - the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Greensboro Coliseum. This was the second North American leg of his "Magic" tour with the E Street Band. I'd gone to see him with my mom and her entourage of Bruce fans in November in Washington D.C. because that leg of the tour didn't have any North Carolina dates on it. However, when we discovered he would in fact be coming to N.C. we didn't hesitate in picking up tickets. This time my mom opted for seats instead of standing on the floor, so we didn't have to worry about standing in line for hours waiting for wristbands as we had done in D.C.
Despite the fact that a Bruce concert is one of the most fun events imaginable, an air of gloom hung over us as we went to the Coliseum. One of Mom's friends and an avid Bruce devotee is Jake's mother, so she opted not to attend. In addition, Bruce's longtime keyboardist Danny Federici had recently passed away from melanoma, so we expected a more melancholy performance from the band. Unsurprisingly, the concert began with a moving video tribute to Federici, accompanied by the song "Blood Brothers." After that the E Street Band took the stage. Luckily for us, there was nothing melancholy in their performance.
The show blew away the one we had seen in D.C. Everyone in the band was in high spirits, blasting through the setlist with vigor. Bruce even displayed some of the acrobatics that he seemed to have largely abandoned as he grew older - sliding down the stage, hanging from microphone stands and jumping on top of speakers. The concert also boasted some searing guitar solos from guitar players Nils Lofgren and Steve Van Zandt (a guitar duel between Van Zandt and Bruce in "Gypsy Biker" was a highlight of the concert). There was also some spontaneity when Bruce took a banner from an audience member that requested the song "Waitin' On A Sunny Day" and then had the band play it; during the last chord he autographed the banner and gave it back to the fan (my mom whispered in my ear that the fan was unworthy). The concert got better and better as it went, and the encores were explosive. The audience loved "Born To Run," one of Bruce's most famous songs but one that I've never really liked. "Ramrod" was a true showstopper, with fiery solos and some very amusing strutting from saxophonist Clarence Clemons. The show ended with "American Land," a hard-stomping folk song Bruce wrote for his Seeger Sessions tour (the keyboardist from that tour has replaced Federici). All in all, it was a magnificent show, exactly what we needed to boost our spirits. It had that spark that has made E Street Band shows so legendary, a spark that was largely missing from the D.C. show.
All I have to look forward to now is schoolwork and exams, then the beginning of summer and the job(s) that go along with it. If anything happens I'll be sure to write about it. Below is the setlist from the Springsteen concert.
01. Roulette*
02. Don't Look Back*
03. Radio Nowhere
04. Out In The Street
05. The Promised Land
06. Magic
07. Gypsy Biker
08. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
09. Trapped
10. Because The Night
11. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
12. She's The One
13. Livin' In The Future
14. Mary's Place*
15. Waitin' On A Sunny Day
16. Devil's Arcade
17. The Rising
18. Last To Die
19. Long Walk Home
20. Badlands
(encores)
21. Backstreets
22. Bobby Jean
23. Born To Run
24. Ramrod
25. American Land
*Tour premiere.