On meeting childhood heros

You know how they say you should never meet your childhood heros when you're all grown up because they will disappoint? They have a point. Except, that is, if you're hero is Bruce Springsteen. In which case that theory is utter bollocks.

I fell in love with Bruce Springsteen in 1985, lying on my tummy on my aunt and uncle's bed, watching MTV on their telly in the bedroom (what a luxury, a telly in the bedroom!). We didn't have cable then, so watching MTV on a TV in a bedroom was the height of sophistication for me. And there he was. Bruce. In all his glory. I'm pretty sure my knowledge of English was pretty non-existent then, so I can't have known what 'Dancing in the Dark' was all about but that didn't matter at all. The first ever CD I bought was the Live 1975-1985 box set (80 guilders, which was a lot of money then for me), and I would listen to it on our family stereo (I didn't have my own CD player then) with these huge headphones on. Later on, I traced him back to his first albums and loved him even more. But always from a distance. It never occurred to me I could actually go and see him, live, doing a concert. Until this past xmas then all of a sudden I realised this is one childhood dream I can make come true.

So this past Wednesday, I boarded a plane, went to Amsterdam and saw the Boss in action. And boy, was it good. I didn't want the night to end or Bruce & the E Street band to stop playing. He was awesome. You could tell he was having a great time and he worked his butt off to give us a good time too. The whole band did. Better than I could have imagined. Here's to childhood dreams and making 'em come true.

Comments

[Jeff D]

You have one on me now. I still haven't seen Bruce in person yet. Glad you got to experience him live.

There is a version of Thunder Road that (I think) is on that boxed set that literally cured my homesickness in Japan. Just Bruce, a piano and maybe a xylophone in what sounds like a small club in Jersey. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to sit in that crowd and hear them play that night. You had to have known you were seeing and hearing something magical.

[Natasja]

Oh Jeff, that is one of my favourite songs too! And in particular that version. Makes my neckhair stand up straight every time I hear it. What can I say Jeff, great minds think alike :-)

[Jeff D]

Hehe...we're brilliant!

Another thing you should try to dig up is when Bruce was on VH1's Storytellers. It's essentially him with a guitar or piano, playing a bunch of great songs and talking about them, how he wrote them, what he was thinking...just a great, great show. Here is an Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Springsteen-Storytellers-Sean-Ashby/dp/B000AMWJ16

Plus I dug up the old Bruce post I made when I was in Asia. You can decide on its poignancy or lack thereof.

http://jeffandpam.blogspot.com/2006/09/poets-and-storytellers.html