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Readers share Springsteen stories
In the American music industry, there are two separate, yet equally important groups: Bruce, who puts out the music; and his fans, who obsessively pledge their devotion. These are their stories … and if you have stories of your own, by all means share them here. Many thanks to Laura Dempsey who compiled this information!
Jill Johnson, 41, Fairborn: It was October 1985, and I was just settling in at my first assignment at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base in Colorado. I was 18, very shy and awkward, worked in a maintenance shop with all men, and didn’t have many friends. I was, however, a HUGE Bruce fan, having fallen in love with “Born To Run” while in high school. I lived in the dorms on Peterson AFB, and the talk of the dorms was everyone going to the “BRUCE” concert in Denver. I remember feeling really bummed, because I didn’t have tickets to go, or anyone to go with. The night before the “Born in the USA” tour came to Denver, my coworker Burt called me, and said those magic words, “I have an extra ticket to go see Bruce, you wanna go with us?” WHOO HOOO! Did I ever! Six of us (five guys and me) piled in his 1970’s era Chevy Nova, and drove the hour north to Denver. We had seats right on the field, although they were kind of far back. A cold front moved in right as the concert started, and it sleeted on us for the entire concert. My hair was plastered to my head, and my makeup ran down my face, but I didn’t care because I was there experiencing the best concert ever. Afterwards, these guys weren’t strangers anymore, they were my friends. That broke the ice, and never again did I feel left out. GOOD TIMES!
Karen Button, 48, Springboro: I grew up on the south Jersey shore three miles downbeach from Atlantic City. I went to college at Rutgers in New Brunswick. Bruce was always playing on the radio, in the dorm rooms, bars, etc. I always liked Bruce, but I didn’t fall in love with him until after I moved to Indiana. I didn’t hear much of the boss on the radio while living in the Midwest (Indiana and Ohio). Every time I heard him it made me nostalgic for my “Jersey Days”! One of my favorite concerts was the “Seeger Sessions” concert in Columbus. I love how versatile he has become with his music. He is a great musician. I went to one of his concerts several years ago in Indianapolis and have been to each of the last three concerts in Ohio. My absolute favorite song is “Thunder Road.” I have never heard it in concert and I would love to hear it. I know how important it is to play new stuff at concerts and I appreciate that, but I can’t imagine anything better than to hear the Boss and the E Street Band banging out my favorite song! Maybe I’ll get to hear it at this concert! My husband and I will be going to the US Bank Arena on Saturday, March 22. Can’t wait.
Read more Brooooooce!!!! stories here or share your own …
Suzanne (and Ron) Valle, both 50 (she’ll be 51 Saturday March 22!), Centerville: My husband and I are HUGE Bruce fans. I have seen Bruce in concert 41 times and my husband about 36 times. We saw Bruce three times in November 2007 alone: Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh.
My husband and I met because of Bruce. We were a blind date in college (Purdue), fixed up by a mutual friend because we were both big Springsteen fans. We’ve been married over 26 years.
I’ve been a big fan of Bruce since 1976; my husband since 1975 or earlier. My husband is from Long Island, so he had heard of Bruce before I did.
My first Bruce concert was Sept. 9, 1978, at Notre Dame. I got to interview Bruce for “The Purdue Exponent” after the show. I got 10 minutes with him. I still have a copy of the article I wrote. I was actually able to give him a copy of the article in person a few months later.
My husband’s first Bruce show was February 1977 at Purdue.
Bruce’s music has touched me like no other artist. His music carried me through a very difficult time in my life in 1977-78. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like had it not been for his music.
I really can’t pinpoint a favorite song or album of his. That list literally changes by the day. My top three albums are: “Born to Run,” “Tunnel of Love” and “The Rising.” My favorite Bruce songs run the gamut from “Backstreets” to “Incident on 57th Street” to “She’s the One” to “Prove It All Night” to “The Rising” to “Human Touch.” I’d say that’s my list today!
I have my concert stubs from most of my 41 shows. Some of them are autographed by Bruce. My “Born to Run” album cover was autographed by Bruce in 1978 and is framed. In fact, my husband and I have quite a bit of Bruce memorabilia. Guitar pick, hand written setlists (most current is Pittsburgh 2007), autographs, vintage posters from 1976 on (a few are framed), both copies of the 1975 “Time” and “Newsweek” magazines when he appeared on the covers, autographed CD cover, etc. I know there’s more.
I also have every E Street Band member’s autograph except Danny.
I have actually met and talked to Bruce about six times over the years. I’ve had my picture taken with him about four times, but only one picture has come out. That was in November 2002 and I treasure it. I also have pics of me with Patti, Nils and Garry.
On our 25th wedding anniversary in 2006, Bruce played in Columbus, Ohio. The next night he played in Indianapolis and we were there as well. We were down front both nights, but front and center for Indy. I held up a small sign requesting a song for our anniversary, but not until toward the end. After the show was over, he came down to the edge of the stage and knelt down and asked to see my sign. I showed him and he wished us Happy Anniversary and blew us a kiss!
My husband and I have endured the most awful seats for Bruce concerts, but have been very lucky to be down front or very close to the front since 2002 when he started doing general admission.
Last March, we even made the trek to Asbury Park, New Jersey, and saw a lot of Bruce haunts.
Are we going to the Cincy, Columbus and Indy shows in March? Of course! Cincy is my birthday!
We have met so many nice Bruce fans over the years who’ve become very good friends, though none are from the Dayton area. We stay at each others houses “on the road” and share hotel rooms and stand in line for days with each other.
My husband takes photos at rock concerts as a hobby. He has had five pictures of Bruce published in “Backstreets” magazine — their Silver Anniversary issue to be exact. We have a ton of really good shots of Bruce in concert.
Julie Wheeler, 49, Franklin: I grew up in Northeast Ohio. In the seventies when I was a teenager, the weekend was kick-started by Murray Saul on the radio station WMMS with his Friday “GET Down.” Immediately following the Get Down was Springsteens’s “Born to Run “ and we would all get very excited for our weekend. We would all count out the 1,2,3,4, breakdown: “ONE TWO THREE FOUR! The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive!!!!!” I thought it was so cool. I saw Bruce in Cincy at Riverfront Aug. 14, 1981 .. 26 years ago???? Wow! How old is Bruce?
Bob Dellaposta, 47, Middletown: In the summers of ‘78 & ‘79, my friends Larry Hollon, Steve Shupert and I spent many of summer nights driving around all night “Hiding on the Backstreets” sometimes “Racin in the Steet” trying to “Prove it all Night” because “Tramps like us, baby we were Born to Run.” So when the BOSS returned to Cincinnati (Riverfront Coliseum) in Oct. of 1980, we had to be there.
We didn’t just have to be there, we had to have the best seats possible. So, the night before tickets went on sale, we camped out all night at the Sears store located in the Towne Mall in Middletown (Sears was the Ticketron back in the day). Remember back then, Springsteen shows sold out in just a few hours, and this one was no exception. By morning, there was a line nearly a mile long. However, we were able to secure tickets for the floor (row U — 21 rows back).
There was some controversy prior to the show. Again, remember, The Who tragedy had just happened in December 1979. This show was reserved seating, not festival seating, which is what Springsteen fans were used to. Springsteen fans wanted to get on the floor, but they were not going to be allowed unless they had a ticket to do so. (Side note: Springsteen was the artist that did return festival seating to the Coliseum some 20 years later.)
On the night of the big show, we of course got there early. We located our seats on the floor and everyone on the floor was standing, long before the show ever started. I got this big idea that I could get some extra folks onto the floor. My friends gave me their tickets, and I went and found my cousin Joe and his wife Marion who were way up top somewhere. I gave them my friends’ tickets and the three of us were able to get on the floor, no problems. Of course, there was a problem when we tried to squeeze a couple extra people into Row U.
Even though everyone was standing, it was still a little tight with two extra people in the aisle. Finally, someone complained to security and here they came. They wanted to see our tickets and verify that we belonged on the floor. We gladly flashed our tickets and as security checked each individual person for their ticket, we simply passed our tickets around behind our backs, so that anytime the security guy checked us, we had a ticket. He checked us out two or three times and never could figure out what we were doing. He finally gave up by saying, “Something ain’t right, I don’t know what it is, but something ain’t right”. By this time the show was starting, so they decided to let us go.
Springsteen opened with “Prove it all Night” right into “Badlands” into “Tenth Ave. Freezeout” before pausing to dedicate “Darkness on the Edge of Town” to Mohammed Ali who had lost a fight the night before. The set continued with “Point Blank,” “Because the Night,” “Out on the Street,” “The River,” “The Ties that Bind,” “Thunder Road” and finally ending with “Rosalita,” by which time we headed for the front of the stage. Security came chasing after us again, but we squeezed in up front, just like ole’ times (the days of festival seating), and back then, security just wasn’t going to try and battle the crowd, it wasn’t worth the fight. Of course, it would be just the opposite today. Anyway, the encores were “Jungleland,” “Born to Run,” finishing with the “Devil in a Blue Dress Medley.”
Wow!!!!! BROOOOOOCCCCEEEE!!!!!
After the show, one of the stage people tossed one of the boss’ harmonicas across the stage and into the crowd. The crowd jumped to the floor trying to find it. I looked at my friend Earl, who had a big
smile on his face. I said, “You caught that, didn’t you,” and with a big grin, he answered, “Yes”. Everyone else was still looking for the darn thing.
Anyway, it was a great night, a great concert, a true story. By the way, the cost of the ticket for the floor? $9.50.
Jim Justice, Hamilton: I have multitudes of great Bruce stories and memories, but the pinnacle of memories came in December of 2006 when I got the opportunity to sit down with Bruce for an interview in Sayreville, New Jersey, that we conducted for a documentary film we just recently completed about Pittsburgh musician Joe Grushecky. Diehard Bruce fans will know who Joe Grushecky is due to the fact that he is the only person outside of the E Street Band to have co-written with Bruce and one of the very few to continually be invited to perform and share the stage with him. However, the interview was preceded by a once in a lifetime, almost personal, acoustic performance by the man himself. As we were preparing for the interview, Bruce was preparing the setlist for that night’s performance at The Light Of Day benefit concert. (Bruce has been known to attend this annual concert that benefits research for Parkinson’s disease, and he usually shares the stage with his good friend and frequent collaborator, Joe Grushecky. Although he is never listed on the bill, the New Jersey crowd has grown accustomed to Bruce making his recurring “surprise” visits). After Joe had introduced me to Bruce, they (Joe and his band, The Houserockers, with Bruce on acoustic), proceeded to work through the songs that they were going to play that. Here I am, standing in this small 12-by-12 room with Bruce, listening to Bruce’s acoustic versions of “Johnny 99,” “Atlantic City,” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” Incredible! You can check out more about the documentary and view the teaser trailer (which includes a snippet from the Bruce interview) at the following: www.myspace.com/agoodlifemovie or flatbrokeproductions.com/agoodlifemovie.htm. (Justice’s documentary, “A Good Life: The Joe Grushecky Story” was released Jan. 22)
Belinda M. Paschal, 42, Dayton: I credit The Boss for cementing my identity on the Internet as “acidbrat,” the email address/screen name I’ve used since the early ’90s. Countless people erroneously assume the moniker to be a drug reference or an allusion to my acerbic wit, but it actually comes from a Springsteen song. The lyrics to “Mary Queen of Arkansas” from his debut album, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” include the couplet: “Well, I’m just a lonely acrobat, the livewire is my trade/I’ve been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state.” The guy sure can turn a phrase, eh? The entire album is sheer, bloody poetry set to music!
Dale Hotaling, 52, Born in New Jersey, now living in Yellow Springs: So many memories! And I have tickets for March 24 in Columbus.
1) My first Springsteen concert was Oct. 4, 1980, in Cincinnati. I was a huge fan of the 1978 record “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” missing the 1975 “Born to Run” craze somehow (I even missed a chance to see him in Athens in 1976 when he apparently partied uptown with the students after playing). My wife and I listened to the tape all the way to the down there, and it sounded great, but two songs into the set — “Prove It All Night” and “Badlands” — I turned to her and said “This is already the best concert I have ever attended” and I had gone to the original Woodstock as a 14-year-old!). The tape was still playing in our car when we left to go home more than three hours later and we couldn’t keep it on since it paled in comparison to the show.
2) I got tickets to the Aug. 7, 1985, show at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium which must have had 90 to 100,000 people in attendance since “Born in the USA” was so popular that year. I bought the tickets at the Ticketron at the Nutter Center when they went on sale and they spit out the 6th row! Later I heard there was such a demand in Northeast Ohio that all ticket outlets north of us shut down from being overloaded, enabling me to score such a great spot for the two of us. When we went in there the speakers we were seated in front of on the right side of the stage as we faced it must have been 75 feet tall to accommodate the huge venue. I thought I would never hear again, but the sound was terrific, perhaps factoring in those of us fortunate to be in front of the other 90,000 people.
Tom Hubler, 48, Miamisburg: Let’s start from the beginning.
In the summer of 1975, between my freshman and sophomore years at Oakwood High School, I was still stuck in the past listening to my Beatles records while my brother Jack was getting a fresh music start at college having just competed his freshman year at Miami University. Later on that summer he purchased Springsteen’s “Born to Run” album and that’s when I first heard a very different sound emanating from our turntable. When my brother went back to school that fall, he saw Springsteen for the first time at Millett Hall in Oxford. It wasn’t until my freshman year at Bowling Green State University in 1978-79 that the “Springsteen thing” finally kicked in for me. I joined the Sigma Nu fraternity and it was a pledge requirement to memorize all of the lyrics to the song “Born to Run.” That song became the fraternity’s rallying cry and whenever we played it at parties we would all scream the words. We would also surround the brother who decided to play the “air sax” solo in the middle of the song. Clarence Clemons we were not, but it sure was a lot of silly frat fun. To this day, when I hear “Born to Run” on the radio, the volume gets cranked as do the memories. “…The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive!!!” That song defines rock music in my book.
From then on I was forever riding on The Boss bandwagon. My first Springsteen concert was in Cleveland in 1980 when Springsteen toured in support of “The River” album. I remember sitting behind the stage for that one with my BGSU buddies. I would see Springsteen again in 1984 in Cincinnati for the Born in the USA tour. I got lucky and purchased two tickets off a friend who could not attend and took Jack to the show. While living in Indiana for a few years, I was able to see Springsteen in Indianapolis for the Tunnel of Love concert tour in 1987. My final Springsteen fling happened by chance in 2002 while visiting Jack in Tampa, Fla. We miraculously came up with a pair of tickets on the day of the show to hear Springsteen blast songs from “The Rising” CD. Four concerts in four different cities spanning over 20 years.
So now Springsteen is back on the road in support of his fabulous new CD “Magic,” but this is where my story takes a detour. Yes, in late December I did buy concert tickets as a birthday present for my wife Andrea. However, her musical tastes were of Buble and not Bruce. I bought concert tickets for Michael Buble, but not Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. There. I said it. It’s out there and I will survive.
I would like to conclude this story with one final thought about a Springsteen concert. Quite often I believe, concertgoers attend a show hoping to hear their favorite artist play all of their classic tunes. Sure, play a few songs off the new CD you’re trying to promote, but don’t stray too far from what got you on the radio. With Springsteen, it’s the complete opposite. You go to one of his shows hoping he plays every song off the latest CD because you can’t wait to hear how those new songs will sound live in concert. When it comes to live performances, Springsteen is supreme. He even has the nerve to throw in a classic every now and then like “Rosalita,” “Glory Days” and “Born to Run.”
Doug Sheppard, 46, Beavercreek: I’ve got a funny story for you about the first time I saw Bruce live. It was 1984, the show was in Cincinnati. My friend Scott bought us tickets, insisting I would love the show. At the time I was not a big fan but I knew he was so I agreed. Scott talked about what a high-energy show it would be and all I could think of was the more recent albums “Nebraska” and “The River” and thought, how? It was sold out and our seats were halfway up in the nosebleed section with a straight-on view of the stage. We got to our seats just before the show started and met some students sitting behind us that were pumped and ready to party. They invited us to join them and bought Scott and I our own big tubs of beer. I noticed they had a bit of a middle eastern accent and asked where they were from. They told us they were from Iran and were students at UC. The show was definitely high energy and we stood up most of the time. The highlight of the evening was when we all sang along to “Born in the USA” while swaying back and forth with our new friends. The UC guys sounded pretty funny: “Ba-orn in da U-S-A !!! I’ll remember that forever …
Chris Menke, 48, Clayton: I used to live in southern California, and Bruce would play L.A. a lot. First time I saw him was at the Whisky, a very small club on the Sunset Strip, back in 1979. I hardly knew who he was at the time but my buddies from the Air Force kept bugging me to go with them. That night changed me forever as far as concerts go. Hearing “ThunderRoad.” “Rosalita.” “Jungleland” and “Born To Run” live for the first time had me completely enthralled. And to see the women basically throwing themselves at him, well it was just one big party. Next time was a year later for The River Tour at the Forum, home of the Lakers. Much bigger venue but he and E Street made it seem again like an intimate party with 19,000 of his closest friends.
Over the years I’ve now seen him 34 times with and without the E Street Band, with Cincy and Columbus coming up. I have been to some of those infamous four-hour concerts, most with no intermission. As an audience member you are worn out after the first three hours but Bruce & the ESB kept the energy level so high you’d have to keep up with them. While they have slowed down a little the past few tours, you still get a high-quality 2 1/2 hour show. With the Big Man on sax, ‘Professor’ Roy Bittan on piano, ‘Mighty’ Max Weinberg on drums, and Little Steven on guitar (along with an excellent Nils Lofgren), the ESB remains one of the best backing bands still out there. To this day I still try to have someone go who has never seen them before. Usually they don’t want to because they either don’t really like Springsteen’s music that much or just don’t go to concerts much anymore. Every time by the end of the show they have become converts and can’t wait to see him/them again. Hearing “Promised Land” or “Born To Run” live can hardly be beat.
Another thing is if you get there early enough before a concert and are lucky enough to catch him going in the venue, Bruce will take requests for that night. Usually he will play at least one of them that night. How many acts do that?
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