Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Springsteen's Coming!

Bruce Springsteen is coming to Omaha this Friday night, and I can't believe I was able to get tickets. Awesome! When the Boss takes the stage Friday, I expect him to shout out:
Is there anybody alive out there? as he usually does to begin a concert.

I saw a comment in the paper by a fan of Springsteen that's on the mark. "He's as great as the Rolling Stones, only better. We're not talking flash-in-the-pan here. He sings the songs of life. He's like an old friend to me."

How well put!

Lately I've been listening to Springsteen's latest album, "Magic", and it's vintage stuff, right from the beginning with the power anthem "Radio Nowhere". It's classic stuff, with Springsteen singing of being behind the wheel of a car cruising along the highways of America, wondering in the chaotic noise of radio, whether there's anybody really alive out there.

There's a deep spiritual quality to much of Springsteen's songs. He deals with individuals seeking to escape dismal surroundings and places with no future; he examines love, loneliness, self-reliance and self-preservation, and in Magic treats the madness of war with the song "The Last to Die for a Mistake." There's nothing superficial about Springsteen.

After the tragedy of 9/11, no one voiced the agony and hurt and anger of Americans better than Springsteen in his album "The Rising".

And in the Seeger Sessions album, along with "Live in Dublin: the Seeger Sessions", Springsteen makes connections with the best of the folk and roots tradition of American music. The Boss is versatile!

So, come Friday, I plan to join my voice with thousands of others in welcoming the Boss to town.
I'll follow up with some comments.