The Night I Missed Bruce

Monday night Bruce Springsteen played Born to Run in its entirety here in Washington DC. I came so close to going that it actually pains me to put into writing the events that occured. Let me just put it this way to save myself some agony: I came as close as a person could possibly come to seeing his or her hero perform his or her most classic album all the way through.

Sitting at my house at around 7:30 I thought about what the Boss was playing. I wondered what he would open with--especially considering his cousin had passed away a few days prior. When Lia and I saw him on the 2008 Magic Tour, Danny Federici, the original E-Street Band organ player and dear friend to Bruce, had passed away after a long fight with leukimia. He opened up with "Souls of the Departed" a rarely-played track he had recorded on the Lucky Town album. I found out later that Bruce dedicated the DC show to his cousin, and then proceeded to open the show with an emotional "Outlaw Pete." An interesting choice, indeed.

My mind wandered on--I wanted to know what Clarence's saxophone solo on "Jungleland" sounded like in-person. I wanted to see feel the opening bars of "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" raise the hairs on my forearms. I wanted to see The Boss sing the story about two kids getting in to deep with organized crime in "Meeting Across the River".

Some things just aren't meant to be. I guess I'll have to keep my fingers crossed he will still be doing his full album set-lists the next time I see him.

Oh well. What can ya do?