A More Fun Than I Deserve Trip to a Bruce Springsteen Concert
A more fun than I deserve road trip to a Bruce Springsteen concert.
I could stop right there and leave the rest to your imagination.
But I'd rather describe to you the 360-mile trek a father and daughter made from Spokane, Washington to Portland, Oregon, leaving custom-made decals stuck to landmarks on the way to an unforgettable performance by the Boss and the E-Street Band at the Rose Garden.
Read on, my friend.
I've been to my fair share of concerts throughout the years, but somehow I never managed to attend one of Bruce Springsteen's.
I'd heard he was on tour and realized Bruce wasn't getting any younger; at the time I write this the Boss is 63 years old.
He wouldn't be performing his famous three and a half hour concerts forever, and who knew if he'd ever come back to the Pacific Northwest.
When I saw the Boss was coming to Portland, I thought it would probably be now or never for me.
It had to be now.
It's no fun going to a concert alone.
My twenty-year-old daughter jumped at the chance to come with me and I was happy to take her.
It was an opportunity to spend time together and for us to see an American rock icon.
We couldn't wait.
We anxiously awaited the date of November 28, hoping for decent weather conditions and knowing for sure this couldn't be any ordinary road trip.
A road trip for a Bruce Springsteen concert called for a little something extra; we were gonna make some memories.
"The Boss or Bust Road Trip 2012," as I called it, began at 9:12 on a mild Wednesday morning, with Springsteen's latest CD, Wrecking Ball, cranking in the CD player.
It was a damn good CD and a great way to start off the trip.
Armed with several more Springsteen CDs and about 40 custom decals designed by yours truly for strategic placement along the way, it was full speed ahead to Portland.
We had about 360 miles to cover between home and the Rose Garden, and we allowed plenty of time for fun and making those memories.
Our first decal was actually stuck on our own front door window, but on the road our first stop was at a rest area about 45 miles out of town.
We stuck our first public decal on that rest area's state of Washington map, right at eye level for all to see.
We had only one rule for our decals: no sticking them in bathrooms.
This is a Bruce Springsteen event we're talking about; it just wouldn't be right.
Besides, there's no challenge or creativity in that.
As the road trip went on, we became more daring and it became as much fun as I hoped it would be.
The Boss was with us the entire way through the music we brought with us and we found ample opportunities to mark our trail to Portland: on abandoned cars and trailers, a huge Paul Bunyan figure, the outside of a beer cooler, a menu outside of a Subway restaurant, various road signs, an actual sticker machine inside a gas station and strategically placed on a poster of the famous David statue.
After our many stops, we arrived in Portland at 6 p.
m.
and checked into our motel room.
Just blocks away from the Rose Garden, the motel saved us from any parking hassles.
We walked to the concert in minutes.
The concert started 30 minutes late but was well worth the wait.
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band came out rockin' to a full house, starting off with "Land of Hopes and Dreams.
" I was immediately engrossed and found myself smiling throughout almost the entire concert.
The concert was so much better than I expected and the entire crowd seemed love it.
The three and a half hours went by so fast and when it was over, I couldn't even think of a word to describe the experience.
"Awesome" sounds so juvenile, "great" is overused, "legendary" describes Bruce and the band, but the concert was all of those words and better.
Some observations about the show:
It's even better when something you have high expectations for exceeds those expectations; that rarely happens.
If you've seen a Springsteen concert before, you're probably thinking "Of course, what did you expect?" I expected him to be the best I'd ever seen, and he was even better than that.
Bruce Springsteen and his music kept us company every mile of the way home.
We found more fun places to stick our decals and ran across a friend of mine from high school who had also attended the concert.
I tried to find his car to bless it with a decal, but no luck.
As I came back down to earth and returned home, my heart was full and my spirit lifted.
My daughter and I had an experience to cherish.
Life was good.
I could stop right there and leave the rest to your imagination.
But I'd rather describe to you the 360-mile trek a father and daughter made from Spokane, Washington to Portland, Oregon, leaving custom-made decals stuck to landmarks on the way to an unforgettable performance by the Boss and the E-Street Band at the Rose Garden.
Read on, my friend.
I've been to my fair share of concerts throughout the years, but somehow I never managed to attend one of Bruce Springsteen's.
I'd heard he was on tour and realized Bruce wasn't getting any younger; at the time I write this the Boss is 63 years old.
He wouldn't be performing his famous three and a half hour concerts forever, and who knew if he'd ever come back to the Pacific Northwest.
When I saw the Boss was coming to Portland, I thought it would probably be now or never for me.
It had to be now.
It's no fun going to a concert alone.
My twenty-year-old daughter jumped at the chance to come with me and I was happy to take her.
It was an opportunity to spend time together and for us to see an American rock icon.
We couldn't wait.
We anxiously awaited the date of November 28, hoping for decent weather conditions and knowing for sure this couldn't be any ordinary road trip.
A road trip for a Bruce Springsteen concert called for a little something extra; we were gonna make some memories.
"The Boss or Bust Road Trip 2012," as I called it, began at 9:12 on a mild Wednesday morning, with Springsteen's latest CD, Wrecking Ball, cranking in the CD player.
It was a damn good CD and a great way to start off the trip.
Armed with several more Springsteen CDs and about 40 custom decals designed by yours truly for strategic placement along the way, it was full speed ahead to Portland.
We had about 360 miles to cover between home and the Rose Garden, and we allowed plenty of time for fun and making those memories.
Our first decal was actually stuck on our own front door window, but on the road our first stop was at a rest area about 45 miles out of town.
We stuck our first public decal on that rest area's state of Washington map, right at eye level for all to see.
We had only one rule for our decals: no sticking them in bathrooms.
This is a Bruce Springsteen event we're talking about; it just wouldn't be right.
Besides, there's no challenge or creativity in that.
As the road trip went on, we became more daring and it became as much fun as I hoped it would be.
The Boss was with us the entire way through the music we brought with us and we found ample opportunities to mark our trail to Portland: on abandoned cars and trailers, a huge Paul Bunyan figure, the outside of a beer cooler, a menu outside of a Subway restaurant, various road signs, an actual sticker machine inside a gas station and strategically placed on a poster of the famous David statue.
After our many stops, we arrived in Portland at 6 p.
m.
and checked into our motel room.
Just blocks away from the Rose Garden, the motel saved us from any parking hassles.
We walked to the concert in minutes.
The concert started 30 minutes late but was well worth the wait.
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band came out rockin' to a full house, starting off with "Land of Hopes and Dreams.
" I was immediately engrossed and found myself smiling throughout almost the entire concert.
The concert was so much better than I expected and the entire crowd seemed love it.
The three and a half hours went by so fast and when it was over, I couldn't even think of a word to describe the experience.
"Awesome" sounds so juvenile, "great" is overused, "legendary" describes Bruce and the band, but the concert was all of those words and better.
Some observations about the show:
- Charisma just radiates out of Bruce Springsteen
- The E-Street band, from the horn section to the background singers, is really tight
- The Boss is the most appropriate nickname of any famous person I can think of
- The range of emotions I felt during the concert was complete
- The crowd loves Bruce and the audience felt like one big family
- When Jake Clemons plays his sax solos, the rest of the band turns to watch
- The Boss seems to be full of love, although some lyrics in "The Wrecking Ball" are very angry
- He is very gentle and warm with the fans he brings onstage
- Bruce Springsteen takes requests.
Are you kidding me? Who else does that? - There was no messing around with the encore; it came quick
- No politics
- At times, the concert had a spiritual feeling
- The age range of the crowd was from the fairly young to the very mature
- The sound was loud and clear
It's even better when something you have high expectations for exceeds those expectations; that rarely happens.
If you've seen a Springsteen concert before, you're probably thinking "Of course, what did you expect?" I expected him to be the best I'd ever seen, and he was even better than that.
Bruce Springsteen and his music kept us company every mile of the way home.
We found more fun places to stick our decals and ran across a friend of mine from high school who had also attended the concert.
I tried to find his car to bless it with a decal, but no luck.
As I came back down to earth and returned home, my heart was full and my spirit lifted.
My daughter and I had an experience to cherish.
Life was good.