The River

We were on our way to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden. The venue was right as the trip would be just a train ride to MSG, no going outside, just hop on the train, disembark, escalator up to the arena, find our seats and soak up the Bruce juice.
The night was right, Sunday November 8-it was the last NYC concert on this tour and something special might occur.
The weather was balmy for November, the high had hit 70-no winter coats, some folks even had on shorts and tank tops. Internet reports had it that Bruce was going to do The River, released in 1980. This was the end of a series of concerts that had been going on all year. As a thank you to his fans Bruce had recently performed entire albums, the night before had been The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, his second record, way back in the day, early 70's. Some songs had rarely been done in concert, some only once.
We were on the 6:30 train to Penn, getting us there by 7:01PM. Bruce usually comes on at 8:15-we all know the drill, so we would have time to absorb the positive buzz in the air, exchange, engage and connect with smiles and winks to all around. Our Levittown contingent was arriving on a later train but would be there in time.
This concert almost did not happen for us. On Friday September 17, I had received an email from Ticketmaster reminding me that Bruce tix were going on sale the following day at 9:00 AM. How come I knew nothing about the MSG concerts? We love going to MSG for the ease of transit, lack of weather and Manhattan crowd electricity. The Meadowlands trek has become horrific, Nassau Coliseum, a parking and exiting nightmare and Shea Stadium is gone. So this seemed ideal. I had not run it by our Bruce concert-goer friends; I had not been successful getting Bruce tickets in this decade, I was no longer the"go to" girl for obtaining tickets. I decided announcing my intentions would just rev everyone up for a big downer. Besides, Ticketmaster has been beset with problems with ticket purchases for Bruce concerts. Nevertheless, as a retiree I felt compelled to use my freedom to log in at 9 AM September 18 and give it a try. After a brief wait, I am in!-I go for the max 6 tix, have them, then my troubles begin. I am asked for my password-I type it, no match, try another one, no match. Ticketmaster compassionately offers to send me my password, warning me that my transaction is on the clock and my seconds are ticking away. I have 4 minutes and 53 seconds to retrieve my password from my email, come back into Ticketmaster and capture my tix. I go into my e mail. No password in my incoming mail. I check Spam. There is is. Unfortunately, this is not what I thought was my password. It is a new artificially constructed mess-one of those with all consonants/numbers qrxbtgz81wt. Yikes. I copy it, go back in, then the dreaded remark "Your time has expired, your tickets have been released" Like I have imprisoned them and they are free to go. Six Bruce tix are gone. I try to get back in . No tix left for Sat. Okay let's try Sunday. I am back in with far better seats. I get them. They are mine. Not so fast. I go to print them and the remark -"the tix are not yet available, internal validation going on." I feel cold queasy, anxious, sad, dopey. Ticketmaster provides a cute little "evite" type email you can send to your friends announcing that "wonderful you" have secured these tickets and that you would love to have the honor of their presence. Everyone accepts my evite.
I do not tell anyone that I have yet to print out these tix. I fear that my PC will die, that my email will be lost, that this really did not happen- it is a scam. I check back in 24 hours -tix not available, I email Ticketmaster. They are sorry but they are checking each purchaser's credentials individually. Melanie, my Ticketmaster rep, informs me if I do not receive my tix by the day before the concert, Nov 7, 2009, I should contact her again. This rechecking terror procedure goes on for 2 weeks. Finally they are available for printing. I have passed some security check. I find this ironic as Tickemaster is the company that had to make restitution to thousands last Bruce go round. As the tickets are printing I am sure my printer will break down, the ink will run out and the bar codes will not be scannable. My HP printer hums through to the last ticket. They are all out. Now I know how OctoMom felt, or how she felt after six. Now, I have all six. Whew.
FlashForward to Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. After the six week wait, Paul and I are inside MSG.
I buy a water and the vendor throws my cap away. I do not understand . What if it spills? I am told this is to prevent customers from pelting the performers with bottle caps. Is this a Ranger game? We arrive in our seats. I love these seats. Behind the stage, 215 section. At one point, I stand to let some folks pass. I plop back into my seat and very soon after a woman is whispering in my ear, in a furtive crouch behind me. "You have toilet paper hanging from your pants." Shut up, no way. Yeah, I do. A long piece. Paul is incredulous. How do you get toilet paper hanging from your pants? I assure him that this is not uncommon with women and in fact this occurrence has been a skit on Seinfeld (maybe) I also explain that it is fresh paper from the roll. He wants no more of an explanation.
There is a visceral buzz, an undercurrent, a fast spiritual loving camaraderie sweeping through the crowd, skipping, dancing, hugging, whispers of this is "The River" night, history will be made. Strangers become concert friends, exchanging stories, and asking questions "Where are you from?" Were you here last night?" Are you from Tom's River?" that was directed to me. I liked that.
My Tom's River questioner apologetically informs me that his two women friends are "standers" They would stand throughout the concert, dancing and singing. I say "I am okay with that. I stand a lot also." We do a group "high five."
Bruce is later than usual. Many brews being consumed. Many smiles,, hugs, claps, waves, shouts, chants. And then the moment 8:38 PM. Lights flash out and then flash on. The E Street Band is on stage. Bruce is looking on us from heaven like the woman, Anna, in the TV show "V"

The River is a seminal work, changing Bruce's artistic direction in a dark passionate way. Bruce says it was "the gateway to my future writing" and he honors it by playing all 20 songs from it. How could this be happening? We are in awe. The River is long, it is deep, it hurts, it is joyous, proud, fun, sad, hopeful, true and its lyrics the subject of much debate.
"Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse that sends me down to the river."
Bruce sang it richly with the depth of an older baby boomer and we let him do it and listened.
He sang to us, we sang for him "sing it he shouts" we do, every word. He body surfs the crowd during Hungry Heart an act of ultimate trust, joy and exhilaration. He leads the band into the audience twice He pulls a child on stage, gives the mic to fans. Several times we feel the stands rockin movin up and down as if we were are on a Bermuda cruise during a storm. Was that happening? Yes, the concrete steps were bouncing swaying, evocative of the Verrazano during the NYC marathon a week ago. Bruce bear hugs his band members, slow dances with his wife Patti, takes a request Sweet Soul Music departs from the song list and asks our help with words to "Can't Help Falling in Love." After a while my mouth hurts and I realize what Miss America contestants know, it hurts to smile for 3 hours! The energy, elation and sounds in the arena are pulsating through our bodies A shared communion- 32 songs, seven more than the previous night, This was a gift to NYC from the Boss on his last night of this NYC tour.
He played so long that we missed our train, left the closed down Penn to join a group of concert expats drinking Guinness at Tir Na Nog, sharing cell phone photos, not wishing to surrender the high we shared and the commonality of experience. The wait for the next train equalled one Guinness. We re-enter a ghostly gated eerie Penn Station. But the concert songs are on fire in my head I summon them for the ride home.
There is a splendid review in backstreets.com
I'll end with an excerpt from their review. "Context has always been important to Bruce Springsteen's music, and he reinforced that notion with a galvanizing performance of The River in its entirety for the first time on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. In a precise exhilarating and high energy show, Springsteen faithfully reproduced all 20 of its songs."
Backstreets continues
"On this night, where the past met the present, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band lifted the veil, lifted themselves, their music and their audience. Bruce may be wise to let this performance stand alone, because it's one that even he probably can't replicate."
And we were there!!
Liam waited at home He didn't know Bruce would play 32 songs, 7 more than the previous night. That Bruce would be the last to leave the stage escorting each band member to the exit. That we would keep singing Higher and Higher in response to Bruce exhorting us to do so. Then would sing it as we descended down the staircases after exiting the concert. But Liam understands Bruce is the pack leader and he gives in to sleep. Liam snoozes in front of his fireplace our forced hot air vent
Woof, woof
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce, aroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo