Bruce Springsteen

It has been quite a while since I have written. It's not that I didn't want to write but rather, it was just that everything seemed so ordinary. That is, until this past Wednesday night. It was on that fateful night that I had but one question: who was this man, this myth, this cultural icon: Bruce Springsteen? I had heard the buzz and read all the reviews I could get my hands on but I wanted to see it first hand. On what started out as an ordinary Wednesday evening, under the auspices of the famed Fenway and its faithful following, I finally got my answer.


For there was a man in our midst who could sing anything- any genre, any song, be it about love or war, hungry hearts or being "born to run." There was a man with the ability to touch the hearts of everyone, regardless of age or ethnicity. Within him was something far greater than a man with a magical musical prowess. It was surely his skills which got him his start but surely not the sole reason behind why he played sold out arenas everywhere he went. There was a story within each show. A story that resonated within everyone. 

Up there on stage, there was a man living to fruition, every little boy's dream. And for an ephermeral moment in time we were all there, dreaming the dream. Perhaps it was transient, but it was real. A moment that you couldn't capture with a camera. A moment that was visceral. We were all there dancing in the rain because one thing was clear: no one was going to rain on this parade. It was out on Landowne Street that everyone had left their worries and their cares behind. It was inside the gates of Fenway that we had found a way to remember some of the things that we had long forgotten. The same way hearing an old song can take you back to a different day or a different time or a different place. It was in that place that we were all connected on that fateful night.

As the fireworks flew over Fenway at the concert's close, the legions of fans poured out into the streets. Out there on Landsdowne, a small bevy gathered to watch as members of the E street band headed into their caravan. There was a hope among the gathering that the boss himself may be heading that way as well. He did emerge, however, he was already safely behind the tinted windows of a dark Escalade. So until next time.