Out In The Street!

We went to see Bruce Springsteen play The River the other night which was just great, what a showman.

I am not a Springsteen freak despite having grown up in the area of Jersey where Bruce is kind of omnipresent.  Around here you actually may bump into him working out in Tinton Falls or sipping a beer at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Or you can say you did, wrap a story around it and easily get away with the ruse to try to impress someone. I likely OD'd on Bruce somewhere back in the early eighties but remain a fan.

We had great seats which we paid a king’s ransom for but in my view it was totally worth it. For me playing The River was an opening to the 12 songs that followed the 21 songs that make up the album. Jake Clemens played saxophone and amply filled the shoes of deceased Uncle Clarence, an almost impossible task given the fans love for him. There was transference happening right before our eyes. Here are some reflections on my experience at the show. 

Bruce is 66, looks great and is fit and full of energy. Three and a half hours with no break, dancing like a teen and crowd surfing his way through the stadium at one point while he sang was great to watch. Strangely, the incident in Paris crossed my mind but I quickly dismissed it. I felt like I was in the safest place in the world with my 20 thousand new friends. Metal detectors assured us that none of the 350 million guns in this country made their way into the stadium to protect us from our government or ourselves.  

All good, listen to some music and have some fun. 

What a contrast to a sold out show we attended by my nephew’s former band, Passion Pit, in Madison Square Garden. The demographic for that show was primarily teens and college aged kids out looking for a good time, there was diversity in MSG. For Bruce, the crowd was older with the core being from 40 somethings to 60 somethings but with great representation from young adults as well. This speaks well for Bruce's catalog for future generations. 

A striking irony was that many times during the show the arena would light up and give you the chance to look around at the crowd. Everyone was dancing or moving and everybody was something else, white. 

Newark, NJ is more than 52 percent Black or African American. Median household income is less than half that of the state’s population at $33,000. In short, Newark is poor with an estimated one in three people living there being designated as such. So it is interesting to see a group of rich WASP's converge on the state’s largest, poorest and troubled cities for a few hours of fun. Only minutes after the last encore we then wash our hands of all things Newark and climb into our SUV's and return to our safe comfortable homes around the state.

Unfortunately, in our effort to distance ourselves from the unpleasantness of the streets we return to suburban homes and neighborhoods which are beautiful, safe and full of the scourge of drugs that is killing our youth. The catch here is it is mainly hidden from the news but obvious to ourselves - we just don't talk about it much...or enough.

A further irony is that so many of the themes Bruce sings about are being played out just outside The Prudential Center venue by people who can't even imagine how to scrape together enough money to buy a ticket to the show. Unfortunately, many are in need of food, shelter and rehabilitation. 

We had a great time but the experience was conflicting, which is part of art I guess. If you can afford it go to a show and on your way out drop a few bucks in the Food Bank baskets, it's a great cause.

Then amble out to your car where you can quickly forget about the state of our cities in this country and return to the imagined safety of suburbia. 

My best, Chris