Springsteen ... Still The Boss

I attended last night's concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band at the Blue Cross Arena.

My wife, Paula, is a big Springsteen fan. I'm indifferent, but when I heard he was coming to Rochester, I wangled a couple of tickets from a friend as a Christmas present for her. I went to the concert with only moderate enthusiasm, but I left with a wholly different impression. Bruce is quite a performer. He and the E-Street Band put on a fabulous show.

It was clear that Springsteen and his band-mates were enjoying themselves. The crowd was older than a typical concert gathering; clearly there were a large number of true fans in attendance and they ate it up. The performers and the crowd fed off of each other. By the end of the show, even I was on my feet whooping it up to Born to Run.

I was somewhat surprised that Springsteen would play Rochester. The BCA only holds about 10,000 for a concert; that's much smaller than most of the places Bruce plays. But it may have been the smaller setting that increased the entertainment value. We all felt like he was really playing to us. He was fairly close even from the far corners of the arena and the two video screens displayed close-ups that really allowed us to see the enthusiasm and enjoyment on the performer's faces.

Bruce appeared to like the building and the crowd. At one point, he asked if it was a new building or an old one. The crowd roared "OLD". Bruce said "Yeah, the old ones are usually the best ones". Score one for the War Memorial!

Bruce made a few brief political points. He's a liberal, but I knew that. It was easy to forgive his politics in light of the fantastic performance he put on. I have to say he is a great performer. No one in the crowd would disagree.