Indianapolis 2008

Every once in a while I posted a Springsteen review to one of my online groups. This was a review for Indianapolis (3/20/08).

Chris and I left town at noon after I paid a speeding ticket at the Dublin Mayor's court. My day had not started off well. That lunch cost me $100.00; $8 for the Chinese food and $92 for the ticket. Still, it's cheaper than lunch with Eliot Spitzer.

The ride was uneventful on the way out. No discussion topics or debates (like the Discount Renaissance Faire Tickets from our Philadelphia drive last fall,) just typical chatter in anticipation of the show.

We arrived at Conseco Fieldhouse and found a parking lot about one block away. There was a sign that said "EVENT PARKING - $5" so we jumped on it. The parking lot was packed. As we got out Chris asked me what our parking spot was. Now Chris is one of the smartest people I know. He has a doctorate in Sociology and teaches at OSU, but I gave him a real funny look and I answered. "Dude, there's only 50 cars in the parking lot. I think we'll be able to find the car after the show."

I walked up to pay the attendant and it was then I realized it was automated. "Oh, that's why you asked me what our parking spot was." I needed it to pay for parking cause I had to punch it into the machine.

He didn't have to say anything. He rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. I was blond until I reached the age of six, so maybe there's something recessive that affected me. :-)

We had GAs and needed to get wrist bands for the lottery. The plan was to wait until late as the number tends to be a high number because of the person pulling the number out pulls from the top.

A lady walked by and I asked her, "Did you just get your wristband?"

"Yeah, right through that door?"

What number are you?"

"215." That's a low number for that time of day. That bode well for our chances to get in if they did not give out more than 600.

We talked with Lisa, the woman who had #215, for about 90 minutes. She was an attractive woman and came across as intelligent in general and pretty knowledgeable in the world of Springsteen. As it turned out, she knew a couple of the people from my work as she was an attorney in Ohio and worked in workers' compensation and I was in IT at a WC company.

She said, at one point, "My husband has nothing to worry about my attending shows alone because I said most of the Springsteen fans are more interested in the show that hitting on a married mother of two with a third one on the way."

Without thinking, I responded, "I can kill two birds with one stone."

Yep. That filter is lying in a ditch somewhere, hopefully wearing clean underwear. After I said it, I thought to myself, wow, that was kind of rude.

Eventually Bernie, Richard, Todd and Carol show up and we get our wristbands for the drawing.

We watched the show 25 feet from the stage in the pit.

Lauren and Pat were next to us. I've seen 20+ shows with Lauren over the years and she is the VP of Education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Talk about a dream job for her.

Lauren told me, "I don't care what he plays tonight, I just want them to be ON." The show reports have been detailing how great the band has been in recent performances. Of course Lauren had no idea what would get played!

The lights went down at 8:33 and the band comes out.

It's like a freight train or a sudden tornado sweeping through the trailer park.

The drums build up and Bruce is building it up. "Good evening Indian-a-plus." He pronounced it like a Midwesterner.

"Is there any body ALIVE out there?" Drums and guitars building up like rain and thunder.

Crowd goes crazy.

"IS THERE ANYBODY AAAAALLLLLLIIIIIIIVVVVVVEEEEEEE OUT THERE?" Drums and guitars building up like it's hailing.

And then the "Wall of Sound" blows through as the tornado hits with the rat-a-tat-tat machine gun fire of the drums and sax as the band tears into "Night."

There were a couple audibles tonight as well from folks holding up signs. One requested "Prove It All Night" and that was the fourth song of the night. It replaced "Candy's Room" which was on the setlist.

The real surprise was the audible by Bruce, "Let me see some of those signs," after "Reason to Believe." We got "Rendezvous" and it was a fun version.

The only minor issue, since they had not rehearsed it (I don't think) was trying to end it and they did not end it into the segue for "She's the One" properly. Everyone just stopped, awkwardly. Bruce looks over at the piano and Roy, the piano player, made a motion that signaled, "I screwed up."

I said to Chris, "He's gotta play something else now so they can segue into it."

Bruce seemed to agree as Roy played the opening notes to "Because the Night." It smoked. Nils's solo was insane.

Dan Federici came out to play on the three songs "Promised Land," "Spirit in the Night" and "Sandy." Danny's last show had been in November when it was announced he had melanoma and was leaving the band to get a treatment. The crowd cheered as Danny took his seat at the organ.

"Spirit in the Night" was an audible called by Danny actually. The written setlist had "Growin' Up," but Bruce walked over to the microphone and commented, "He's taking me old school tonight," and the organ led off into the song. It was a fantastic version. The audience embraced the song and Bruce really nailed it on the third verse sliding down the microphone with his back. Bruce finished up next to Danny, encouraging him to finish the solo, stretching it out a bit at the end of the song.



With Danny there, it changed the complexion of the setlist of the show. Two songs from the 1980s, zero from the 1990s, two songs off "The Rising." Everything was off the new album or from the 1970s.

Danny came out for the all five encore songs as well.

I was looking forward to "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," but we get the long overdue (for me) piano intro for "Backstreets." It may be my favorite song, depending on what day it is. I actually knew someone (Laura in Chicago) when she got married, she walked down the aisle to the piano intro of this song rather than "Here Comes the Bride." :-)

Then the guitar screams out the opening to "Kitty's Back" and I am laughing. Lauren turns to me and screams "You've got to be kidding me!"

How in the world do I live my life like I do and be so fortunate to see such incredible songs at one show? Karma was catching up on a lot of payments it owed me.

Another highlight was a sign held up by a little girl during "Dancing in the Dark" as Clarence did the sax solo that said "Dance With Me." Bruce held up the sign and pulled her onto the stage and danced with her as he did with Courtney Cox in the video many years ago. I think the last time he pulled someone up was, oddly, in Indy in 2002 when a woman held a sign up that said "Courtney Cox" and a big arrow pointing to herself.



She started doing this little dance move that was cracking everyone in the band. Bruce mimicked to Stevie her little move and they were all busting out laughing. He put her into the crowd again and finished up the song ...

"Hey Baby!, Hey Baby!, Hey Baby! Owwwwww!"

Then Bruce ran over and pulled her up again and they did the little dance move, going about 30 feet to the right, she was watching Bruce, dancing next to him as they moved, and the Bruce motioned to go back with his head and they moved back across to the center of the stage. It was hilarious and she such a cute little girl that everyone was absolutely dying laughing.

After the show we walked back to my car. We're 40 feet away from the parking lot and Chris says, "Hey, do you remember our parking spot? I don't want us to have to be searching all night for your car." I ignore his witticism and notice I have a little envelope that was a ticket saying I had not paid. I was fired up from the show, so I overreacted. I stopped as I left and shoed him a receipt that I paid $5.00 and it was good until 11:59 PM on that day. I got more defiant and said if the owner has a problem, I'll let him communicate with my lawyer.

I told them I was not paying and that I'll mail a copy of the receipt to the address. He argued that it was a "special event" and I pointed out that there was no sign and no attendent and I acted in good faith and that was the end of it. He gave me a phone number, but I'll just fire off a letter or just ignore it.

It should've said 5:59 PM, not 11:59 PM. (Bryon - let it go.) It's not a city ticket, it's a company ticket, so I really don't think I need to worry about it.

What an unbelievable night.

A month later I was flying into Florida when Danny Federici died. I was going down to see three shows and as a result, the shows were canceled. When Danny played that night in Indianapolis, the general feeling amongst us was excitement because we all thought Danny was getting better with his cancer treatments. It turned out there was a distinct realization that the end was coming soon and Danny was brought out to play one last time with the band before he prepared to die. It made what was a phenomenal show into a more meaningful one.

There's a fund set up for Danny and the contributions go to melanoma research.