My trip began with my trip to Matt's for a Jucy Lucy as soon as I left the airport.
I was also invited to write the review for the first night for Springsteen's website and thanks to great editing, it came out quite readable.
I even got to meet Joseph again. I first met him on the Tom Joad tour back in 1996 and had not seen him for 16 years.
The second night of the show was quite amazing. It started with meeting up with Joseph and hanging out with him for a couple hours while we waited for the wristbands to be given out. The first wristband entered us in a drawing for the pit. If we were successful in winning the lottery, we would receive a second wristband and enjoy the show within 70 feet of the stage.
While waiting in line, he had pulled out two songs names on cardboard signs he had been chasing for a long time; "Streets of Fire" and "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come.)" As someone else once said, Springsteen fans look at set lists of shows they don't attend and it's similar to being a baseball card collector. We say "Got it, got it, got it, NEED IT!" as they go down the list. "Streets of Fire" is the last song off "Darkness on the Edge of Town" that Joseph needs to complete the album.
We were off to the side having secured our pit entrance and he was trying to decide what song to put on the back of the two signs. I asked him if he had Sharpie's on him to create the sign and he pulled a seven pack out of his pocket. Springsteen fans are prepared for many roadside emergencies.
"You know what was on the setlist last night that he didn't play?" I asked.
"What?"
"Stolen Car."
Joseph was on his knees already when I shared this and he fell forward with his hands on the floor, head on the floor, fully devastated he did not get to see that song. Bruce, for some reason, decided he did not want to play it last night and audibled something else. The devastation was clear. I felt bad for revealing that to him.
Then it struck me.
"Put 'Stolen Car' on the sign," I suggested. "It was on there last night. He might decided to play it as they soundchecked it."
He was slow and deliberate making the sign, even including a car as a graphic in the bottom left corner. Of the three songs, I thought this would have the best chance being played.
Then I had an even grander idea.
I would take one sign and be at the back of the pit, Joseph would be at the front of the pit. During the night, Bruce would come out to the middle stage at the back of the pit four times and hopefully see the sign. Having the signs separated seemed like it would increase the chances rather than two people next to each other.
I had the sign with "From Small Things" and "Stolen Car" written on either side and got on the wall against the middle stage upon entering the pit. There were two ladies were to my right and as luck would have it, one of them was from Columbus. We struck up a conversation as I was wearing my Ohio State sweatshirt and had seventeen years of living there to share stories about the area.
Her friend was quite attractive and it struck me that if I notice her friend, Bruce Springsteen is also much more likely to notice her than he is to notice me. I needed to get her to hold the sign up for me. I was trying to figure someway to arrange this without sounding creepy and then the opportunity presented itself. They asked me if I could help hold their spot while they went to get a drink; they even offered to by me a drink if I held their spot. I said I would, but rather than a drink, when Bruce is at the middle stage, could you hold the sign up for me?
She agreed.
Mission accomplished, I went and sat in some seats because I had a long night of standing ahead of me. A little later I met a couple from Minneapolis who sat down in their actual seats next to me. They had not been to a concert in years, but they were there to see Bruce. The husband had a great story about them actually sitting next to Bruce a couple years ago at orientation at Boston College. The wife laughed about how hard it was to "be cool" and not embarrass themselves or Bruce and Patti.
When the lights went down, Bruce came out with a surprise opener of "I'm a Rocker," and then launched into "Hungry Heart." As expected, during "Hungry Heart," he was out at the middle stage and I think he saw the sign, because once he got back to the stage, he ran through several audibles including what I believe is only the second live performance of this song with the E Street Band since 1985.
It was magnificent.
Joseph missed out again on "Streets of Fire," getting "Something in the Night" from the same album instead, but I really think "Stolen Car" made up for it.
It turned out Bruce had tossed out most of the opening songs on the original set list and five of the first seven songs were audibles. I love that randomness and looseness they can have.
I don't know if this is considered a proper sign request that was played or not amongst those in my group, but I am counting it as the plan worked even if he did not pull the sign up. The end result was the same. :)
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