Author: Dean DeChiaro
If one tore relentlessly through the dictionary on a merciless mission to find the single perfect word to describe the atmosphere at the L.A. Sports Arena last Wednesday night, the only word fitting enough would be “magical.” On the opening night of a two-night stand at the arena, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took to the stage with a mission, the same mission that they take on every night: to give the audience a show they will never forget.
He and the boys from E Street, of course, completed their mission.
Seeing the Boss at the Arena wasn’t the same as seeing him in my native Jersey, but there is a historical relationship between Bruce and this venue. He played here on The River tour and played a special show for Vietnam Veterans in the early 80’s. Bruce also played a Halloween show at the Arena, during which he famously emerged from a coffin at the beginning of the concert. He made his love for the arena known early on in the show, when he dubbed it “the house that rock built” and “the joint that don’t disappoint.”
Springsteen and the band opened with a blistering take of “Badlands,” one of my all-time favorite songs, and a tune that really set the tone for the entire concert. I immediately knew that this was going to be one of the better live musical experiences of my life when, during a break in the song, the members of the band and Bruce himself led the crowd in an uproar of song following the notes of the song. There was great communication between the crowd and the band, and at a Springsteen concert, that makes it all the more enjoyable.
The second slot of the show went to “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” making its tour premiere. Soon enough Bruce launched into the titular track from his new album, “Working on a Dream,” which, despite the fact that it’s not one of my favorite songs, proved to be absolutely incredible live.
Tom Morello, one of the premiere rock guitarists in the world, joined Bruce onstage for a rousing rendition of “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Morello, who has played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, did things with his guitar that you simply don’t see at any concert. As Morello exited the stage, Bruce quipped, “That’s one of my finest guitar students.”
Next, Bruce took matters into his own hands in the way only The Boss can. It’s common at a Springsteen concert for people sitting front and center (where I was), to bring signs to the concerts with songs that they want to hear. Bruce usually leaves a few slots open in the set list to accommodate those requests, but during a musical interlude in “Working on a Dream,” he did something I’ve never seen him do before. He jumped into the crowd and went around picking up people’s signs right out of their hands. When he returned to the stage, he had at least 20 signs to sort through, and he picked only two. Before each song, he showed the sign to the band, and as they launched into it, he revealed it to the crowd. I cannot even begin to describe the anticipation I felt while he was doing this, but the results blew my mind. He played “Spirit in the Night,” a vintage Springsteen jam, not only for the first time on the tour, but also for the first time in a number of tours.
Though Bruce failed to grab the Best Original Song Academy Award for “The Wrestler,” you’d never know it from the reaction of the crowd when they realized that it was the next song. The band then filled out the rest of the set with two staples of any Springsteen concert, “The Rising” and “Born to Run,” during which no fancy lighting or stage gimmicks were employed, just simple raw, gritty rock n’ roll power. The same power that Bruce and the band have used to play the song for the past 34 years.
After an incredibly epic closing to “Born to Run,” Bruce and the band retreated backstage for a quick break. I’ve seen much younger bands take 45-minute intermissions before playing an encore, but not surprisingly, The Boss re-emerged from the darkness after a little less than two minutes. It’s almost as if he and the band really are driven by some higher musical power that the rest of us can only dream of. Bruce took this opportunity to thank the crowd once more, encourage them to donate to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, and then went into a monologue talking about the economy, and the hope that we all have to hang onto during hard times, which happened to be the first song he played in the encore. “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” he explained, is a folk song from 1855 that inspired hope in those difficult economic times, and could do the same during what we’re going through now.
The rest of the encore was strictly made up of those Americana ballads that makes Springsteen so enduring, because as time goes by, the themes in his music remain constant. “Land of Hopes and Dreams” and “American Land” are both songs The Boss wrote from the point of view of immigrants new to this nation, and while much of his music focuses on the struggles faced by normal Americans, both of those songs celebrate the ideals of the American dream that Bruce himself has been chasing for almost 45 years now.
After “American Land” ended, it seemed as if the concert was over and some people in the back even started to shuffle out, but the band didn’t yield and remained onstage awaiting instructions from Bruce. My eyes were locked on him, searching for some small clue of what might be about to happen, but nothing could have prepared me for the epic performance of “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” the song that fused the music of the 50s, the lyrics of 60s and the gritty attitude of the 70s to form the basis of modern rock n’ roll.
And just like that, it was over.
I was expecting a huge arena concert in L.A. to be full of the glitz and glam that characterizes the image of the city, but the glitterati stayed home and let the blue-collar people have this one. I’m confident that every New Jersey transplant in southern California was in the crowd, pumping their fists and shouting every word to every song, as any hardcore Springsteen fan should. Everything about the night was perfect. The set list, the audience, and the energy were all present and accounted for.
Not one thing went wrong, but did anyone really expect it not to? After all, it’s The Boss. He’s got it down.
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