One degree of separation from the Boss

This is definitely the week to tell this story.

It was the summer of 1978, and I was at a wedding in New Jersey - not far from the fabled Jersey Shore. A high school friend was getting married, so a few of his buddies made the drive down for the ceremony. It was an eventful weekend for a variety of reasons - a massive midnight swim in the hotel pool right on Route 23 in which some of the boys, um, forgot their suits, a car accident that left my 1970 Torino stationary, etc.

But for our purposes, let's stick to the reception. The seating was a little haphazard, and we were placed with a couple from New Jersey. The woman in question was suitably blonde and beautiful, leaving the rest of us trying to at least start a conversation in an awkward way.

During the reception, the disk jockey played some sort of canned music appropriate for the time. After a few songs, I had had enough disco or the equivalent at that point. "This is New Jersey. It's clearly time for some Bruce Springsteen," I said to the table.

The expression on the woman's face lit up. "Are you a fan?" she asked. "Absolutely. I saw the band live last year, and immediately went out to buy all of the albums," I replied.

Then she said, "It's so nice to see good guys do well." That sounds a little enigmatic, so I asked for an explanation.

She told me that once a week, members of the band in some combination used to come over to her house. They'd sit around, play poker, and eat chili. I thought that was quite cool. After I replied in a way to show my jealousy, she mentioned that Clarence Clemons never played much poker. He'd stay in the kitchen with the woman's father, talking about the good old days since they were the oldest ones in the house for those parties and eating chili.

The story is now 38 years old, which means those actual poker games probably are more than 40 decades in the past. But it still fun to hear stories about people like the members of the E Street Band, who were making friends as they tried to scratch out a living doing something they loved. The boys may have thought they were paying their dues at the time, but I'll bet they think of those days every so often as simple and pure.

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From the beginning...

Bruce Springsteen gets a little help on a song from his first album from the Roots during a concert in Denmark:

Still the boss

I sent out a Facebook update at 1 a.m. on Monday, essentially saying: "Quick review of Springsteen in Buffalo: Best. Show. Ever." Strong words for me, but I'll stick to them 18 hours later.

Why do I say that?

1. The talk of the band making its last show in its last full tour added an edge to the proceedings. Haven't seen that sort of electricity around here since the Who played the Aud the night after the Cincinnati tragedy. The building was just jammed with fans who seemed to wake up a week or so ago and said, "Hey, this is the end of the tour, and these guys aren't getting any younger. I gotta go." It included Pat Riley, the NBA executive who wrote a book blurb for Clarence Clemens' book, "Big Man."

It's pretty unusual to get an audience that's filled with true believers, fans that know every song and would rather be at the show than any place on earth. That's what it felt like.

2. The complete playing of "Greetings from Asbury Park" helped make the night an event, since it hadn't been done before. I don't think I've heard "Spirit in the Night" since the late 1970's, although I haven't checked.

And I noticed what could have been a sense of relief from the band once the album had been played. "OK, the tough part is over, so let's have some fun."

3. The attitude was very playful from the gang, particularly Springsteen himself. Can't say I've seen too many kids pulled out of the audience to sing at a Springsteen show. Helping that approach was Steve Van Zandt's birthday, complete with cake, and the coming Christmas season (good for two songs).

4. If you felt like a birthday or Christmas party, this was the best set list imaginable. This was not a time to hear "41 Shots" or "The River," worthwhile songs but not a good fit here. The only really slow tunes were in the "Greetings" portion. Otherwise, it was clear the decks and start rocking. My back is still sore from all the standing. (Just wondering: When was the last time I saw a show without "Badlands"? I think it was 1977 in Utica.) What's more, there were a ton of songs that most bands would have been happy to use as a set-closer. For Springsteen, they were just another tune.

I've learned never to say never when it comes ever playing together again. Even with these guys. But if this was a farewell show to this particular combination, except on special occasions, it was a great one.

For a more enthusiastic review, click here.

The last stop

Word is spreading quickly about Bruce Springsteen's last show on his current tour, which will be next Sunday night in Buffalo. Springsteen has been playing entire albums on this tour, and the trend will continue with the surprising "Greetings from Asbury Park." He's never played this album, his first, live in sequence before, and he's never played one of the songs from it ("The Angel") live anywhere.

Here's the Newark Star-Ledger's take on the event. There are less analytical descriptions at backstreets.com and brucespringsteen.net.

So the question that's going to come up is, Will this be the last concert ever for the band? Or at least for a long while? Hard to say -- certainly an interesting choice of material for a closing night. I'm betting that the last song played on Sunday will be "Blood Brothers" -- just as it was when the Rising tour ended in October 2003 in Shea Stadium.

Happy birthday

What sort of fan would I be if I didn't include this 60th birthday tribute to the Boss?

Musical interlude

Since Mr. Springsteen isn't coming to Buffalo on this tour, we'll have to make do with videos like this from Philadelphia the other night:

Bruce Springsteen performs Badlands in Philadelphia

Hometown crowd

It was too nice a weekend to worry about things. Better to sit back and see Bruce Springsteen open a concert earlier this weekend at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.



NJ.com has the first three songs of Springsteen's three shows this week, so feel free to take a look and listen.

A bit of the excitement...

Brucespringsteen.net was nice enough to post a clip of the opening part of the Detroit Medley from the Buffalo show. Here it is for your viewing pleasure ... and turn it up:

The Boss in Buffalo

It seemed only fair that Bruce Springsteen opened his Buffalo show on on March 7 with "The Ties That Bind," and not just because he played the same song to open the show in HSBC Arena in 1999. Springsteen has plenty of connections to Buffalo that date back decades.

In the early 1970's, Springsteen made a few appearances in the Buffalo area. He made a connection to the late Jerry Nathan, who promoted concerts under the name of "Festival East" back then. Springsteen was starting to bust out of being a New York City favorite at that point, and Springsteen never forgot Nathan's generosity. So he always tried, and tries, to come back here when he's touring.

Springsteen's most memorable appearance might have been in 1977. He played Kleinhans Music Hall in February, 1977 -- right after the famous Blizzard of '77. In fact, it was the night the driving ban was lifted. The Boss said this trip that he remembered how stir crazy everyone was after a couple of weeks of being locked up in the house.

More than a year later, Springsteen made his most important visit to Buffalo in a sense. His legal troubles with Mike Appel were settled, and he had finally been able to release a sequel to "Born to Run" called "Darkness on the Edge of Town." Under the circumstances, it might have been his biggest show since he played before music company executives in New York a few years before that to justify his contract. America's top music critics came to Shea's Buffalo Theater to see how rock and roll future would do in the present. The verdict: just fine ... even if Springsteen did need to bring the lyrics to "Tenth Avenue Freezeout" out on stage during the encore.

Springsteen played Memorial Auditorium a couple of times after that, including one September night that was so hot in the building (no air conditioning, of course) that the handrails on the stairs seemed to be perspiring. He also celebrated a birthday here, as the touring group took over a skating rink in Cheektowaga for the party. An eyewitness said Bruce mostly stayed in the corner with a female accomplice.

Bruce's current accomplice was back in New Jersey this time watching their three teenagers, but the band still put on a fine show -- the best, according to an informal poll of three veterans sitting in a bar afterwards, since the group returned in 1999. A few other notes about the 2008 performance:

* Clarence Clemons is said to be having a few health problems, and he didn't have much byplay with the rest of the band. The Big Man certainly came through on sax as usual though.

* Garry Tallent was placed on risers near drummer Max Weinberg, which was unexpected. He's always been down with the guitars. Might have been getting crowded down there.

* Nicest surprise of the night was hearing the "Detroit Medley" for the first time in 25 years or so.

Springsteen acted like he was having a great time in Buffalo again. Or else he just didn't want to go outside into the snow anytime soon. A near-sellout crowd knew the feeling.

Appointment listening

I'm sorry, but I can't get together with you Friday night. An old friend is in town.

I always try to get together with my pal, Bruce Springsteen, when he's around. I've been doing it for more than 30 years. Many of my favorite bands have broken up, or lost members to illness, but Springsteen and the E Street Band go on and on. The music still sounds good, too.

The Boss and I first got together back in 1977, when I was a young punk in college. Our hair was longer then. I had seen the Time and Newsweek cover articles before that, and heard a certain buzz about his latest record album. A few friends of mine on campus who knew their music told me "Born to Run" was worth an investment. I think it cost me $4.50. It got played, a lot.

Some dorm friends were headed to Utica for a concert sometime in 1977, when they asked if I wanted a ticket and a ride. OK, I'll tag along. It may have been Springsteen's shortest show ever. It also was the best show any of us had ever seen. He only played for about 90 minutes (no idea why), but at the end everyone in the auditorium was yelling and screaming for more. Our group, which had floor seats about 25 rows back, was standing on those seats by the end of the show.

Then came one of those great moments that happens only once in a while. The house lights came up, and virtually no one left. The applause for another encore went on and on. The clapping was starting to die out a bit after five minutes when one of the roadies, who had been on stage for only a minute or two, looked off stage behind the curtain and obviously saw the band. He turned to the crowd, gave the "more applause" gesture with his hands, and the place exploded.

The house lights went back down, the band came back, and one more song was heard. Clarence Clemons slapped hands with the front row on his way out this time. I still haven't seen anything like it.

A year later I saw Springsteen in Olean, and he was just getting warmed up after 90 minutes. After a break, he played for another 90. He was in the stage of his career where he couldn't stop playing until he was totally exhausted. The reputation as rock's best live act followed Springsteen for the next several years, as he stopped in Buffalo for the next few tours.

When the band went its separate ways in the late 1980's, I figured the 1984 show was the last I had seen of Springsteen and the E Street Band. Luckily I was wrong, as they got back together in 1999. It was like a friend had re-entered my life. When someone asked me what the show was like afterwards. I replied, "Well, the sound was a little muddy, and Springsteen didn't have that same level of connection with the rest of the band that he did in the old days. On the other hand, I felt like crying when I heard 'Born to Run' again."

Now after another stop in Buffalo a few years ago, Springsteen is back in town with an excellent new CD and his tremendous old band. I remember reading in a Rolling Stone article once upon a time that when Springsteen was in full flight in a concert, there was no place on earth you'd rather be than that exact spot.

That's still true, 31 years after Utica.