42 -- Bruce Springsteen -- Monday, May 18, 2009 -- Verizon Center – DC

I had the worst seat in the arena. I was in the back of the upper deck behind the stage. And it was still incredible. There are no bad Bruce shows.

For the second straight concert, I missed “Badlands.” This time I was stuck outside the arena, searching for a seat. There was no repeat of last year’s four-rows-from-the-stage miracle, but I was at least able to pay face value (less than $100) and get settled in after just two songs. The third song, “Outlaw Pete,” was perfect for where I was sitting because it’s a simmering epic – the type of song that lets you close your eyes, listen to it build, and ignore the mediocre non-fans sitting around you.



“Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” proved to be a top moment once again. My excitement had been building for a few songs (“Blinded by the Light,” “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” and, hilariously, “Hava Nagila”). Once “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” started, I decided to get up and leave the slugs I was sitting next to behind. In one of the unticketed rows below, I could move, breathe, and take in each shift in tone (i.e. from “The Promised Land” to “The Wrestler,” from “Radio Nowhere” to “Lonesome Day,” from “The Rising” to “Born to Run.”) When “The Rising” started, two other guys left their seats and joined me in the unticketed row. We spontaneously fist pumped and high fived all the way through “Born to Run.”

Remarkably, though, that was not THE top moment of night. The top moment was the last song. I assumed he would end with “This American Land,” as he had done at the Verizon Center last year. After “American Land,” however, he walked to the back of the stage, picked up one of the fan-made signs he’d taken earlier in the show, and showed it to the crowd: “Obama wants Rosie.” “By executive order!” he decried. He was going to end with “Rosalita”!!

“Rosalita” has never been my favorite song, but I had heard people clamor for it at every single concert and had never heard him do it, so when I saw the sign, I flipped out. The couple next to me, who’d also decided to leave their seats, flipped out as well. And for the remaining seven minutes of the show, we all proceeded to DANCE to the song. It was probably the most arrhythmic dancing imaginable, but no one cared.

Even I did not care. I have fewer dance steps than Stephen Hawking, and yet, there I was, throwing myself around half the upper deck. If a concert can get me to do that, there’s no way it doesn’t get a plus.



Grade: A+