janie_tangerine | dear Mr. Springsteen, you made my life.

First thing to say amidst the absolutely rambling post I'm going to do: dear Bruce, I don't know how you do it, but the fact that today I can speak without a problem when yesterday I probably killed my lungs/vocal chords (and every second of that was worth it) while when I saw Robert Plant I screamed probably one tenth and I didn't have any voice for two days, clearly shows that you are on another planet.

And that's the most perfect ensemble ever existed. ^

Now, I wish to say everything went perfect. It didn't. So I'll just get the rant out first and then go to the GOOD stuff. Because thing is, since trains to Milan cost 60 euros for a second class, to go there (not to return), I took the only one which was 30 (because it left from a secondary station and it took two hours more than the regular one) and that left at 6.15 in the morning. So I get up at four in order to be there at five thirty just to be sure. Well, after twenty minutes I find out that the train was suppressed. Since there was one who was an hour late and was supposed to pass at 5.15, I go there and ask the train conductor who was waiting there if I could take that one. He says no because it's a night train that only has beds or something. Then I ask what am I supposed to do and he goes and says 'Well, just catch another one, won't you?', like there are trains to Milan at six in the morning everywhere. So I go to talk with a clerk at the assistance who says that if I went to the other station (the main one), they would give me a free ticket for the first one leaving. So I take a subway and go to the other station, speak with another clerk, he says the same thing and I should go to the assistance so they can valid my ticket. Then I go to the assistance where the guy says that he can't do it because the train I was supposed to take was suppressed because of a strike in Sicily and if it was for a foreseen reason, I only could have a refund of mine, except that no one told me that there was a strike when I bought the ticket. Anyway, the train I could catch left at 7.30 and it was 7.10, so I just said that the refund was alright and if he could just let me go to buy the other ticket. Except that I managed to get there at 7.25 and since there was no time for the refund if I wanted to catch that I said fine, I'm paying the full price and doing the refund in Milan. So I arrive in Milan and there's a place for refunds only, except in a room without air conditioning and with something of a queue. I take the number who was 430 something and they were at 360. Needless to say, I didn't manage to do that and I'll try tomorrow or something. But that whole ordeal completely made me wanted to headdesk somewhere because of course they suppress my train after six months of planning this. No love to Italian railways, that's for sure.

Anyway, stop with the rant because well, it was worth even that scare I got that morning.

I met with

lasamy (♥ ♥ ♥) at the station and after renouncing with the ticket, having lunch, spending an hour at the FNAC where I indulged myself with half price Tom Waits records and generally having a terrific time, we managed to get to the hotel we had found, which was actually lovely and where we killed another half an hour trying to see whether the guy that plays the captain on Lost was on the episode of McLeod's Daughters they were airing. He wasn't and it was so cheesy that I could feet the sugar in my mouth, but anyway, we left before it was even over.

So we left for the stadium and how good it was to see the muber people with Bruce shirts growing by the second, from the metro to the tram we were on.. ;)

We got at the stadium about one hour and a half before it was supposed to start, the seats were numbered anyways, where we met with

alemyrddin and it was lovely! I'm really glad you liked the concert by the way, when you sent me that text I was exactly in your same conditions ;)

Once inside, it was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in the same place my whole life. And it was WONDERFUL. It was supposed to start at 8.30 and then it started at 20.50 and damnit, I was completely squeeing inside. Because I mean, I had seen him once, but alone. And sorry but with the E-Street it's a whole other thing. I spent eight years sort of preparing myself for seeing him with them and was that worth it? Every second of it. Every damn second. Also, we had pretty decent seats all things considered and were able to see everything.

So he comes out and starts with Summertime Blues and of course, everyone jumped up. And that was the time my feet started to hate me because in the subsequent three hours I sat for one song. Otherwise, I was always standing. And

lasamy too. Oh, by the way, before I start again, let me clarify that among all the people in the ESB I have an adoration beyond limits (and almost reaching Bruce limits) for Nils Lofgren, who would be his guitarist #2 and who is beyond awesome. So I made it my mission to let out more or less high pitched squealing every time he was on the big screen and

lasamy can testify that I truly did it. really, I don't know how I still have voice.

So he's through with the first and goes with Out in the Street, which is always so much fun. And then he started touching people in the first rows and his shirt started to get torn. By the end of the concert it was a rag and he totally didn't seem to mind that. Then he went with Radio Nowhere and OMG that song is so much better live. So much better. And they all were seeming to have so much fun together, I couldn't still get that I was seeing them.

Then he started with the Darkness On The Edge of Town series, because he sort of played half of that record. And I LOVE HIM SOMETHING FIERCE FOR IT because it's amazing. Nothing short of it. He went with Prove it All Night first and The Promised Land after, which would be one of my favorite songs ever or something. Then he did Spirit in the Night, during which he sort of ran with the microphone bar in hand and ended up with his knees among the public and his back along the stage, actually singing that way. I don't know how the freaking hell he can do it, but he did. right, he drank a liter of water after, but still.

Then he went and had a look at the signs in first row where people write songs they'd like to see him play. He goes, picks a bunch of them up, starts reading through it, I read a couple of words on one he seemed to like, then he goes along with it, turns it towards the public and I wanted to die because it was None But the Brave, aka a demo song that it's not actually hard to find but isn't the first casual thing everybody knows and it's one of the most beautiful things he ever wrote and he played it. The poor girl that requested it was sort of dying. Like I was, quite.

After, there were Candy's Room (and at that point

lasamy was probably dying and as soon as he arrived to that part that says 'baby if you wanna be wild' the stadium sorta exploded) and then he did Darkness on the Edge of Town and I could have died right then and there because if that isn't my favorite song of his, it's close to it. I think I wanted to cry by that point.

Then he did Hungry Heart and Darlington Country and well, you can't cry during those. I mean, they're so much fun and there was a sold out stadium singing them all. Now that's having a terrific time, isn't it?

Then there was Because the Night and well, that deserves space. First because I always liked it better when he sang it even if he gave it to Patti Smith and he only always played it live and I didn't think he was going to play it. So I kinda went crazy at the beginning. Point is, in the middle of the song my main man in the ESB aka Mr. Lofgren started with a solo which was something crazy. He went on for three minutes doing every kind of crazy thing, at one point he started spinning around while playing something fast and uhm, I lost it. Probably the whole sector had got that I have a fixation because I sort of started squealing like I never did, when someone started a 'Nils! Nils! Nils!' chorus I totally joined in and at least a lady in front of me approved because she said he was awesome. Ha. He totally is ♥. I had a look at some reviews and everyone agreed that if anything, that solo was totally worth the ticket and I totally agree. Also, I had tried to film that part but well, while doing the chorus thing I lost it and I kinda filmed the stadium lights while you only hear people screaming and me torturing my lungs and sometimes going with this is going to kill me exclamations. So I probably won't upload that one. It's way embarrassing. But I completely lost my head.

He did She's the One then and it was great, then he went with Living in the Future and did some rambling before that, except that I could only think 'yes, and I stole your title for a fic'. *headdesk* but anyway, it was great. Loved it.

Then they did Mary's Place and hello, the stadium literally exploded. I don't think I can't even begin to cover the way it did. Maaaybe I'll upload the video I managed to get of that one, if it's not too embarrassing, too.

I'm on Fire was just... he took a seat (really, a wooden seat), took it in front of the public, sat there and started singing with people touching his feet.

I have to mention that meanwhile, he had kissed at least two girls (well, his wife was at home.. XD), touched an insane lot of people, went around with a sponge and a basin throwing water all over the public (which was named the Bruce Baptism by yours truly) and went around with an Italian flag around his shoulders. God, and I repeat that they all seemed to have so MUCH fun together. And I haven't blathered about him enough but hello, Clarence Clemons is one of the best things ever happened on Earth. Him, his saxophone, his voice and well, his presence. Same thing for Steve Van Zandt. I don't love you as much as your colleague but do I? Yes. I do. Also, he was always touching Mr. Springsteen in the lower back side. Good taste. Though at one point he sort of kissed Clarence (Bruce, not Steve XD) and there was squealing, and all was good. Roy Bittan is exactly the same as he was ten years ago by the way. And ten years before. He's sort of impressive. As Garry Tallent. And Max Weinberg who was totally drinking beer behind the drum set. God, do I love the ESB?

Oh, yes, then he plays Racing in the Streets and the screaming stopped for a while because everyone was crying. I actually did cry during it the time I saw him before this one and didn't this round, but this one was so much better. So heartfelt and good and that song is perfection and just... oh Bruce.

Then he did The Rising (where everyone of course was rising in the real sense of the word), Last to Die which to be honest I started to dig only then and same thing for Long Walk Home, which is waaay better live. Also, that was where Mr. Van Zandt had his rambling moment, so I loved it.

And then THERE WAS BADLANDS and as someone asked somewhere, how many meters down deep did the stadium go? God. I swear, it was incredible. Everyone going along with it, exactly the same motions, them playing it so well, those first four beats... just... just... that song is incredible. And experiencing it live is beyond words.

Then there was the encore, which was actually almost as long as the concert, or so it seemed.

He went with Girls in their Summer Clothes (which I love), the Detroit Medley (!!!!!!!!) and until then we were a mess.

Then the lights went on and he played Born to Run. Well, that was insane. Just completely insane and in the good sense of the word. I can't find any other way to describe it. The image of that man playing that damned guitar of his that I sort of worship since I watched the live in NYC when I was thirteen and the shirt completely torn on the arms where he had shook hands with fans will haunt me for life. As Nils Lofgren with his pretty red jacket swirling around, Clarence Clemons being himself, Steve Van Zandt and that bandana of his and pretty much everyone else.

Then he played Rosalita and while I was thinking it was the last, I just... I mean. I'm going to a Bruce + ESB concert and he plays Rosalita. Can I wish for anything more? No, I can't. I totally can't. The stadium went even crazier, I went even crazier, everybody in my sector was jumping and it wasn't good, it was perfect.

The following one was Bobby Jean which I guess could have been for Danny Federici. And it sort of hurt. I mean, it was lingering there.

I don't think I have words to describe what happened during Dancing in the Dark. I would be repeating myself.

Then they played American Land and there I was sort of crying or short of it. I love that song so freaking much, it was so wonderful to hear it played by the ESB, sing it along, just.. just.. best thing ever. Then they went with Twist and Shout which I read later that was a shout out to the 1985 concert held there but it was just fun, as insane as anything else, there was twisting, there was shouting and then exactly three hours later, there was the best show I'll ever attend all my life because I know nothing is ever going to top it. There's just no one like him, he's on another planet. And when he plays with the ESB, it's another universe. Just, nothing.

We left feeling completely dazed I think. The dialogue went more or less from 'best show of my life' to 'OMG I can't believe it' to something way less refined about the still lovely state of Mr. Springsteen's back to me squealing about Nils Lofgren to the best show ever again. Also, we got shirts and

pnr, I got you one too ;) I'll see to send it over one of these days.

Coming back to the hotel was sort of crazy but we managed. This morning we also went to the hotel where they stayed in but I had to leave because I had to catch the train and

lasamy tells me that only Garry Tallent went out at one point, so at least I'm not eating my fingers for missing His Highness ;)

Now my back hurts like hell and my feet totally do, too, but well. It was worth every single thing and it was magnificent. I can't find a better word for it. And I can't even find words to say how much do I love that man and his band there, but well, for having spent eight years preparing myself for it, it couldn't have gone better. So again, dear Bruce and dear ESB, you're all made of the most awesome material ever and I really hope this won't be your last tour together. If it is, know that no one, no one, plays like you do. Can I say you're magic? ;) I totally could. Also because as I can't stop saying, I've got my voice. All of it. And believe me, I did everything possible to lose it for a week ;) much, much love and thanks for everything, yours truly.

And now some pics, even if they're really nothing too good.

This was the stadium before it started:

This was the stadium during either Born to Run or Rosalita, I don't remember really:

While here is my ESB love ♥, though this thing doesn't really make justice to his lovely awesome self:

And these just for the heck of it:

-> because I LOVE Clarence's sax. I do.

And that was the setlist so that we have everything in the same place:

Summertime blues
Out in the street
Radio nowhere
Prove it all night
The promised land
Spirit in the night
None but the brave
Candy’s room
Darkness on the edge of town
Hungry Heart
Darlington County
Because the night
She’s the one
Livin’ in the future
Mary’s place
I’m on fire
Racing in the street
The rising
Last to die
Long walk home
Badlands

Girls in their summer clothes
Detroit Medley
Born to run
Rosalita (Come out tonight)
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the dark
American land
Twist and shout

Yeah, the pics suck. As soon as someone who got better ones puts them online, I'll see to those. Anyway, that's it. If you made it until here without being as mad about the almighty church of rock n' roll that Bruce + ESB as I am, you deserve a prize ;)

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: growin' up - bruce springsteen