Then a million suns cresting where you stood
A beauty in the neighborhood
This lonely planet never looked so good
This life, this life and then the next
With you I have been blessed, what more can you expect
This life, this life and then the next
This Life, Bruce Springsteen
I am so blessed to have experienced a once-in-a-lifetime concert on Sunday night. I've tried to write down how it made me feel, and I've pretty much failed to accurately convey to my contentment. I was hoping the writer in me would pull through the wall of emotions cascading down on me like a waterfall.
Imaginary voice in my head, tries to draw out the muse...."But this was like your gazillionth Springsteen concert. How could it possibly be better or different or whatever...."
Well, there are some facts that make it different.
The music played on Saturday night was music not usually played. Music off his 2nd album, made in the 70s, at a time when music was going thorough an incredible metamorphism. It was before his "big" break with Born to Run. Many consider The Wild, the Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle to be more of a collection of musician's music. Something old-time fans really embrace, and not because we're old! There's storytelling in the older songs that just tumble out like poetry. But there's music, jamming, soul-searching, boot-quaking music as well. There's horns and strings and many many things that are often no longer part of a song that makes it on the airwaves these days.
The closest I can describe to how hearing those songs played live made me feel is to say that "It feels like being in love." Heart-racing, adrenaline-pumping, light-headed, floating, surreal, dreamy, perma-grin, alive feeling that stays with you long after you've left the object of your affection.
I have confirmation that I am not the only one who has ever felt this way. What a great feeling to share, across the oceans, across a world full of terrible events and disappointments; we all know what it feels like to have felt love, in its many unique forms.
I'd like to leave with this snippet of inspiration and wish you all some love today. The ever uplifting, soulful Higher & Higher, brought - dare I say - to new heights Saturday night, with a great guest appearance by Elvis Costello. I swear if your toe does not start tapping, check your pulse.
4 comments:
Well, I didn't have to check my pulse. That was fantastic. Was that the Tower of Power on the horns?
It's been a long time since I've gone to a concert by any of my most deeply loved bands/artists but I know just what you mean about the power. It leaves me uplifted and depressed (that I can't have it all the time) for days.
Oh what fun! I'm not a music person, per se, but I do get attached to one musician at a time and understand the draw. This is powerful stuff.
So who gave Bruce and Elvis permission to get old?
How can you not love The Boss? Glad you had a good time.
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