Wrecking Ball Hits Giant Stadium

photos by: GinaG @ GS 9/30/09
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I needed to make a choice... Philly... Madison Square Garden or Giant Stadium... I could NOT do all three and really needed to save for the shows that were coming to my hometown and surrounding areas... How could I travel to Europe and all around the states, yet miss the shows in Cleveland... Detroit and Buffalo?? I decided that I wouldn't go to Giant Stadium... but Rachel and Maaike were coming over from Holland and Angela. Melania, Frankie and Tony were coming from Italy!! Jeremy had an extra ticket and since I was picking up tickets for the girls... he could even "front" me my ticket... well... I had to go. I had never been to Giant Stadium... and this might be the last chance I'd get to see the E Street Band there... since I had missed the Reunion and Rising Tours... I had so much catching up to do. One really cool thing I had heard about these shows was that with the GS GA procedure the first 1000 people to show up for pit lottery wristbands would automatically be in the HUGE pit! I guess that was one good thing... Rachel and Maaike had seats... so Leticia and I got there early... meeting up with Dana, Sheila, Heidi and Liz... Angela, Melania and many of my Italian friends also showed up... bringing their joy and excitement with them!! Leticia speaks fluent Italian which was cool. She fit right in! We got a nice spot a few rows behind the middle cat walk and another really tall guy let us stand in front of him... he was very sweet! There were a group of Italians right in front of him and how adorable they were... the men were shorter than their wives so they stood in front of them and the ladies stood with Leticia and I behind them... They reminded me of my Grandma from Sicily. It was a beautiful night so far. The show started with a new song... an interesting new song that Bruce supposedly had written the night before in honor of the tearing down of Giant Stadium.

One thing is for sure...

The mosquitoes and the bites they leave are frickin' HUGE!! :(

Wish I could say that the mosquitoes were the only negative that night... but woe was me. After Wrecking Ball the band went right into Seeds and the Johnny 99... we were rockin' when suddenly out of nowhere the Italian couples in front of me were mowed over by a camera man followed by his "dog" who was assigned to "keep people like us" back... as they took our wonderful little places at the foot of the catwalk to get another "angle" for the DVD(?) perhaps or maybe just for the big screens. I was dismayed and shocked at this "dog's" behavior and so I asked him wtf he thought he was doing... joking how Bruce was just about to sing to me... when he yelled in my face that Bruce wouldn't sing "a fucking note" to me... and threatened to throw me out... I told him to give me back my money and I would leave on my own!! Though he did apologize the next night for his rudeness brought on by lack of sleep... I was very hurt and unsure why I hadn't listened to myself and skipped Giant Stadium. What could he have been thinking to say that to a fan? What made things even worse is that Bruce was singing the very song that I had just told myself on the drive to NJ that I wanted to hear... Atlantic City. By the end of Outlaw Pete they had left... thankfully.

We got the Born To Run album that night... It was an 8 hour drive to Jersey from my home... and on the way while I was driving I was thinking about how wonderful it could be... if Bruce would just take his time... and not rush it... like in the old days... when it didn't feel like a song... it felt like he was breathing life into each word. I so hoped that he would take his time... and he did... from the very first notes of Thunder Road through to Meeting Across The River and into Jungleland... it was amazing.

The rest of the show was a lot of fun... though some don't understand how they can go from Jungleland into Waitin' On a Sunny Day... I love the song. It's so sweet to watch Bruce interact with the kids... So... I'm taping it for Summer Breeze and security tells me to stop so I take it down but it won't shut off for some reason... so why not record... since it's on... might as well. It turns out that the kid Bruce is singing with is the nephew of my friend Ashley... and I got it on tape!! Good thing it didn't shut off. ;)

Then Bruce shared his "Birthday Dream" with us...

or was that a "Nightmare!!"

Willie Nile joined the band for a few songs... and Bruce took another opportunity to dance with the lady of his choice... she was flattered by his charm! As sweet as he is... how did he come out of Jersey? :o The next two nights we got Darkness On The Edge of Town and Born In The USA in full... and while the shows were as always, great... Darkness AMAZING... I was in a funk... I'm not sure why... but it was tangible... at least from where I was standing. Maybe I should have skipped the shows... but then I would have missed Bruce's cover of Tom Wait's Jersey Girl. :) It was beautiful.

After Jersey Girl left... Kitty came Back... and the show took off! Detroit Medley led us into American Land... and to close with style... they sprung for fireworks!! What I found most interesting... was that with all the yuck and funk I was feeling... the music was able to break through... and take me to that place again... where everything is alright. The highlight of the night for me was when Stevie came over to the catwalk at the far end... where I was standing... and at the end of Thunder Road he slipped his pick into my hand! Thanks, Stevie!!

Now... come what may... I would have to skip Philly. :(

But could I?? (or is that Good Eye?) ;)