when they said stand up i sat down

springsteen's 5/18 DC show sucked.

ok before you freak out, take a deep breath. it's mostly my fault. for bothering to get tickets. i should have known. i really did know better. sometimes i just get so blinded by hope and denial that between the two, i lose rationale (ask anyone!). and seeing bruce springsteen in washington dc in 2009 is totally irrational.

that said,

i know he's 60. i know this. and i know it was the verizon center 2009, not the bottom line 1977. i know this. and i know 80 kajillion more people (mostly dorks, who thought Born in USA was a patriotic song) like his music, i know this.

and even though and he brought SOME passion,

this show was flat and uninteresting. contrived and over-produced. sanitized, soulless. absent of everything that separates a bruce springsteen show from the pack.

yes, this one was a bust.

i don't GIVE A SHIT that the whole place sang every song word for word. i don't give a shit that it was sold out. i don't give a shit WHO told you how great it was. it wasn't. it just wasn't. i mean, even when he was clearly READING from a floor card -- how important it is to support the DC Central Kitchen (it IS!) he sounded like an obligatory radio PSA. absent of that big, brave bruce HEART.

this was especially disheartening since bruce springsteen, as we all know, can make a whole STADIUM feel his soul, or find something in YOUR soul you missed along the way. where were the personal and intimate song intro's (he CAN DO THIS in huge stadiums - HE HAS DONE THIS in huge stadiums, i SAID that already, right?) -- the way he just talks his way, making it OUR way, into a song? where was the story-teller where from inside his heart he shows you how the song happened until YOU are there, and then, you realize the band has picked up adding a whole new dimension to the experience -- that it's now YOUR story -- and just LIFTS you until you recognize the number and you clutch the arm of the person next to you and you both land right in the middle of eddies' meeting across the river or sandy's last summer, or standing stone like at midnight frozen on tenth avenue.

but it didn't happen, not ONE TIME on may 18th.

i wanted at least ONE song to make me hold tears back - for all the reasons that YOU know about. you DO know.

well, before i write myself off of the ledge, i will tell you about one (and perhaps the only) positive note in the show: as you may know, in recent bruce tour history, people make signs with catchy song request sayings on them. well, that's cool, but all you hopeful signmakers should know that unless your song is in the set list, no matter HOW FUCKING COOL YOUR SIGN IS, he won't show it. anyway, so Bruce is holding a sign and asking the floor: "WHO SENT THIS UP?" turns out a little girl sent it up and it said: "JONAS BROTHERS SCHMONAS BROTHERS! 9 YEAR OLDS ARE "OUT IN THE STREET" tonight, and, so everyone laughed i thanked god that they'd perform a song from the river (and not that fucking outlaw pete shit). and not only did he play it for the little girl, he asked for the kid to come to the stage, and people just crowd-surfed her gently across the floor to the stage and he sat down next to her on the edge of the stage and sang the song with her -- she went word for word. he, at some points, just gave her the mic and let her go. that was a very sweet moment. a total crowd-pleaser. when they were done he gave her a hug and a pat on the head and the crowd carried her back over the audience to her mom. ok -- that WAS good. but it was 1/25 of the whole shitty show. and the vibe was obliterated by that fucking outlaw pete shit.

even the encore blew. no "backstreets". no "meeting across the river" (i know he never plays that). no "jungleland". no "thunder road". NO THUNDER ROAD? FUCK THAT. no "growin' up".
NO GROWIN UP??? i mean, how can you NOT want to hear the crowd sing with you the line "when they said sit down i stood up"? BRUCE WHAT THE FUCK. that's pretty much why, when the crowd stood up i sat down. really. when they were all creamin' over that shit from the wrestler (yes yes it was a great movie butyou know what i mean), i was wondering when you were gonna play "spirit in the night". or "night".

but even though this show was clearly someone else's show (not MY show) i am still a purist, dedicated-to-the-core fan. you know why? and why i still have greetings from asbury park playing every day in my stereo? because if bruce were in my shoes may 18th, and HE had gone to that show for the reasons i did, he'd be feeling the same way. HE hasn't changed, the consumers of his music have. he is just giving the people what they want. and you can't blame the guy for that.

i think i'll put in the wild, the innocent and the e-street shuffle in now.
i like the way "incident on 57th street" flows seamlessly into "rosalita". i just wish i could have heard it the other night.