Bruuuuuuce

We went to the Bruce Springsteen concert in the RDS on Sunday evening - I don't know many of his songs (Born in the USA and Born to Run are the only 2 I could name before the concert), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The weather was a bit dodgy - we had one very heavy shower just before he came on stage, but then the sun shone as he arrived, and it was a very pleasant evening, with beautiful skies.

He's a great showman, full of energy, and he knows how to work his crowd, and he kept us entertained for 3 hours or so. Well worth the money, apart from the sound, which I found quite poor at the start. It did improve after a few songs, but you'd think that sound checks would have eliminated any problems (apparently the sound was bad on the Saturday night too). Maybe we were a little too far from the stage, maybe the sound was better if you were closer. But we didn't want to be crushed, so we stayed where we were - I had a little gap where I could see the screens. Those screens were far too low by the way - it was only when they were using the vertical screens that I could see properly. And I wasn't the shortest person there! But I did see the saxophonist's golden nail polish - spooky!

2 songs caught my ear: American Skin (41 Shots) - apparently a tour premiere, and Radio Nowhere. You can hear a clip from the songs by following the links (I couldn't get the link for American Skin to work for me, but you can listen to a short extract on the iTunes Store). The website is great by the way, with a review of the tour, and a set list for each day (with a scan of the actual, scribbled list), a listing of all his songs, with links to the lyrics, and of course the usual merchandising stuff, including mugs and keyrings. I took the picture above from the site itself. I didn't get half close enough for such a shot - they all looked like stick insects from where I was standing!

One peculiar thing - throughout the show, a lot of the younger men appeared to be booing him. Those were young men who seemed to be real fans - there were a couple in front of us, who knew the words to all the songs, and seemed to be enjoying every moment of the show. Really strange behaviour. When a lady gave out to them for booing, they said "he'll understand!" Mysterious or what? Another lady later told me that a few other lads told her they were not boooing, they were "bruuuuucing". So it would appear to be the "in" accolade at his concerts. I hope he's in on the secret!