I saw a Bruce Springsteen concert last week at Giants Stadium. I know. Amazing! Aside from the music (he played the most epic set list!), the communal appreciation for the music is the most touching. I tend to listen to a good deal of “indie rock,” though I do have very eclectic taste, and there seems to be a common attitude among indie-rockers that good music should be in small venues and only enjoyed by a small number of elite people who really get it. But shouldn’t we all be in on the fun? Great art and expression should appeal to the masses. Just because it’s a big rock show in Jersey does not make Bruce Springsteen watered down or less intellectual and stimulating than whatever Pitchfork is currently reviewing. I wish all my music experiences were like a Bruce concert. As amazing as being apart of the crowd was, he also made me feel like I was the only Jersey girl in the room.
I had to get from Manhattan to the Meadowlands so I went to Port Authority to see if I could find a bus to the show. I didn’t even need to trouble a Port Authority employee for assistance…I just followed the crowd of people wearing Springsteen shirts to the shuttle bus to the event.
I was on the bus alone because I met my family at the stadium, so I got a good chance to scope out the scene. A 60 year old man with a rounded belly and a serious beard sported a Born in the USA era shirt and his wife, definitely a Jersey girl, represented with a shirt from The Rising tour. Across the bus isle from me were four girls wearing jean skirts, bright colored tank tops, and hoop earrings. These 20-somethings gabbed about seeing Bruce and one mentioned how jealous her mother was. Then there was the guy in business-casual attire (who knows where he was coming from on a Sunday) who was meeting up with some bros at the show (I listened in on his iPhone conversation).
Giants Stadium was packed with tailgaters grilling, blasting the Boss, and downing brews in preparation for the big event. It was totally amazing. It’s great to see an enormous group of so many different people gathering together to embrace something they all love. This is how seeing music needs to be. All inclusive. Leave the pretentious elitism at the door, whether is be the door of a tiny club in Brooklyn or a huge stadium in Jersey…
Share the music and art you love with the ones you love! Here are videos and a link from the night I saw him. They are both SO worth it. Watch them
***Note: It was actually this video I found of Bjork talking about music snobs that reminded me to write about the Bruce show.***
