countdown to bruuuuuuuuuce

Mike and I are heading out Sunday night to see Springsteen, for the second time in just a few months. I am SO excited, I am like a gawky teenager who wants front row seats so Bruce can sweat on me.

Mike introduced me to Bruce Springsteen when we first started dating, he had been a huge fan for a while, and had already seen him in concert. 'The River" came out the fall we started dating, and Mike went to the next concert. His music became the background of our courtship, so of course it will always have it's own special magic and memories.

My first Springsteen concert experience was in the '80's-during the "Dancing in the Dark" phase. Mike and I had come down to the cities to spend the weekend, and the night before the concert we went to First Avenue to hear this new band called Los Lobos. The Blasters were the opening act. It was a rolicking, amazing, beer-drinking, dance until you can't dance any more kind of night. How could Bruce be any better?

Well, he was. There is a reason he is so legendary. And later on the news came out that they had filmed the "Dancing in the Dark" video (remember it on MTV? It was Courtney Cox's big break) at the concert the night before. Dang! That could have been me! Oh wait, I wasn't exactly in the front row.

So we have been to more concerts since then, both here in St. Paul, and also in Fargo. We took Charlie to his first concert in November, how fun was THAT to experience it all through a 10 year old's eyes? But he did get quite embarrassed by his mother's behavior, he had never seen me like that, all dancing, singing, and grinning. There was a lot of eye rolling, and "moooooooom!" going on. It was WONDERFUL. And for a few days after that, all he would wear to school was black tshirts and jeans. And he wanted a guitar for Christmas (which of course Mike and I jumped all over) and he starts taking lessons shortly.

Being responsible, conservative kind of people, from a money stand point, we decided to forego this concert. Well, initially we were going to go, if we could just get tickets behind the stage. Because that is our favorite place to sit, go figure. Anyway, we had both computers ready the day tickets went on sale, and after several fruitless attempts to get tickets for ourselves and some friends, we let it go. No Bruce for us. A couple of weeks later, just for kicks, I went on to Ticketmaster, and was able to find two tickets! Behind the stage! How does that work? So we threw caution to the wind, and bought them. And here we go.

I of course will write a breathless review on Monday morning. Bet you can't wait.