Bruce Springsteen and “Man-Up Weekend”

Two summers ago, my sister made an eight hour trip to our house.  She drove by herself and only spent the weekend.   Why?  Because our local independent art-house movie theatre was one of only a few in the nation that showed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: London Calling – Live in Hyde Park.      Yes, she drove all that way to see the premier of this concert film (even though she had already pre-ordered it.

I would like to think that she came to see me too.  🙂

That is the nature of her Bruce addiction.    Honestly, I had no idea until then.

But, I won’t condemn her because I am now the proud owner of Wrecking Ball.    I may be a big Bruce fan too now thanks to her.   (And, she knew this would happen to me.   I think she was setting me up.   She just called to ask how much Bruce music I had ordered!)

If you haven’t been keeping up, this is the third installment about my great weekend which featured Zombies, dinosuars, and The Boss last weekend.

The proof.   (Wow—I just noticed it said “No Photos.”   That is OK, my pictures sucked.)

After we ate at Miller’s Pub, we boarded the subway for Wrigley Field.   There must have been at least fifteen stops between The Palmer House and Wrigley and at every stop, more and more people crammed aboard.   The nephew got a seat and so did my sister, but I was left standing guard over the nephew, hoping the sleeping person he was sitting with didn’t flop over on him.     (My sister had already prepped him that he might see a few strange sites and people in Chicago and that it was not polite to stare.)      Finally, one of the regular commuters asked what was going on because there wasn’t a baseball game scheduled.     “It’s The Boss,” somebody replied.    That seemed to satisfy all the locals as to an explanation.

We finally made it to Wrigley Field in one piece without anyone’s claustrophobia erupting.

Rooftop seating at local bars (which I am told is exclusively a Wrigley thing).

Dusk at Wrigley Field.

Anticipation.

I have to say that The Hubs was incredulous that there was no opening act.  The audacity!

My sister was incredulous that my husband would think that The Boss needed an opening act.   The audacity!

There is the MAN. You will have to trust me—sucky picture.

Aisle 236 is where you could find us.

You will just have to trust me…Eddie Vedder is on stage.   Tom Morello appeared with Bruce too.

So, I have been converted totally.    I listened to Wrecking Ball at least three times last night and I have a new Bruce Pandora station playing as I type this.   My knowledge of lyrics has now gone beyond just “Born in the USA” and “Born to Run.”

The nephew was also converted I think.   He was waving his arms and yelling “Bruce” along with the rest of us by the end of the concert and he wore the concert tee that his favorite aunt bought him (me) twice to school last week.

I wonder how many more Bruce concerts the three of us will attend in the future?

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While we were rockin’ out with The Boss and friends, The Hubs, the five-year-old nephew and the brother-in-law stayed home together  for “Man-Up Weekend.”   According to my brother-in-law this includes no whining, no crying, and no women!   Apparently “Man-Up Weekend” also included staying up late, eating cookies before breakfast, waking up to strong coffee and Johnny Cash wailing on the iPod, and being allowed to order the previously mom-banned banana split waffles at the Waffle House.    🙂

Speaking of her husband, she told me that after she bought the tickets for the Chicago concert, she found out he would be in Omaha too and told her hubs that they should go to that one as well.

He told her she had a problem.  🙂

(Maybe I do too.   Just ordered Greatest Hits.)