My friend Peter Insley said out the word on Facebook around 9pm Saturday night: "At Bruce Springsteen, In rain delay".
My thought? Man, am I glad I wasn't there, was my first thought. And , since Bruce didn't hit the stage till a mind boggling 1030pm -which means Peter didn't leave till TWO AM, which is, you gotta admit, somewhat on the late side. And also somewhat on the other side of September 22nd and right into Springsteens birthday on the 63rd.
What Pete got to see was two renditions of "Happy Birthday" and Bruce's 87 year old mom Adele, along with his sister, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, present him with a cake. Pretty amazing right. This was the first time Bruce has played on his birthday since cells were invented!
The set itself looked like busy as usual, though kicking off with "Out On The Street after (people are saying three hour, but really two hour because he always goes on at 830p) delay. Still, no big shockers in the business as usual set, "Who'll Stop The Rain" is typical on rainy outdoor shows. Nice to see his old pal Gary US Bonds joining in and how about "In The Midnight Hour", pop pickers?
I called Peter Insley on Monday morning and his memories of Saturday night were all good, "Amazing energy from begining to end," Peter claimed. "A lot of old stuff, a lot from Wrecking Ball, an album I love. He was like Daddy giving cake to the fans in front of the stage. His Mom sang back-up on 'Twist And Shout'.
"I've seen Bruce several times, I had tickets to see him at Fenway but I was out of town on business. The best time I saw Bruce was when he played The Rising from one end to the other at Giant's Stadium in 2010. But this was a close second."
Happy Birthday Boss, long may you destroy people's sleeping habits.