My parents were never shy to entertain. We had extended family over at our house for one thing or another many, many times as I was growing up. The parties would be all year around, and eventually it would be our turn to host Thanksgiving or Christmas; a cold holiday that often meant frigid temperatures.
Fortunately, my dad made good use of the fireplace in our family room. It added ambiance and much needed warmth for everyone in attendance.
The memory I want to mention is one of the most vivid of my childhood. It all took place after the party ended. I was tired, it was late, the house was cold, and it was SO comfortable to sit on the couch and watch the fire. Dad would put some music on and crank up the volume while he helped Mom with the dishes. Every so often, he would grab me and my sister Eileen off the couch and dance with us in front of the fireplace. This was especially funny since Dad could neither sing nor dance.
I unknowingly listened to plenty of good music. Eric Clapton, BB King, Supetramp, REO Speedwagon, and his favorite, Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen was my favorite too. Maybe it was Dad that made it this way, but his songs always made me more upbeat and happy than any others. When I think of this memory, Bruce is the only one I can hear.
Fast forward, and it's February of this year. It's a mild winter, but my heart longs for baseball. BaseBlog was just a twinkle in my eye at this point.
I was surfing my favorite Cubs site, Bleed Cubbie Blue, on a lazy weekend. I saw someone posted a story about the updated concert list for the upcoming summer. Concerts were nothing new to Wrigley. It's played host to some world class acts since 2005. Paul McCartney (with Elton John), Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews Band, and Roger Waters have all done it.
What I saw in the article made my jaw drop. Bruce Springsteen himself would be there in September on his "Wrecking Ball" Tour. I immediately told myself this is one of the events I absolutely had to be at; something I've only done a handful of times in my life.
I immediately called Mom. It didn't matter how, but I had to surprise Dad with this. The next chance would be Father's Day in June. Sure, that works for me.
To make a long story short, I had 6 computers set up. Mom and I locked ourselves in the computer room when tickets went on sale April 21st (when I was home for my second game of the season, actually). I know Wrigley like the back of my hand, so I knew the best value places to sit.
It was painful to wait those couple months with the tickets in my desk and not able to talk to my Dad about it. He mentioned it, ironically enough, at the game on the 22nd. He didn't seem to interested or know much about it.
June finally came, and I had the idea to stick the tickets in the case to Bruce's newest CD, also named Wrecking Ball. He wasn't expecting it at all, and I told him the whole story about how we got them and how long I had been waiting to ask for all the CDs he had. There were many, many more than I had anticipated.
I listened to as much as I could. I knew there would be some songs I wouldn't know at the concert, but it would be a waste to not enjoy the less popular ones. I came to like the newest CD as well as his first, most famous, and some argue best album, Born to Run.
As soon as I heard the start to "Thunder Road", I was taken back to the couch at Christmas. Half the songs on BTR did the same thing. It's amazing how each one struck the same memory and feelings.
My favorite song going in was "Land of Hope and Dreams", mostly because it made an appearance in this trailer. (How fitting, right?)
I have no classes on Friday's this semester, so I was able to get home Thursday night. We really didn't know what was going to happen as far as getting there. I knew rules and trends for games, but this was a horse of a different color. The shuttle from DeVry on Addison seemed to be available, and was the easiest option we found.
We had five tickets. Dad, Mom and I with my mom's friends who knew Sean Marshall's parents. We picked them up at about 5 and got on our way. I was a little concerned about being late for the 7:30 start when we were just getting into Addison traffic at 6:30. We made it with barley enough time to spare (which ended up being more than enough since it started much later than scheduled).
The amount of people there blew my mind. Wrigley can fit 42,000 filled to the brim for a baseball game. The Bleachers were closed tonight, but there many more seats on the field than people that could fit in the Bleachers. This was easily the largest crowd I was ever a part of here.
The buzz outside was energizing and exciting, something that wasn't too common anymore. I couldn't help but wonder when the Cubs would be the reason for the happiness. One day....one day.
Some people were seeing Bruce for the 10th time, and some were seeing him for the first time just like me. I got the feeling that EVERYONE knew they were going to see a fantastic show. Bruce was always great live, but at a special venue like this, there was no way he would let us down.
Thanks to the terribly placed merchandise stand, the throngs of people were at a standstill inside. This place wasn't ready to handle this kind of crowd; it was packed everywhere and people could barley move. We fought our way through to the closest ramp to try to get up to our seats. I got my first view of the stage from behind section 223.
It was just past 7:30, and I sure as Hell wasn't going to miss the first song. We made our way up as quickly as possible. I found the seats while the other four grabbed some beers.
Not too bad, eh? They WERE the cheapest seats, but my obsession with seating charts let me put us in the best position. People about 20 feet down and to the right paid more than double what we did.
I first had to adjust to seeing normal people walk all over the most hallowed ground I have ever known. There were plenty more changes for the special occasion. To name a few:
(Note: Almost none of the pictures from here on out are mine. Mine turned out really horrible, so the ones you see are from numerous sources. Some videos ARE from the Saturday show, but I felt the ones I picked were a good representation of what happened on Friday when I was there.)
A new customized scoreboard, brand new letters and all.
I wish there was a better picture of these flags, but I can't find one anywhere. It was the cover of Wrecking Ball along with "Wrigley Field 2012" in Cubs colors and the same font on the bottom. I wish you could have bought them somewhere, because it was a one of a kind item unique for this show. This was the right field pole, but they also had them next to the marquee out front, at the top of the scoreboard, and some on the roof under the lights.
The Miller Lite people put in some extra thought into their billboard, too.
When I bought the tickets, spring was just getting into bloom. You all know there wasn't much of a winter in the Midwest but it was getting sunnier and warmer nonetheless. I imagined it would be almost like summer weather, with a touch of fall crispness in the air. The beginning of September was still pretty warm sometimes, right?
For this, absolutely not. I had been sitting up here for only 20 minutes and was kind of miserable. It was barley 60, a strong breeze was coming right at my face, and there was a possibility for rain. I couldn't complain that it cold enough to freeze, but the last thing I wanted was to have wet clothes and have to sit through a marathon show. Luckily, we were now under the roof, and it only slightly drizzled for 10-15 minutes the whole night.
By now, it was just past 8:00. Everyone was anxiously waiting and ready to go. It was just about every five minutes there would be a "BRUUUUUUUCE!!!" that would rumble through the crowd.
I watched one of the Under Armor doors within the ivy closely to see them come out. The Boss led them behind the stage, but was the last to enter.
I won't lie- I didn't know the first song, and it disappointed me a little bit. I wish it was something I could sing to, but "Prove It All Night" was a pretty awesome anyways. Like I said, I was here to enjoy, and learn some new tunes too.
The same was for the second and third songs. Come on! He knows the ones everybody wants to hear!
He finally threw in a favorite with the fourth song, "Hungry Heart".
(I can assure you, I hear the singing, and it is indeed atrocious. But it gets the point across.)
It was pretty chilling to be singing the intro with 44,000 people. We all knew the words, and I enjoyed being a part of the huge chorus.
Right after, he moved into the new stuff from Wrecking Ball; the stuff I really liked and was the most familiar with. My favorite from the album was, again, "Wrecking Ball". (I feel like I've typed that way too much already.)
Before he started "My City of Ruins", he greeted the crowd again. Dad told me he always tries to find something out about the city he's in each night.
"Hey up there on the roof!," he said while pointing to the rooftops on Sheffield "...How much you pay?!". That got a pretty good laugh from everyone.
Then he introduced the very long list of band members, all of whom got an ovation from the crowd when mentioned.
He continued with a message to the Wrigley faithful:
"Hey Cub fans- we gotta do some exorcisms in this place, right?!".
That one was met with a groan and a tear from me. Patience is a virtue. (On a side note, the amount of White Sox apparel I saw throughout the night was nauseating. Just because you have a lame stadium with no concerts doesn't mean you come and blatantly show disrespect.)
Later in the same intro, he pointed out to left field:
"Are we missing anybody tonight?!....I SAID are we missing anyone important tonight?!". Just then, a bright spotlight flashed up on the flag flying from the left field flag pole. It was Ron's. Pretty cool of him to notice he was the most beloved of any player.
After doing about a thousand shows in your lifetime, you get bored of the same old thing. Bruce has run into many musicians and obviously made a lot of friends over the years. Before starting "Atlantic City", which is one of my new favorites, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam came out to sing and add a little on guitar for a few songs. Vedder is from Chicago, and also writer and performer one of the only songs to make me cry every time.
After Eddie, Bruce brought out his second guest-Tom Morello, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, and also a native Chicagoan. He proudly sported his Cub hat while he was on stage. He played a few tunes, including a wicked ending solo for another one of my new favorites, "The Ghost of Old Tom Joad".
Notice there was no mention of an opening act. It was about 10 PM already, and Bruce was still going strong. One of the reasons so many people love him is because he goes almost four hours for ever single show he plays. Being 62 and not as agile as he used to be, he slowed it down a little bit every so often to take a break.
Other new favorites were "Shackled and Drawn" and "Waiting on a Sunny Day", where he brought up a different kind of special guest up on stage. Bruce also obliged by playing "Land of Hope and Dreams"; my favorite coming in, as you read earlier (so I actually used my own video!).
I knew it was only a matter of time until we got to the best of the best. I mentioned before that Bruce has done well over 1,000 shows in his life, if not more. He's played Born to Run for all of them. Every. Single. One.
Dad told me in the weeks leading up to the show "That's his most famous song...he wrote it when he was 21 years old". Whenever he said that, the tone of his voice told me it really was one of the more special songs he played.
That would normally be the highlight of the show, and maybe even the last song. On a sad note, Bruce was saving one song specifically for the finale.
On June 18th, 2011, Bruce lost the saxophonist of the E-Street Band and his best friend, Clarence Clemons due to a stroke. The Big Man was there from the very beginning, and had been through it all with Bruce (He's the one featured on the Born to Run cover with him).
This was the first tour without him. Clemons' nephew Jake took over the sax duties, and is filling the shoes as well as anyone could. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was devoted to Clarence. If you're a fan of Bruce, or even if you're not, this is the one video I want everyone to watch (skip to 2:40 if you must).
This wasn't actually the last song, either. I think he tried to channel his inner Ferris with a "Twist and Shout" cover before he left the stage.
It was 11:40. Clock it at just about three and a half hours. Every second of sitting out in the cold was worth it. I really, sincerely hope I get to see him again live. Next time there won't be a single song I don't recognize.
If you want to see every song he played, click here. I found that website very helpful when writing this.
If you want to listen to the whole concert, click here. (It's really awesome someone uploaded that.)
This was a fantastic weekend. (I took in the Northwestern game at Ryan Field with Kyra on Saturday night, too. GO CATS!) When I got back to my apartment on Sunday night, I tore open the envelope that came from eBay.
One more.
Fortunately, my dad made good use of the fireplace in our family room. It added ambiance and much needed warmth for everyone in attendance.
The memory I want to mention is one of the most vivid of my childhood. It all took place after the party ended. I was tired, it was late, the house was cold, and it was SO comfortable to sit on the couch and watch the fire. Dad would put some music on and crank up the volume while he helped Mom with the dishes. Every so often, he would grab me and my sister Eileen off the couch and dance with us in front of the fireplace. This was especially funny since Dad could neither sing nor dance.
I unknowingly listened to plenty of good music. Eric Clapton, BB King, Supetramp, REO Speedwagon, and his favorite, Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen was my favorite too. Maybe it was Dad that made it this way, but his songs always made me more upbeat and happy than any others. When I think of this memory, Bruce is the only one I can hear.
Fast forward, and it's February of this year. It's a mild winter, but my heart longs for baseball. BaseBlog was just a twinkle in my eye at this point.
I was surfing my favorite Cubs site, Bleed Cubbie Blue, on a lazy weekend. I saw someone posted a story about the updated concert list for the upcoming summer. Concerts were nothing new to Wrigley. It's played host to some world class acts since 2005. Paul McCartney (with Elton John), Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews Band, and Roger Waters have all done it.
What I saw in the article made my jaw drop. Bruce Springsteen himself would be there in September on his "Wrecking Ball" Tour. I immediately told myself this is one of the events I absolutely had to be at; something I've only done a handful of times in my life.
I immediately called Mom. It didn't matter how, but I had to surprise Dad with this. The next chance would be Father's Day in June. Sure, that works for me.
To make a long story short, I had 6 computers set up. Mom and I locked ourselves in the computer room when tickets went on sale April 21st (when I was home for my second game of the season, actually). I know Wrigley like the back of my hand, so I knew the best value places to sit.
It was painful to wait those couple months with the tickets in my desk and not able to talk to my Dad about it. He mentioned it, ironically enough, at the game on the 22nd. He didn't seem to interested or know much about it.
June finally came, and I had the idea to stick the tickets in the case to Bruce's newest CD, also named Wrecking Ball. He wasn't expecting it at all, and I told him the whole story about how we got them and how long I had been waiting to ask for all the CDs he had. There were many, many more than I had anticipated.
I listened to as much as I could. I knew there would be some songs I wouldn't know at the concert, but it would be a waste to not enjoy the less popular ones. I came to like the newest CD as well as his first, most famous, and some argue best album, Born to Run.
As soon as I heard the start to "Thunder Road", I was taken back to the couch at Christmas. Half the songs on BTR did the same thing. It's amazing how each one struck the same memory and feelings.
My favorite song going in was "Land of Hope and Dreams", mostly because it made an appearance in this trailer. (How fitting, right?)
 |
| The album was released in 1975, but he still uses that exact same guitar today. Pay attention and you'll see it from time to time in the videos I put in here. |
We had five tickets. Dad, Mom and I with my mom's friends who knew Sean Marshall's parents. We picked them up at about 5 and got on our way. I was a little concerned about being late for the 7:30 start when we were just getting into Addison traffic at 6:30. We made it with barley enough time to spare (which ended up being more than enough since it started much later than scheduled).
The amount of people there blew my mind. Wrigley can fit 42,000 filled to the brim for a baseball game. The Bleachers were closed tonight, but there many more seats on the field than people that could fit in the Bleachers. This was easily the largest crowd I was ever a part of here.
The buzz outside was energizing and exciting, something that wasn't too common anymore. I couldn't help but wonder when the Cubs would be the reason for the happiness. One day....one day.
Some people were seeing Bruce for the 10th time, and some were seeing him for the first time just like me. I got the feeling that EVERYONE knew they were going to see a fantastic show. Bruce was always great live, but at a special venue like this, there was no way he would let us down.
Thanks to the terribly placed merchandise stand, the throngs of people were at a standstill inside. This place wasn't ready to handle this kind of crowd; it was packed everywhere and people could barley move. We fought our way through to the closest ramp to try to get up to our seats. I got my first view of the stage from behind section 223.
It was just past 7:30, and I sure as Hell wasn't going to miss the first song. We made our way up as quickly as possible. I found the seats while the other four grabbed some beers.
Not too bad, eh? They WERE the cheapest seats, but my obsession with seating charts let me put us in the best position. People about 20 feet down and to the right paid more than double what we did.
I first had to adjust to seeing normal people walk all over the most hallowed ground I have ever known. There were plenty more changes for the special occasion. To name a few:
(Note: Almost none of the pictures from here on out are mine. Mine turned out really horrible, so the ones you see are from numerous sources. Some videos ARE from the Saturday show, but I felt the ones I picked were a good representation of what happened on Friday when I was there.)
A new customized scoreboard, brand new letters and all.
I wish there was a better picture of these flags, but I can't find one anywhere. It was the cover of Wrecking Ball along with "Wrigley Field 2012" in Cubs colors and the same font on the bottom. I wish you could have bought them somewhere, because it was a one of a kind item unique for this show. This was the right field pole, but they also had them next to the marquee out front, at the top of the scoreboard, and some on the roof under the lights.
The Miller Lite people put in some extra thought into their billboard, too.
When I bought the tickets, spring was just getting into bloom. You all know there wasn't much of a winter in the Midwest but it was getting sunnier and warmer nonetheless. I imagined it would be almost like summer weather, with a touch of fall crispness in the air. The beginning of September was still pretty warm sometimes, right?
For this, absolutely not. I had been sitting up here for only 20 minutes and was kind of miserable. It was barley 60, a strong breeze was coming right at my face, and there was a possibility for rain. I couldn't complain that it cold enough to freeze, but the last thing I wanted was to have wet clothes and have to sit through a marathon show. Luckily, we were now under the roof, and it only slightly drizzled for 10-15 minutes the whole night.
By now, it was just past 8:00. Everyone was anxiously waiting and ready to go. It was just about every five minutes there would be a "BRUUUUUUUCE!!!" that would rumble through the crowd.
I watched one of the Under Armor doors within the ivy closely to see them come out. The Boss led them behind the stage, but was the last to enter.
I won't lie- I didn't know the first song, and it disappointed me a little bit. I wish it was something I could sing to, but "Prove It All Night" was a pretty awesome anyways. Like I said, I was here to enjoy, and learn some new tunes too.
The same was for the second and third songs. Come on! He knows the ones everybody wants to hear!
He finally threw in a favorite with the fourth song, "Hungry Heart".
It was pretty chilling to be singing the intro with 44,000 people. We all knew the words, and I enjoyed being a part of the huge chorus.
Right after, he moved into the new stuff from Wrecking Ball; the stuff I really liked and was the most familiar with. My favorite from the album was, again, "Wrecking Ball". (I feel like I've typed that way too much already.)
Before he started "My City of Ruins", he greeted the crowd again. Dad told me he always tries to find something out about the city he's in each night.
"Hey up there on the roof!," he said while pointing to the rooftops on Sheffield "...How much you pay?!". That got a pretty good laugh from everyone.
Then he introduced the very long list of band members, all of whom got an ovation from the crowd when mentioned.
He continued with a message to the Wrigley faithful:
"Hey Cub fans- we gotta do some exorcisms in this place, right?!".
That one was met with a groan and a tear from me. Patience is a virtue. (On a side note, the amount of White Sox apparel I saw throughout the night was nauseating. Just because you have a lame stadium with no concerts doesn't mean you come and blatantly show disrespect.)
Later in the same intro, he pointed out to left field:
"Are we missing anybody tonight?!....I SAID are we missing anyone important tonight?!". Just then, a bright spotlight flashed up on the flag flying from the left field flag pole. It was Ron's. Pretty cool of him to notice he was the most beloved of any player.
After doing about a thousand shows in your lifetime, you get bored of the same old thing. Bruce has run into many musicians and obviously made a lot of friends over the years. Before starting "Atlantic City", which is one of my new favorites, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam came out to sing and add a little on guitar for a few songs. Vedder is from Chicago, and also writer and performer one of the only songs to make me cry every time.
After Eddie, Bruce brought out his second guest-Tom Morello, the guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, and also a native Chicagoan. He proudly sported his Cub hat while he was on stage. He played a few tunes, including a wicked ending solo for another one of my new favorites, "The Ghost of Old Tom Joad".
Notice there was no mention of an opening act. It was about 10 PM already, and Bruce was still going strong. One of the reasons so many people love him is because he goes almost four hours for ever single show he plays. Being 62 and not as agile as he used to be, he slowed it down a little bit every so often to take a break.
Other new favorites were "Shackled and Drawn" and "Waiting on a Sunny Day", where he brought up a different kind of special guest up on stage. Bruce also obliged by playing "Land of Hope and Dreams"; my favorite coming in, as you read earlier (so I actually used my own video!).
I knew it was only a matter of time until we got to the best of the best. I mentioned before that Bruce has done well over 1,000 shows in his life, if not more. He's played Born to Run for all of them. Every. Single. One.
Dad told me in the weeks leading up to the show "That's his most famous song...he wrote it when he was 21 years old". Whenever he said that, the tone of his voice told me it really was one of the more special songs he played.
That would normally be the highlight of the show, and maybe even the last song. On a sad note, Bruce was saving one song specifically for the finale.
On June 18th, 2011, Bruce lost the saxophonist of the E-Street Band and his best friend, Clarence Clemons due to a stroke. The Big Man was there from the very beginning, and had been through it all with Bruce (He's the one featured on the Born to Run cover with him).
This was the first tour without him. Clemons' nephew Jake took over the sax duties, and is filling the shoes as well as anyone could. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was devoted to Clarence. If you're a fan of Bruce, or even if you're not, this is the one video I want everyone to watch (skip to 2:40 if you must).
This wasn't actually the last song, either. I think he tried to channel his inner Ferris with a "Twist and Shout" cover before he left the stage.
It was 11:40. Clock it at just about three and a half hours. Every second of sitting out in the cold was worth it. I really, sincerely hope I get to see him again live. Next time there won't be a single song I don't recognize.
If you want to see every song he played, click here. I found that website very helpful when writing this.
If you want to listen to the whole concert, click here. (It's really awesome someone uploaded that.)
This was a fantastic weekend. (I took in the Northwestern game at Ryan Field with Kyra on Saturday night, too. GO CATS!) When I got back to my apartment on Sunday night, I tore open the envelope that came from eBay.
One more.
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