The year is 1999 and I had just heard the hit ‘Dancing In The Dark’ on Adelaide’s Triple M.
I wish I could say this was the moment I fell in love with the Boss – but alas, it wasn’t until the mid 2000’s when I saw the accompanying film clip, which is arguable the best film clip ever. For those who haven’t seen the film clip I’m going to take a moment to explain it in great detail…
Bruce Springsteen – Dancing In The Dark
We open to a very, very fit, young and of course handsome Bruce Springsteen, quite literally clicking his fingers and taping his toes while he performs Dancing In The Dark on stage. Springsteen is sporting a pair of high waisted jeans and a white t-shirt when he notices a young Courtney Cox in the audience. He proceeds to pull her up on stage and dance with her… and if this isn’t every adolescent girl or boy’s fantasy than I don’t wanna know about it. Needless to say it’s a winning combination of good music, groovy dance moves and Bruce Springsteen in tight jeans.
Of course I’m talking about the Boss because Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band just performed two epic shows at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre and I was lucky enough to catch the performance on Saturday night.
Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello performing on stage at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band opened with ‘High Hopes’, an upbeat track from the 1996 Blood Brothers EP, followed by a real oldie, ‘The Promise Land’ from the 1978 album Darkness on The Edge of Town. The entire show, (which was over 3 hours) was a combination of Bruce Springsteen’s new and old songs, and the hits of course: The Streets of Philadelphia, The Rising, Born To Run, The Ghost of Tom Joad, an acoustic version of Blinded By The Light (my personal favourite) and of course Dancing In The Dark.
Though the show would be nothing without the very talented E-Street Band. The E-Street Band is made up of backing vocalists and percussionists, a drummer, four brass players, a pianist, bass player, and two guitarists including Tom Morello (Rise Against The Machine). Morello would definitely be a personal highlight of the show; his mad guitar skills were unparalleled.
The show was both incredibly entertaining and intimate, which is incredible considering the size of the venue. Springsteen made his way around the BEC shaking hands, high-fiving and kissing his beloved audience members on more than three occasions. During his performance of Waitin’ On A Sunny Day, Springsteen pulled an oh-so-cute eleven year old to stage (who by the way was dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt and a red cap hanging from his back pocket) and let him sing the final chorus of the song. But Springsteen didn’t stop there, oh no, it gets better, hand in hand Springsteen and the boy slid across the stage on their knees. It brought this Bruce-lover to tears.
During Springsteen’s performance of ‘My City of Ruins, he asked for complete silence in order to remember “the places that never leave us, and the people that never leave us” and for almost a minuet the entire BEC was silent, truly awe-inspiring.
Springsteen said prior to their first performance in Australia, “we just come out to be at our best really” and they truly were, all 3 hours of it. It was an impressive, intimate and entertaining performance, and one I shall never forget.
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