The Wrecking Ball tour

Maybe love letters to bands is what I'm supposed to be doing on this blog. I tried traveling and lifestyle and makeup you know the works, didn't end up so well. Maybe I could write a whole rant about this new shampoo I tried this month and believe me it's beyond amazing. But who the hell cares about my hair? Even I don't most days so why should you? This was one of the things behind the reason of todays blog...

Here's a warning, I'm going to sit here, chew on my favorite chocolate cookies and whine about how much I love Bruce Springsteen. But first! I got an email recently from this woman, at least I think it was a woman, giving me a full blown rant about how it boggles her mind that millenials love Bruce, if there's nostalgia for a time we didn't live in behind it and that at the end of the day when stripped bare he is nothing but an awerage singer nobody would think twice to listen. Listen bitch, here's my reply to that statment, goest thou to hell, and swiftly please, and there may Azmodaeus himself suckle from your diseased teat. There.

Now back to Bruce. I could sit here and list you at least 50 reasons why he's the most amazing man on the face of this earth, but I have a feeling you don't really want to read that. How about just a few? Will you suck it up for a couple? Oh shoot tough luck, you have no choice, I'll still write whatever the hell I want to write. Sorry.

Looks aside *I always found him to be a handsome man* he is extremly humble. Do you know the album ''We are the world'' that was originally started by Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder? Cute story, when most of the celebs on that album showed up in Limo's, Bruce came in his old pickup truck, parked it across the street and paid for parking. I know it doesn't seem like a huge deal but really it is. He has every right to act like a spoiled celeb but he just isn't like that.

The music. The music is not shallow or superficial, Bruce writes about things that matter to him, tradgedies, love, politics, changes in the world. His music is passionate and the fact that he sings it with so much emotion makes you feel it too. Streets of Philadelphia was one of the first movies that showed AIDS as a serious disease, as opposed to something ''outcasts'' had, like leprosy was pictured before that. Bruce wrote the title song, and it was from a first person account of a man with this disease. The song won an Academy award, a Golden globe and ''a few'' Grammys. Follwed was the album titled ''The Rising'' which was made to help the nation and possibly himself to heal and get back up on their feet after the 9/11 attacks. He himself decided to reach out to the people and help them, so much more to his home because there were people personally affected in New Jersey. What really struck me as an amazing gesture was that at the time he even sang at a funeral of one of his fans. I just find it amazing, the level of compassion and care he has.

I love him for never being quiet. I love him for standing up to what he feels is right. I loved him in Australia when he said he's embarrassed to be an American following Trumps win. I loved him when he taunted him with the song ''Don't hang up'' following Trumps childish behavior. And I loved him even more when he said ''Fuck Donald Trump'' on stage. Or better yet read it from a copy of the constitution someone threw on stage. I never heard him curse before so this...this was something. He's not the type to sit down and shut up, back in 2000 he wrote a song ''41 Shots'' about a man, an immigrant that was shot 41 times by the cops. I believe he angered quite a few police officers then even though the song itself wasn't a hateful song, all he did was show compassion towards the man that was killed. Though in that same year he donated a large sum of money to a woman who was left alone with three kids over night after her husband a police officer was killed. He's an amazing man. So many artists can and will turn a blind eye to issues such as these *coughkanyewestcough* but not him. Compassion is something we could all learn from him.

I absolutely adore him for all the effort he puts into making life better for the gay and LGBT community. I adored him even more after the cancelled North Carolina concert. I was so proud being his fan then and I still am today. Here's a quote by him, after the cancelled show;

“North Carolina cancelled: As you, my fans, know I’m scheduled to play in Greensboro, North Carolina this Sunday. As we also know, North Carolina has just passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the “bathroom” law. HB2 — known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act — dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use. Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden. To my mind, it’s an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress. Right now, there are many groups, businesses, and individuals in North Carolina working to oppose and overcome these negative developments. Taking all of this into account, I feel that this is a time for me and the band to show solidarity for those freedom fighters. As a result, and with deepest apologies to our dedicated fans in Greensboro, we have canceled our show scheduled for Sunday, April 10. Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them. It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.”

Here's the deal, Bruce is an amazing storyteller, his songs are stories, you can sit in a dark room and imagine he's sitting next to you telling you a story while listening to his voice. There's just so much compassion and emotion in his voice, it gives me shivers all over. Jon Stewart once said ''Bruce doesn’t sing, he testifies'', and also ''When you listen to his music, you aren’t a loser. You are a character in an epic poem… about losers.''. Made me laugh out loud.

I love the always and never serious persona he has, I love the way he knows just how to mock church and christianity, I loved it when he was asked to preform at the catholic school he attended and he made the priest leave the show by singing ''Red headed woman''. I love those silly stupid dirty jokes. I love his dedication to fans, he's going to stand on stage and preform for almost 4 hours making sure the fans get their money's worth for the tickets. I love that he dances with fans, I love that he does sign requests. I love the fact that his shows are never the same, he changes his setlist every night and doesn't give a flying fuck about it. The laugh! That laugh. Infectious.

That was more then a few wasn't it? Sorry, got carried away I suppose. I actually wanted to write about the first time I saw him live because that was...I can hardly even find words for it. It was in Vienna Austria and I was there about a week before the show. Basically on vacation with the ''highlight'' his show. I was beyond nervous the entire week. Kept busy with museums, art galleries and the wax museum which was SO much fun, but the anticipation was killing me. On the morning of the show, I was up at 6 am, pacing up and down the hotel room, driving everyone insane, freaking out at the near thought of ''oh my god, Boss and I are breathing the same air right now and looking at the same sky''. Silly me, we always do that but being in the same country, well that's what made the difference.

By some miracle I didn't rub my eyes with nail polish remover or put salt in my coffee. I did chug a beer before the show though. Cute story. I had a shirt on saying ''I am lost, return me to Jon Bon Jovi'' and I walk by this pub and this man, from Belfast of all places yells after me ''but I don't know where Jon is'' and I'm like ''drinking a beer with Bruce in New Jersey'' and he goes ''Can't Boss is here'' and I'm like ''we'll see that tonight won't we?''. His face was priceless. Of course I was just joking, so then he asks me to sit down, he said he's no Bon Jovi but he'll buy me a beer if I want. So I sat down, we got talking, do note that the accent is a proper bitch, had to make him speak proper English to understand half of what he was saying. It was fun though, we still stay in touch with a couple of emails now and again. He was a bit older then me, huge fan of the Boss, so no wonder we clicked.

After that we went to the venue together, short walk to the subway and two wrong trains later we were at the stadium. Here's the nerves, I know Vienna almost better then my own city, and I know the damn subway yet I went to the wrong train. Twice! God damn nerves.

Waiting for the stadium to open was actually super fun. I met so many amazing people, people that came from all over the world just to see the Boss preform in Europe. I always found that both insane and totally cool. Lord knows if money wasn't an issue I'd see him at least 5 times on one tour. One show is never enough.

Though the Boss was a little late, powdering his nose and getting into his skinny jeans no doubt, he came on the stage saying ''Servus, Wien!'' and that's all he really needed to win the crowd over. He has this amazing energy with the fans, whatever he says goes, it's incredible. The show was sold out in minutes and lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes which was longer then the allowed time. Which was also a record, no musician before him has had a show last this long at the Ernst Happel stadium. The show opened with the song ''We take care of our own'' and closed with ''Twist and shout''. It has always been a dream of mine to see him preform that song live with Paul McCartney. *Sigh* maybe someday.

Here's the fun part. The authorities turned the lights off and said that the show is over at 11 pm sharp. Never hated the police more in my life, yet the Boss and the band didn't care and just carried on rocking, maybe even teasing a bit because at the end they just did a cover and made it as long as possible. All together there were 31 songs, new, old, and even rarely heard ''Spirit in the night''. Before the song started, he gave an emotional speech about ''spirits'' people that we lost and that we miss but are always close to us, they never really leave us. It was just...you know...made me go into a full blown fountain mode. There were of course, Dancing in the dark, Hungry heart, Born in the USA. That last one was especially amazing, the entire venue stood up, everyone in the sitting area, screamed those lyrics with him and danced along to Twist and shout. I get goose bumps all over just thinking about that moment.

Of course I was gritting my teeth, sitting in the sitting area with an amazing view but I thought I'd fly over the railing and crowd surf to the stage when he was shaking hands and touching the fans. I can hear my mother saying ''What good would that give you? So you touched him, big deal?''. Uh no mother, touching the Boss? That's different, I'd feel like I touched God. I want to know how that feels like. Don't even get me started on the girl that got to dance with him or the little boy that got to sing with him. Jealousy aint pretty I know and if it could burn I'd burn the entire bloody city down at that very moment. I said to myself next time. Didn't happen. So here I am saying this once again. Next time. And I will settle for nothing less then front row.

The Wrecking Ball tour was different, the vibe, the songs, the album is different. He was angry, angry at the politics, angry at America's current situation. Poor baby, didn't know 5 years ago just how bad it's about to get. But it's those feelings that gave the most amazing album. I love it from start to finish, every line and every note, hands down one of my favorite albums ever made. Oh! OH! Have I told you how I ended up entertaining the people around me more then the Boss himself? I was basically a kid back then. I mean not a kid but a teenager, I'd lie if I said there were plenty same aged people around. Mostly older people came to the show. Rather obvious aint it? Anyways those people around me enjoyed my screaming tantrums when he was walking around touching the fans far more then what the Boss was doing. A man next to me couldn't stop laughing the entire time, even asked me for a picture after the show. We took one together while debating that we need to find at least one person from the front row, to tell us in excrushiating detail what's it like to touch God. That never happened by the way.

At the end of the day, this wasn't just a concert it was an experience. Unlike any other. I wouldn't trade it for the world. There are so many things about the Boss I adore, so many political views that I share, so much power that inspires me. He inspires me so much. He gives me strenght to fight and carry on even when the times get tough. I completly and totally adore him and seeing him for that first time felt completly out of this world. The second concert was amazing as well but nothing compares to the ''first time'' aye? You never forget your firsts they say and this is surely something I won't ever forget.

To end this post I'd like to share a quote by Barack Obama...

“It's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts, but communions. There's a place for everybody -— the sense that no matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream; everybody deserves a little bit of dignity; everybody deserves to be heard. I've seen it myself. Bruce was a great fan -- a great friend over the last year, and when I watched him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he rocked the National Mall before my inauguration, I thought it captured as well as anything the spirit of what America should be about. On a day like that, and today, I remember: I'm the President, but he's The Boss.”

And aint that the truth? Enjoy the weekend guys, love eachother, think with your own heads and stay safe.