Ultimately, the Springsteen proponent's argument always boils down to the same command: "You gotta see him live."
The next chance to do so comes tonight, when Springsteen, 53, brings his Rising Tour to the sold-out First Union Center. On his 1999 reunion sojourn with the E Street Band, Springsteen did six local arena shows, every one a sellout. This time, with tickets scarce, brokers are commanding $250 for seats in the rafters. Those without the cash must comfort themselves with news that Springsteen plans to return next summer for multiple shows in American cities, presumably including Philadelphia, his biggest market outside of New York.
The first time I saw Springsteen was at the Spectrum on Dec. 8, 1980. I was 18, and I'd scored tickets to two nights of shows. I had heard tales of the E Streeters playing into the wee hours, always up for another chance to prove it all night, and I was stoked.
I had just seen No Nukes, the concert movie in which Springsteen debuted the spine-tingling "The River," and tore the house down with Gary U.S. Bonds' "Quarter to Three." And I had heard the bootlegs, documents with such titles as You Can Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears the Star, which captured a February 1975 show at the old Main Point in Bryn Mawr.
When that show was recorded, the band had an anything-goes feel in keeping with Springsteen's leather-jacketed street-urchin persona. Besides "Wings for Wheels," which would become "Thunder Road," the Main Point set was notable for the presence of Suki Lahav, who played with Springsteen throughout early 1975, 27 years before Soozie Tyrell would join on as the second E Street violinist. And there were covers of Bob Dylan's "I Want You" and Narvel Felts' "Mountain of Love," that made it clear Springsteen knew his history.
