Bruce in the USA, Arrowbrook Park, Herndon VA, 8/24/24, free show
So we pregamed at Juicy Brewing, nearby. First brewery outing for our very friendly and curious puppy. Excellent pastry sours.
Then we headed to the show, scheduled for 90 minutes. The band was introduced by the town supervisor, and took the stage at 7:30. From far away, the clad all in black singer passed for Bruce, at least more than any of the other band members. At times he sounded a bit like Bruce on a very band singing night, at times he sounded nothing like Bruce at all. The fat, old black sax player passed for end of his days Clarence, much more than for modern day Jake. He also announced that he's from Herndon, as did Bruce a few songs later. The short, pudgy (and talented, at least in my non-musician estimation) guitarist with the doo rag was obviously supposed to be Little Steven. The also had an organist, a keys player, a bassist, and a drummer. No money for a Nils Lofgren guy, or the 18 other people in the E Street Band.
Most notably, they played Born in the USA and Jungleland, which don't seem to get played at Bruce shows themselves.
Overall, it was passably entertaining. It didn't move me to goosebumps and tears like the real Bruce show did, but hey, those are some damn great songs and the band was tight-ish. Would I go again for free? Maybe? If I hadn't gone to this, I would have probably just watched the boob tube or gone to the Big Star shpw. Am I ok that I passed over the Big Star tribute show for this one? Well, I don't really know any Big Star songs and haven't listened to them in 20 years. And I knew pretty much all of the Bruce songs.
My daughter said it was "terrible" and my wife said it was "a waste of her time," and announced she was "ready to go, anytime" two-thirds of the way through the show. But they say that about any acitivity that I choose. So, grain of salt.
I'm not even sure puppy was offically allowed on the astroturf, but he attended anyway and did ok. Probably would have done better at a quiet Kenny G show. Or a hobo rock show with six solo dispersed masked people in a basement, at least one of whom wouldn't be able to see him. Like my daughter, he probably won't remember the first rock show he attended, so I'll always tell him it was the real Bruce Springsteen.
Unfortunately, no 9:30 boardie spottings.
