October 3, 2017: Springsteen on Broadway

New York, NY
Walter Kerr Theatre

Walter Kerr Theatre

Not long after my trip to New York to see Journey inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I saw an announcement that Bruce Springsteen was thinking about doing a one-man show on Broadway in the Fall. My immediate thought -- that would be so cool to get to see! The original stories indicated the shows would likely begin in November, which was far enough out for me to consider what I'd have to do to swing a second trip to New York in a year. It would be expensive, but I could probably make it work if the timing was right. In August, the dates for the run were announced and imagine my surprise and delight to discover that the very first date of the run was going to be my birthday. My birthday?! New York City? Bruce Springsteen? FIRST SHOW?! Oh hell yeah, I was going to move heaven and earth to get to see that!

The first key step, of course, was getting a ticket. I signed up for the "Verified Account" with Ticketmaster immediately and then crossed my fingers I'd get the access code when the tickets went on sale on August 30. There wasn't any real good explanation about what or how your account would be "verified", but hey, if it did anything to limit the bots and scalpers I was in. I happened to be on vacation the last week of August, so on the afternoon of the 29th, I was diligently checking my email to see if I would be able to get the ticket code the next day. The email finally arrived, and yes, I was going to be able to buy tickets. Most everyone else I knew who was looking for tickets got placed on "standby", which really stinks. Next step up -- make sure all my internet enabled devices were fully charged and ready to go and turn off the "Do Not Disturb" mode on my phone as the text with my code would be arriving between 3-5 a.m. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on the 30th, so that meant I was up and out of bed fully logged in to everything on multiple devices at 6:30 a.m. Pacific Time. To heck with sleeping in on a vacation day! 7 a.m. arrived, and I clicked on the link to buy tickets and started my search. I knew that it would be challenging to get a ticket for the October 3 date, and really any date I could get would be fine, so I selected different dates on the computer and 2 iPads I was using to search for tickets. My older iPad kept crashing, so I gave that one up pretty quickly. My new iPad was working on the October 4 show while my computer was going for October 3. The iPad came up first with a seat, so I said "close enough!" and clicked purchase with out even checking exactly where the seat was. It was in the building, that was fine by me. The one thing I had forgotten to grab was my credit card. The number is stored in my account, but I forgot I'd need the verify code on the back. I hopped up and grabbed my wallet to get the card to complete my purchase. When I sat back down at my desk, a ticket had popped up on my computer! A ticket for the show on my birthday! Oh yes yes yes! I clicked purchase on that one and cancelled the iPad. It wasn't quite 7:30 in the morning and I had succeeded in getting a ticket! I literally started dancing around the living room and shouting "Woo hoo" for about 5 minutes like a crazy person.

I spent the rest of my August vacation working out the logistics to get myself to New York for a couple of days. What I'd do around the show would be secondary -- it's New York City, it's not hard to find something to do -- just as long as I kept the block from about 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on October 3 free and clear, I'm good. It did occur to me about a day or two after I bought the ticket, that I should see if I could find a seating chart for the theater. I knew I had purchased an orchestra seat, but beyond that I really hadn't looked too closely at the ticket. (Again, I had a ticket, I would be in the building, it was fine by me!) It turned out I had the last seat in the row on the left side of the theater in row L. Okay, a little further off center stage than I would have preferred, but fine.

I got to New York late Monday afternoon and got myself situated. My hotel was on West 46th, right near Times Square and a very short walking distance from the Walter Kerr Theatre on West 48th. I walked over to the theater after I got checked in to the hotel to make sure I knew where it was and it was just a huge thrill to see the marquee and know I'd be there the next night -- one of about 950 people who would be able to say that they saw the very first performance of Springsteen on Broadway.

Tuesday night I treated myself to a really nice steak dinner before the show. The service at the restaurant was leisurely -- not slow exactly, but moderately paced -- and I wasn't sure I'd have time for dessert before I headed out to the show, but my waitress quickly said she'd bring me a dessert and my check and I'd have plenty of time to get down the block for the show. I did, and headed for the theater about 7:20. I was rather surprised when I arrived to see the level of security around the theater. It was impressive. Everything was roped off and you had to go through a scanning device one a at time similar to what you'd have at an airport -- not just a standard metal detector. It made getting in a bit slower than anticipated, but it moved fairly quickly over all. A couple of people around me wondered if this was in response to the tragedy in Las Vegas earlier in the week, which was depressing to consider, but when I was inside there was an usher selling drinks who said that no, the level of security that was posted had been planned well in advance and would last the duration of the run.

There is no lobby to speak of at the Walter Kerr Theatre, so I was a bit surprised when I handed my ticket to be scanned and the usher said "on your left" as the door to the theater literally opened to the street. I was so startled, I didn't even think to look for a merch booth, and I just took my seat next to a couple of New York area fans and chatted with them for a bit. Despite being off to the side, my seat was actually pretty good. Because it was at the end of the row, and fairly close to the stage, it meant the rows in front of me were a little bit shorter so there really wasn't anyone sitting in front of me all night. The stage set up was pretty sparse -- a microphone at center stage, a grand piano behind it, a couple of stools, and a couple of objects that looked basically like footstools. Shortly before showtime, a bit of a commotion erupted in the right-center orchestra seats. People were cheering and applauding, but the show hadn't started yet. After chatting with people around who were standing and could see a bit better than I could, it turned out that Steve Van Zandt was in the audience. The only celebrity siting of the night (though, technically I didn't see him.)

Shortly after 8:00 the lights went down and the crowd stood up -- Bruce appeared on stage with his acoustic guitar. Lots of cheers. Lots of "Bruuuuuuuuuucce". I was beaming from ear to ear. Going in, I had a general idea of what to expect. I've seen Bruce a number of times and I know how he tells stories. I've also read his autobiography and knew some of the stories he told in there would be retold in the show. The best thing about going in knowing what to expect is when those expectations are not only met, but exceeded.

Bruce started off the night dedicating the show to Tom Petty and sending his love out to his family and friends. Then he started the story telling. If you've ever seen Bruce Springsteen live, you know how his storytelling style is. Sometimes it's a straight story, others it's more a philosophical musing on ideas and concepts of life expressed in single words or short phrases. Most of the stories were about growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s & 60s, spending time on the Jersey shore, and how everything there was "tinged with just a little bit of fraud, including myself." There was humor and self-depreciation and tears. He highlighted his stories with his songs in such a way that while the stories were chronological, the songs weren't. The first song of the show was "Growing Up" which he paused half way through to tell a tale of his childhood. I didn't write down a set list, as I wanted to just be in the moment, but the flow of the songs worked so well. The second song in, he headed over to the piano and launched in to "My Hometown" and this was the only point where my seat was a bit of an issue. The microphone stand was between me and where Bruce sat at the piano, so he was a bit chopped in half. Not a big deal at all. Seeing him play piano was definitely different too.

It's pretty much impossible to pick a highlight of the show, but there were a couple that come to mind. After talking so much about his father and their complicated relationship, he spent a few minutes talking about his mother and how her optimism was so different from the rest of the life around him. He was back at the piano for this and played "The Wish" which is a song he wrote for his mother and showed up on Tracks. It was very moving, definitely brought tears to my eyes. The next point came when, again at the piano, he played "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out." After name-checking each member of the E Street Band at the end of the second verse, he paused again for storytelling, this time about Clarence Clemons. It was a sweet and loving tribute to his friend and talked about how "Scooter and the Big Man didn't just bust the city in half, but rebuilt it in their own image" (or something close to that.)

Another highlight that's really hard to describe happened a couple of different times. Every so often Bruce would wander away from the microphone and just speak or sing for a bit, but with out the amplification you really had to pay attention to what he was saying. He could be heard well enough, but it was much quieter and everyone in the audience kind of leaned forward to listen. It was definitely deliberate.

After "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", the show kind of jumped in time. Everything up to that point had been about his childhood and being a struggling musician. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was kind of the "I made it" point in the show. Patti Scialfa came out for two songs ("Tougher Than the Rest" and "Brilliant Disguise") and the last part of the set were stories about big picture things. How the "Land of Hope and Dreams" isn't quite there yet.

The show closed off, of course, with "Born to Run" which was a more mellow version than the full-throated band version, but more energetic than the acoustic version he did during the "Tunnel of Love" tour. Of course the audience sang along throughout.

Happy Birthday to me!

That actually brings me to one last bit -- the audience was really quite an interesting part of the show. This was far from your typical Bruce Springsteen show, but it was definitely your typical Bruce Springsteen crowd. People recognized that this wasn't an on-your-feet-all-night 4 hour rock concert, so everyone mostly remained seated through the show, like you would an ordinary Broadway show. But there were moments when you just couldn't stay in your seat and everyone was up cheering and singing along. That it was a small, intimate setting made it even more incredible, because even with about 950 people, the energy felt like much more than that.

I grabbed some swag after the show, which took a while since there was just this tiny area at the back of the theater that served as both bar and merch booth with just one person conducting transactions (there was a second person helping to grab items) so it took a little while to get through. I headed back outside and there was a crowd waiting by the stage door for Bruce and Patti to come out. I thought about hanging around for a bit, but decided that I was good and headed back to my hotel after snapping a few pictures with some other fans outside the show. It had been an absolutely fantastic way to spend my birthday!

Setlist (courtesy setlist.fm)

Growin' Up
My Hometown
My Father's House
The Wish
Thunder Road
The Promised Land
Born in the U.S.A.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Tougher Than the Rest (with Patti Scialfa)
Brilliant Disguise (with Patti Scialfa)
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Long Walk Home
Dancing in the Dark
Land of Hope and Dreams
Born to Run