Have a Little Faith (There’s magic in The Night)

Most people’s favourite Bruce Springsteen moment(s) rely upon being within close proximity.

Talk to anyone who’s a Springsteen fan, and the first bit of information they’ll (gladly) offer, is when they bumped into him in the lift, or when they saw him jamming with some dreadful cover band at Cheers.

It's as if he’s Jesus with a Telecaster: sacrosanct, pumped up, without fault, charmed to the gills, and armed with some sort of Messianic quality with which to heal everyone (just so long as they’re within autograph asking reach).

Fact is, Bruce Springsteen’s a human being. A human being that just so happens to be extraordinarily talented.

Moreover, that doesn’t make him infallible. He too has his insecurities, his weaknesses, his skeletons in the closet.

Just like the rest of us.

Due to Bruce being viewed as the second coming of Elvis, it’s disdainful for him to behave in any such way that could be construed as boring. Or natural. Or normal.

He’s expected to be ‘’on’’ all the time.

If memory serves, it he was he who once said ‘’When I perform live, I feel like I'm the king of the world. But when I come off stage, I come off stage. That's it.’’

Or words to that effect.

I too have been within close proximity of he who was born to run and to be perfectly honest, it’s no big deal. Let's face it, Bruce is very shy (and horribly awkward when being interviewed).

So when I was asked to write about my favourite Bruce Springsteen moment, I chose to write about what he does best - playing great rock’n’roll (with passion, with grit and in this day and age of computerised crassness, with honesty).

All three of these qualities were on display, each and every time I saw Bruce Springsteen during the Born In The USA tour (circa 1985). Whether it was in Holland (at Rotterdam’s Feyenoord Stadium), in England (at London’s Wembley Stadium), or in France (at Paris’ Parc Paysager De La Courneuve).

All three shows were as good as each other: inspiring, romantic, invigorating, tearful, great fun, and of course, memorable.

I’ll always remember having got right down to the front of stage-left at the second of two shows in Paris. For some reason, the show in its entirety, as well as the sound, the mood, the crowd, the weather, and everything else, seemed to fall into place.

It was the only time I ever saw Springsteen play ‘No Surrender’ and ‘Point Blank’ - both of which were acoustic.

It was the only time that a live performance of a song – ‘The River’ - evoked the salt-stained tears of emotion to fall freely.

It was the only time I truly felt I was witnessing something very, very special (so far as live performance was concerned). In fact, it may well have been one of the greatest live shows I’ve ever seen.

When Bruce sang the words: ‘’Make crosses from your lovers/Throw roses in the rain,’’ I finally realised beauty and truth still had a place in rock'n'roll.

Something I didn't feel again until I heard ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’