September 1985, Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla.
I have one Bruce Springsteen album and a bunch of his songs from various other albums in my music collection. He is, undoubtedly, one of the most important artists in the last 40 years, and his work has inspired millions of people. He’s an American icon and continues to be a voice of this generation.
And while I appreciate all he has done, he’s never meant that much to me. I tried to listen to his albums from the 1970s and early 1980s, but I quickly become disinterested (Born to Run) or bored (Darkness on the Edge of Town) while Nebraska (to paraphrase Frank Turner) is just a bunch of songs. I was too young to understand Springsteen at the time, and didn’t grow up in the world he did — his music and lyrics didn’t translate.
But in the summer of 1984, Bruce broke through to me and 50 million others when he released the album megatron monster that is Born in the U.S.A. It wasn’t as dark as his previous albums (Nebraska particularly), and produced seven top 10 singles, which tied the Thriller album also charting at the same time. An interesting fact about 1984: It was the year with the fewest number (five) of albums reaching No. 1. The five? Thriller, Footloose, Born in the U.S.A., Purple Rain and Sports. You have to love Huey Lewis for breaking into a year of giant albums. I digress.
I was in high school at the time, and I didn’t know anyone who didn’t have a copy of Born in the U.S.A. Springsteen was ubiquitous — his songs even became fodder during the 1984 presidential election (the largest rout in presidential election history) — and even though Michael Jackson’s and Prince’s music was massively popular, it didn’t seem as important as Springsteen’s. That album defines the time as much as anything that happened.
So the chance to see him and the band during this tour was an obvious choice — and we didn’t particularly care about getting good seats, just being there was enough. A bunch of my friends got tickets, and on a September night during my senior year in high school, we went to see The Boss.
I do love just about every song on Born in the U.S.A., with “Hungry Heart” and “Thunder Road” as the other Springsteen songs I don’t mind listening to at any time. I was aware that an artist of Springsteen’s depth was going to play several songs I didn’t care to hear. But what makes Springsteen such a great live performer is his ability to have the audience buy into the whole concert spectacle, whether it’s a lively song or one of quite introspection.
Growing up in Miami, I have seen and heard several seminal moments in Orange Bowl history. I’ve never seen so much dejection than when San Diego kicked a field goal with 1:08 left in overtime to beat Miami in the 1981 playoffs. I’ve never heard it quieter than when Doug Flutie threw that damn pass that beat my Hurricanes and win him the Heisman Trophy (you’re welcome). And I’ve never heard a louder crowd than when Bruce Springsteen walked on stage, fist pumped in the air, and with the music pulsing behind him sang “Born down in a dead man’s town.”
It was the right start of the night, which included two parts and an intermission, allowing the crowd of 75,000 or so to catch its breath. Bruce doesn’t play two-hour shows; he plays four-hour events where each song becomes an opus unto itself. “Born in the U.S.A.” gave way to “Badlands,” with “Johnny 99,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “The River” to follow. Sensing a lull in the crowd, the band picked it up with “Working on the Highway” and “Darlington County” before kicking into “Glory Days,” a song that has an increased resonance with me as I get older. I’m pretty sure “Thunder Road” brought the first half of the show to an end, leaving the crowd ramped up for what could come next — you know you’re an artist of considerable success when you can put a song like “Thunder Road” in the middle of a set.
The second half would be “Hungry Heart” (so good live), as well as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Cadillac Ranch,” “Pink Cadillac” and “Bobby Jean”. He even threw in and Elvis cover (“Can’t Help Falling in Love”) before moving into the iconic “Born to Run”. At this point the band had been on tour for more than a year, but it was tight and energetic, and I can’t remember seeing a band as together as a unit as this one. Max Weinberg, I will add, is the fucking man.
It was getting past 11 p.m. and Bruce, still enthralled by the crowd that could not get enough, said “Hey guys, we’re running out of songs here.” With the white lights blaring from the stage, he ripped through “Stand on It” before walking off spent with a satisfied crowd in his wake. To this day I have yet to see one artist play as long as Springsteen did, all for the price of $17.50.
I never did see Bruce in concert again, but did I need to?
