Sunday Jazzfest
Sunday, I went to Jazzfest. Bruce Springsteen was there.
On NOLA.COM Friday, they had an article about their plan to show pictures of Jazzfest at 4:30 on 4/30. The quote was, "We can't all be at the Acura stage, watching Alain Toussaint and Elvis Costello and waiting for Bruce to come on."
Yes, we could. There were easily several thousand people there.
My friend Debbie and I arrived early, but not early enough. We were able to secure a couple square yards of grass for our chairs. It was lightly cloudy; a good thing at mid-day on the last day of April in New Orleans.
I had a couple of moments when I thought to myself, "Self, what the heck are you doing here?" Because, as I said, there were several thousand people there, and they all seemed to be trying to squish through in front of me. I was mighty fearful of having beer dumped on my head.
But Alain Toussaint was great, so I tried to stay patient. Then, Bruce came on, and I forgot how annoyed I had been. I'm always amazed by what a great show he does; the man has incredible charisma. Most of the songs in the show were from his new album. Great band, with a nice fat horn section and some unusual additions - a pedal steel guitar? Bruce? Not all of the songs were my cup of tea; Old Dan Tucker was kind of drawn out, and too twangy for my taste. Some of them, though, were just terrific.
Highlights of the day:
The single best thing that happened, though, was Bruce's first encore. He sang his anthem for a destroyed city, "My City of Ruins." Everybody cried. Everybody. We wept and raised our hands and cried and sang the chorus: "Come on rise up."
I have literally (no, not figuratively) dreamed of Bruce singing that song here. I had thought it would be inspiring and healing. It was. Oh, it was.
On NOLA.COM Friday, they had an article about their plan to show pictures of Jazzfest at 4:30 on 4/30. The quote was, "We can't all be at the Acura stage, watching Alain Toussaint and Elvis Costello and waiting for Bruce to come on."
Yes, we could. There were easily several thousand people there.
My friend Debbie and I arrived early, but not early enough. We were able to secure a couple square yards of grass for our chairs. It was lightly cloudy; a good thing at mid-day on the last day of April in New Orleans.
I had a couple of moments when I thought to myself, "Self, what the heck are you doing here?" Because, as I said, there were several thousand people there, and they all seemed to be trying to squish through in front of me. I was mighty fearful of having beer dumped on my head.
But Alain Toussaint was great, so I tried to stay patient. Then, Bruce came on, and I forgot how annoyed I had been. I'm always amazed by what a great show he does; the man has incredible charisma. Most of the songs in the show were from his new album. Great band, with a nice fat horn section and some unusual additions - a pedal steel guitar? Bruce? Not all of the songs were my cup of tea; Old Dan Tucker was kind of drawn out, and too twangy for my taste. Some of them, though, were just terrific.
Highlights of the day:
- The plane flying overhead, trailing a banner that said "Impeach Bush."
- Mary, Don't You Weep No More
- We Shall Overcome
- When the Saints Go Marching In, sung like a hymn
- Alain Toussaint's chant, "Everybody come home..."
- Crawfish Pies
- Chatting with the guy behind me, who saw his first Springsteen concert in 1975 (the Darkness tour)
The single best thing that happened, though, was Bruce's first encore. He sang his anthem for a destroyed city, "My City of Ruins." Everybody cried. Everybody. We wept and raised our hands and cried and sang the chorus: "Come on rise up."
I have literally (no, not figuratively) dreamed of Bruce singing that song here. I had thought it would be inspiring and healing. It was. Oh, it was.
4 Comments:
Crawfish pie?
Crawfish pie.
Oh, what a great description, Ann. You are good.
Seems we both got to see our idols recently. You have almost converted me to Springsteen with this writing (did I spell it right yet?), so maybe I can convert you to Sedaris?
Glad to hear you soaked in some well-earned salve.
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