DanMargarita.com

Thanks to a friend, I found myself with great seats at Gillette Stadium watching Rock and Roll legend Bruce Springsteen. The man known as "The Boss" played a three hour and seven minute show that had the 50,000 plus devoted fans on hand out of their (wet) seats and screaming with delight. If my legs were tired from standing for three hours, I can't imagine how Springsteen's felt after running around and jumping on the piano--- not the normal activities of a 53 year old man.

While there was plenty of rain during the long, traffic congested drive down, the Rock gods managed hold off the precipitation during the show except for an immense fog that rolled in for the latter portion of the show, which even Springsteen couldn't help but comment on. At some point I almost expected Vincent Price or Boris Karloff to walk on stage.

It was my first visit to the new Gillette Stadium but the traffic and parking issues haven't changed a whole lot. The biggest change perhaps seems to be the designated male and female lines of entry for body searches, causing a crowd of men to gather on the other side of the gate to wait for their wives/girlfriends whose searches took longer. These lines may have existed at the old stadium, but I don't recall them being so orderly. Of course no matter what stadium you're at it seems that there are always going to be lines at the concession stands and the men's rooms. I don't have the experience to comment on the women's room situation.

One surprise was finding that when purchasing a bottle of water, the vendor kept the cap and gave you the bottle. Was this to prevent someone from using the cap as a projectile? It seems to me that a small plastic cap could do less damage than an uncapped bottle full of water could.

Springsteen poked a little good-natured fun at the crowd early on.

"I left my pah-ka in the cah in the pah-kin' lot."

His music has long been about the average blue-collar guy and he's often backed it up, including contributions to striking workers in dire financial straits. This kind of makes his nickname "The Boss" somewhat ironic because being the boss would make him management, not labor.

Springsteen has always been politically active. On his 1985 live album, his preamble to the antiwar anthem "War" included the statement "Blind faith in your leaders...or anyone can get you killed."

Apparently blind faith in your rock stars is non-existent, since the U.S. has made many military forays since then. Still, the Boss is not afraid to speak up. On Friday he commented on the current administration's apparent willingness to distort, bend or even avoid the truth with regards to the current Iraq war.

"Demanding accountability from our leaders is our job as citizens,'' Springsteen said. ''Playing with the truth during wartime . . . is always wrong.''

He noted that it isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, though he neglected to say if it was a Green Party, Libertarian, Socialist, Communist, Anarchist or American Nazi Party issue.

I've been to Springsteen shows with people that were just casual fans of The Boss, and they've always had a great time because the man puts his heart and soul into every performance. The obvious joy he has in performing resonates through even the largest venue. Hell, I'd go see Englebert Humperdink perform if I knew he was going to put on a show that good.

Nah....