The Boss

29 years ago I sang and danced and screamed in St James' Park at my first experience of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert. Last night in Hampden I did the same, but I was different and so was he and the band. There was no sense of returning to the past, this was a concert about the here and now, growing older, the joys and sorrows of life, the things that need challenged and changed, and those that must be celebrated.

To stand with Fiona, my 16 year old daughter, and sing together was beautiful and poignant and what  a night it was! Songs from the past that still resonate today, and songs of today that are written in a different time and place but still cut it into the realities of life.

I have no recollection as a 16 year old of experiencing a spiritual awakening in Newcastle, was my faith more disconnected from the rest of my life at that point? Did I keep it in a box of spirtual matters and was The Boss and his music not part of that? On the pitch at Hampden (yes we were standing, too young to sit!) on  a beautiful summer evening God touched me - a challenge to be his voice that speaks good news to the poor, hope to the hopeless "with these hands" (My city of ruins).

And it was brilliant - a plectrum given to a fan who asked for it on a cardboard sign, a mouth organ to a girl whose sign for her Dad who had recently died led Bruce to sing "Tougher than the rest", 3 fans up to dance for "Dancing in the dark", and a small boy on Springsteen's shoulder after singing "Waitin' on a sunny day". The E street band were exceptional - over 3 hours of music - led by a man who is 63 (if you were there you know the way he reminded us of this - superb!).

Cheers Bruce, thanks for the years, here's to the ones still to come!