Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Diamond Diary by Kevin Cooney
11/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 25, 2002
A Night With The Boss
If you have read this diary the past few months, it is obvious that I have more than a passing interest in the music of Bruce Springsteen. His lyrics and songs have been used as examples of things in life that matter to me. I have shared with you some feelings about his new CD, The Rising, a compilation of songs spawned by September 11 and the shattered lives of those most directly affected.
Saturday night, Bruce and the E Street Band played to a packed house at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. My wife and I were fortunate to have tickets and a babysitter, so we made the trek to Miami. As usual it was a great show. It was the best that I have seen in all the years I have been fortunate to be in the audience for such a great live performer.
The only negative is that the energy of his performance made me feel old. (that despite being a year younger than Springsteen) He brought out some special guests who did a great job with his music. Bono and Springsteen were a great combination. They performed a song made famous by Patty Smith in the late seventies called Because the Night. He changed Dancing in the Dark from an 80's influenced song which always made me uncomfortable, to a true rock anthem.
His new material was even better live than on the cd. That is not unusual for this band. The heartbreak and despair of these songs is counterbalanced by a theme of hope and promise that runs throughout Springsteen's career of work. That is probably the message that draws me to his music. No matter how bleak your life seems at the time, there is a way for you to carry on.
This is a recurring challenge and promise that is found in the lives of the people who populate his songs. This music isn't only about catchy hooks and soaring guitars, it is about kids struggling with their parents, their girls and their friends. It's about a society trying to find itself. Jobs and bosses, fathers and sons, unwed mothers trying to cope with the life they lead, a mother who buys a guitar for her twelve year old at Christmas, and the life that guitar gave them, all these struggles work their way through strangers' lives.
But,they are not strangers' lives. Those lives are our own. We all have our personal demons that at times make our lives miserable. Many is the day where it's tough to look in the mirror and like what you see. But if you believe, there is a faith that can get you to carry on. That faith is repeated, song after song.
You don't have to be from New Jersey to like Bruce Springsteen. You need to listen and be a citizen of the world. There is more out there than just getting up each day and going to work. It's about how you handle it. All the good and the bad that will flow to you as you live. He sings about people and their lives in that way. It is never hopeless, but it is usually difficult. That's what living life is about. That's what Bruce Springsteen's music is about.
