I have not been to a lot of concerts over the years, but I have seen a few great bands in person.
I saw The Who in Buffalo when I was in college at St. Bonaventure University. I went to a Beach Boys concert when the band played in Olean not far from my college. Then there was David Bowie at Madison Garden many years ago with a long-time friend. I saw Billy Joel play at Syracuse University.
But there was one band I always regretted not seeing — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Bruce had a reputation of playing long, raucous concerts. He and his band have been legendary since the 1970s. At 74 years old, he’s still got it more than a half century after he released his first albums in 1973.
I finally got my wish on April 18 when I saw the Boss at Syracuse University. My kids had gotten me two tickets for Father’s Day last year to a concert in the fall, but Springsteen got sick and canceled the remainder of his concert tour for the year. The show was rescheduled many months later.
It was difficult to decide who would go to the concert with me. Before the original concert date, I wrote the names of my adult offspring on scraps of paper, put them in a hat and drew a winner, my oldest daughter, and a runner-up, my second oldest daughter. But after one daughter had a family commitment and another moved out of town, my youngest daughter became my guest for the concert after a second drawing.
After work, I picked her up at home and we headed for Syracuse.
I had forgotten that being gouged was a big part of the concert experience. I got my first taste of that when I paid $35 for a spot in a parking garage a few blocks from the arena. My daughter and I slowly drove up the floors of the garage looking for an open parking space. I found some at the end of the top floor. We walked to the JMA Wireless Dome from there in a light rain.
The place was packed and we walked through the crowd half way around the stadium and climbed stairs to our seats.
In the cavernous Dome, Bruce and his bandmates were tiny images in the distance, but the three large video screens around the stage made it much easier to see them.
The show began about 8 and ended by 11, the fans singing along and swaying to the music. It was an incredible time night as Bruce and the band played songs that I had heard on the radio for decades. After several curtain calls, the show ended and my daughter and I were happy but exhausted.
Then came the challenge of getting back to the car.
After being stuck in the post-concert crowd trying to get out of the Dome, we headed for the closest exit, thinking it would quicker to walk outside than through the hallway.
My daughter and I stopped at a concession stand just outside that was selling concert merchandise. There were a few prices listed for fairly cheap items, like a beer koozie for $5. There were no prices for the T-shirts and sweatshirts, but I figured this was the Springsteen concert and I wanted to get mementos for my daughter and me. I grumbled to myself when the bill came in at about $105 for two T-shirts. We walked toward the parking garage and within a minute passed a few guys standing at a street corner hawking concert T-shirts for $20 each.
We got back to our rooftop parking spot at 11:27 and the traffic was backed up to our spot on the seventh floor. We crept down slowly for a couple of floors when some hospital employees getting off their shifts got out of the elevator and walked past us on the way to their cars, shaking their heads. We noticed they quickly drove down a different ramp where there was no traffic. I figured, they must know where they’re going, since they work here, so I followed them down, catching our first big break on the way home.
It was an eventful night, and the best part was creating some shared memories with my daughter.
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“Working It Out” is a column by City Editor Kevin T. Conlon that runs every week. Disclaimer: This is not an advice column. I am not an expert at anything. I rarely do things the easy way and the last thing you should do is follow my example.
