Springsteen

I've done only three Springsteen concerts. The first was at Villa Park in 1990, which was a truly amazing 4 hours of non-stop brilliance. The second was at Sheffield in the mid 90s and was during a period when the great man was trying to do different things - and I thought not so great. And then there was last night in Cardiff when the Boss was back to his best - though he only managed a mere three hours of non stop brilliance this time. And he doesn't mess about with chat or support bands either. Its all him - non stop rock from the first minute, until he finished off with the best Irish jig (done Springsteen style) that I've ever heard in my life. Hard to believe he's 58. Bruce has never been the best of 'movers', but he's seems as good as ever to me.

It was a great mix of some well known tracks - Lonesome Road, The Rising, Long Walk Home - and some not so well known. He looked fit and was dressed in the sort of blue jeans and shirt that I used to wear. There must have been 50,000 of us in the Millennium Stadium. I'd hoped for my own favourite, 'Into the Fire', but it wasn't to be. And its no-one else's taste anyway.

It was quite amusing that Age Concern were out with the collecting buckets as we went in. The Boss attracts a more 'mature' audience these days. And he was a good half hour late starting, but everyone felt relaxed - because we were all sure he'd deliver. He began with "Hello Cardiff", and finished up with "Cardiff, Cardiff, Cardiff". I reckon every single one of us there last night can't wait for him to do Cardiff again. But what I'd really like to do would be to do a Springsteen concert in New York, or New Jersey when he's on his own turf singing "Born in the USA" - though he's probably reached the stage where he rightly looks on the whole world as his turf. The tickets were my birthday present (last Feb) and it was one of the best presents I've ever had.