He is Still Rockin! (so am I)

A while ago I posted a blog entry about a concert that I never got to attend.   Bruce Springsteen in the early early 80s.   Thirty one years later, he is still cranking out the music and I was able to go!

June 21st - summer solstice - at The Stadium of Light in Sunderland.  The Man of the Place got tickets and knowing my history with The Boss, I got the other ticket.   I haven't been to a concert in a stadium for a long time - Rolling Stones in Miami in '88 or '89.

After work we headed over to Sunderland.  It is a trip we do often but usually for football.  This was the first non-football event The Man of the Place has ever attended at the stadium.

A former work colleague and friend of mine opened up a tea room a few months ago, Serendipity - Tea and Trinkets.  I have been wanting to come in to see her and visit the shop since it opened and this was a perfect opportunity to do that.  June is awesome - and it was her birthday.

Beautiful Junie

It is great to keep in touch with the really cool people whose paths cross yours through the years.  We only worked together for just over a year.  That was about 13 years ago. We've kept up the friendship.

The Boss - club sandwich

She's a big fan of music and had a big Bruce Springsteen themed day going on in the shop.  I had a "The Boss" club sandwich.  It was huge and I actually couldn't finish it.

I did manage to find room for a cupcake.


It was pouring with rain as we drove across to Sunderland and raining while we walked to her shop, so I skipped the promotional beer or Thunder Road cocktail in favour of tea.

Our damp view of the stage

We then made our merry way across the bridge to the stadium  - only about a 10 minute walk from the shop.  We staked out our place down in front.  It wasn't WAY in front but it was pretty close.

Sunderland fans attend a non-football event

Naturally we tried to avoid standing behind tall people, but they always seem to find us.  A guy in a pale baseball cap stood right in front of me - I had to hold my camera above his head  to get a shot. 

I took a few photos during the show.  I wasn't impressed with what I was getting so I gave up.  I'd rather just watch the show than try to view it through the lens of a camera.

Here are some of my efforts:

And this one

It was quite tempting to take photos of the big screen rather than Bruce himself.   I thought that was silly. If I can't get a good shot of the actual person, I'll just give up and get some better photos from some other source.

This is the crowd on the way out of the stadium.  It was much worse than game days.  On days when there is a home game - there are park and ride buses that help filter the thousands away and coaches that have designated areas.  As it was, most people came in private cars.

The rain eased up just as the show started and kept away until we were in the car on the way home.  I was VERY glad to get back to the car.  I didn't realise until we got to the stadium that our tickets were down in front and not in the seats.  Oops.  I wore the wrong shoes.  I wore cute boots with a heel.  They were not good for standing for hours.  On the way back to the car, I stopped to take them off .  It wasn't much better at that point and I put them back on.  My feet were throbbing when I got into bed later.  

I will say this much.  I didn't actually notice my feet were hurting during the show.  I was transported!  Such a good show.  I felt like I was 18 all over again.  Thanks Bruce.