If you asked me to estimate how many concerts I’ve attended in my life, I think I’d feel comfortable saying the number is in the 175-200 range. I have seen everybody from Kenny Rogers and Barry Manilow to Cyndi Lauper and even the recently deceased Olivia Newton John. I have seen Neil Diamond and P!NK in concert, as well as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Elton John was my first concert when I was 11, in October of 1975. I saw Elton with all four of my siblings and their significant others. Although I have no musical ability myself, music has been a bigly constant of my days and nights. The music I’ve listened to is the necessary soundtrack of my life. I know I am not alone in this need to be encompassed by music.
My white whale of concerts has always been Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I consider myself a serious, decades-long Bruce fan, but I’ve never made it to a Bruce concert. I didn’t see him in the 80’s mostly because I had no money. In the 90’s and early 2000’s, with a family, I had neither money, nor time. By the 2010’s, when I finally had both money and time to spare, whenever Bruce was out on tour, I thought: “Why go see him now? He’s not in his prime, and his show will probably have a noticeable geriatric vibe to it.” But by all reports, old Bruce was still fabulously dynamic on his most recent tour, and reviews of his concerts were replete with rave reviews. I felt I had missed out. And now, in 2022, if I still want to see Bruce—and I do—I figure I better go to a performance ASAP, because he himself might be dead by the time his next tour rolls around. So the other day, I got us tickets to see Bruce in February 2023, in Portland. So far, SLC is not on Bruce’s tour schedule, so off we will fly to Portland for the primary purpose of seeing The Boss perform.Do you wanna know another indication that I’m sure I’m gettin’ on the old side of my time? Well, from the moment I bought the concert tickets, let’s just say I began to worry about the February weather, and to pray that said weather will be good enough for the airports to be open on those specific winter days in February, so we can fly safely there and back home. Yup. That worry is practical, it’s way too early, and it’s one more thing which makes me officially old. I never used to worry about weather: I just went wherever I felt like going, whenever I felt like going, and I simply handled any not-so-good weathery thing which might have happened. These days, if I’m headed out of town at a time when there might be “weather,” I make sure somebody knows exactly where our important documents are—just in case. 🛫✈️🎸