The Boss

I'll start this blog by saying I'm not a Bruce Springsteen fan and yet I've seen in him concert three time now, the last time at Wembley on June 15 2013. Now me admitting that is probably considered heresy by Springsteen fans and they would question why I would want to see him in concert. The reason is very simple. The Boss gives you around 3 hours of solid music and the energy is amazing especially considering he's 63 years old.

This was my first visit to the rebuilt Wembley Stadium and to be honest from the outside I wasn't too impressed. We found our way to our entrance and I wondered just how many flights of stairs there were to get to the upper tier. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that as well as stairs there were escalators. Very useful for those of us who are a bit older and have dodgy knees! The inside of the stadium is something else. I was impressed with the seating as it gave plenty of legroom and didn't make you feel as if the people either side were trying to sit on your lap. Our seats gave us a good view of the pitch and there are no posts to obstruct the view.

As normal Springsteen wasn't on stage on time but didn't keep as waiting for long. It took until the third song (Radio Nowhere) before I began to sing along. He then started to collect his requests. For anyone who has not been to a Springsteen concert the fans in the front section hold placards up with a song they want him to sing. One particular song set him off singing the whole of one of his early albums - of which I knew not one song! 

Once that was finished he moved from early songs to more recent including my favourite from the Wrecking Ball album, "Shackled and Drawn". We heard some classics and some lesser known (to me ) tracks. After around 2 and a quarter hours the band left.....for all of about 3 minutes. They then returned for the encore which lasted another 30 minutes and finished with "Twist & Shout". Last year when we saw him I missed most of the encore as I almost fainted. This time I was determined to enjoy every second as the whole crowd danced and sang along.The band then left again only for Springsteen to come out again with harmonica and guitar. We were then treated to a solo version of "Thunder Road" to end the night.

The only thing that spoilt the concert was that the sound quality wasn't the best. It was fine when the whole band were playing but had a bit of an echo the rest of the time.

One last point - it would be great if Wembley had their own Gamesmakers to help people leave the stadium. Yes there were people about but not anything like the Gamesmakers we saw at the Olympic Stadium.