I consider myself part-Jersey. You see, my whole family is from Jersey. My Mom and Dad were the first to fly the coup a few years before I was born, and moved to the South from the Garden State. I grew up a Florida boy from Jacksonville. However, we spent at least 80% of our vacation time in Jersey visiting family and the Jersey Shore.

One specific memory from our vacations was my first impression of Bruce Springsteen. My cousins who lived in Waldwick were all older than me, and I looked up to each one of them. But, I idolized the cousin closest in age. Everything she did, I had to do. Everything she liked, I liked, except for one thing - this guy, Bruce Springsteen. When I first saw my cousin’s posters of The Boss in 1978, I was seven years old and knew nothing about Rock n Roll. I was busy playing with my Star Wars action figures, so the looks of Springsteen were quite the contrast to Luke Skywalker. I was not impressed.

Time passed and passed. I never became a huge Bruce fan, but I always appreciated his music. Granted, I only knew the hits, but he has always been on my list: the list of classic rockers who I just have to see. The list is getting shorter. I knocked out The Police last fall and Van Halen last night. That leaves U2, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and CSN, but I digress. Back to The Boss.

A couple years ago, I bought “The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle”. Wow. It’s good. It’s not good, it’s phenomenal. I had no idea.

This leads me to Wednesday. The Boss came to little ‘ol Charlottesville to play the 16,000 seat John Paul Jones Arena. When tickets went on sale, I did not blink at the price. It was the most expensive concert ticket that I have ever purchased by at least $50, and I bought another for my wife.

We were not disappointed. I probably knew about 5 songs from the entire set list and no songs from “Born in the U.S.A.” were played, but it did not matter. I left the show wanting to purchase the latest Springsteen album, “Magic”, and any one of his classics from the 70s. Even at their age, Springsteen and the E Street Band rock. A very simple description, but it’s true. I was told to expect quite a performance, and these expectations were met. Not knowing the majority of the songs, I am not qualified to give a detailed review of the performance, but my favorites from the night were “Prove It All Night”, “Badlands”, and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. However, the show did not seem to meet the standards of hard core Springsteen fans. Backstreets.com, which is the website for a quarterly Springsteen magazine since 1980, writes about the Charlottesville show, “…just as “Roulette” and “Don’t Look Back” started the night on a high at the previous barnburner in Greensboro. “Mary’s Place” turned up again, too — but that’s where the affinity between the two shows end, Charlottesville being one where things didn’t quite click. Hard to say, but it could be that after more than a week of channeling so much into the performance, an emotional drain has understandably taken its toll. Whatever the reason, this was a shorter show, with a less inspired setlist and a performance coming up short of others on this astounding recent run. The penultimate show of a leg has been one to watch on Springsteen tours, often turning out to be the stand-out… not so this time.”.

The show truly transported me back to the 80s. Everyone was dancing like Courtney Cox in the “Dancin’ in the Dark” video. It was hilarious, but even I was at the end!

The sound in JPJ (John Paul Jones Arena) was pretty amazing. We were sitting in the nose bleeds directly across from the stage and the sound was absolutely fantastic for an arena show. I also found out that JPJ has a beer garden! Here I thought that a university facility could not serve beer. Bonus.

All in all, it was a show well worth attending. My only regret is that I didn’t follow my cousins’ musical tastes thirty years ago. Better late, than never I guess.