Yesterday I went to my first Bruce Springsteen concert, and this confusing experience was definitely not what I expected to be writing about today.
Any logical course of events, and I would now have been writing a “review” for you of this second night in Nijmegen 2024, which was even better than what I had studied of first night footage.

It was going to be a newbie review since I am not a fan, but I figured it would provide a unique perspective of what a Bruce Springsteen concert is like if you’re only affiliated through the Stone Pony/New Jersey/Bon Jovi/ those two men still taking regular trips driving through New Jersey and being photographed together– connection.
And not because you listen to Bruce Springsteen music, which is also because I have already dedicated my life to writing about Bon Jovi.
And even with regard to the Bon Jovi area of interest, I feel I have a huge decision coming up to cap it anywhere between 1996 and 2016 because my fanhood has been in progressively murky waters lately.

But I’m getting side-tracked here.

Suffice to say that at yesterday’s Bruce Springsteen concert, I knew Twist & Shout, and Because the Night (belongs to lovers) better than other casual visitors there (providing there were any), because Bon Jovi covered them in their 20th century shows and I curate a list of those old concerts on my YouTube.
So for someone who is not a fan of Bruce Springsteen, I do have an advantage which I would not have with the other two artists mentioned in the title:
Taylor Swift
Thirty Seconds to Mars, the band from Jared Leto.

Had I gone to their concerts, which I will never do after last night’s realizations, but in all likeliness, attending their concerts would have proven to be even more of a challenge.

Both Taylor Swift and Thirty Seconds to Mars are known for having a community of dedicated fans, to which the artist deliberately feeds into.
Creating what I (and others) would call a cult.
And where Thirty Seconds to Mars has been heavily criticized for it, and Swift’s has been analyzed as a business strategy, Springsteen’s comes up as having been the subject of multiple serious studies;
Yet, has never been “outed” as having religious let alone cult, characteristics.

It is as if the most serious and long lasting artist of the three, has managed to stay under the radar.
Or, in religious terms, above it.

This aspect of Springsteen seems to have successfully been hiding in plain sight, at least in the Netherlands, where I live.
Springsteen is unanimously hailed by all journalists, and his shows always sell out entirely.
So I only have our national perspective, and it makes me wonder;
Has no one noticed?
Or is Springsteen so close to our own Dutch Christian heritage, roots most of us have walked away from, that we have welcomed Bruce Springsteen into the hearts now devoid of direction?

Or most of us, have welcomed.

Because at least for one former 20th century heavy metal fan who used to confidently set foot (or should we say “hoof”?) in places her parents only let her go, because she was in the company of her reliable boyfriend (meaning: for me), all red flags went up, watching the concert footage of the night before.

This is a church.

I literally told my que-friend yesterday, after fate or higher powers had teamed us (two total strangers) up, that I had bought the ticket because I could hear Thursday’s Bruce Springsteen concert was probably the best concert ever played at the park.
And that was just what I heard, standing outside.

But I admitted that the only thing I was slightly worried about, was what I had labeled as the “evangelical nature” of the concerts.
And not only did he (the man with whom I shared a spot in the que) respond as if such a comparison had never crossed his mind, even I myself felt silly, pretentious, and on the wrong side of the “seeing things that are not there” spectrum.

By the time we entered the premises, all my worries had disappeared. Definitely helped both by my good company and by the fact that I had only encountered helpful and kind people, the entire day.
To address that what I had seen on those YouTube videos from the earlier show as a carbon copy of every Christian broadcast I had accidentally fallen into back in the day when I still had a tv and was switching tv channels;
Talking about that, seemed absolutely ridiculous.
And more importantly;
It felt wrong.

In that line outside, the last time I allowed myself to seriously consider this aspect, which to me personally had been a disturbing one;
In that singular moment, with the words leaving my lips, it already felt like even suggesting Bruce Springsteen would have a highscore on the Religious Cult Indicator, was touching on a taboo subject.
A tell-tale sign powers are at play here that you should not casually brush upon…..

I felt silenced and out of place.

And that I had two options;
Either I was to forget about the whole thing – and besides come on! It is Bruce Springsteen! No one, does not love Bruce Springsteen –
Or, I had no place being there.

I am very happy I stayed for the experience, but I can tell you, that I indeed, had no place being there.

Now let me first enlighten you that as far as religious congregations go?
I would be unable to recommend, endorse, and vouch for any of them, the way I can and will underscore being a fan of Bruce Springsteen.

So if you are in the dark and want to cross over to the light?
If life is weighing in on you, and you have nowhere to go?
If you are looking for redemption?

If you are into having these big, moving, events, these rallies, but until now have failed to “find your church”?
Well, you found it!

There is no church of Bruce Springsteen, but there is his work.
And there are his concerts, and there are all the other fans to whom he is as meaningful as he will be to you.

So there you go.

You can read this article, which I found doing research;
Bruce Springsteen as post-Christian pastor
It can be downloaded as a pdf from this page on the website BOSS bi-annual online journal of Springsteen studies.

Bruce Springsteen as post-Christian pastor is a deep dive and a historic and dare I say “spiritual” reconstruction, of how the changing importance of the Christian church back in the 60s, lay the foundation Bruce Springsteen’s work.
And ultimately led him into embodying this pastor-like energy, in the 21st century.

His roots run deep, and this is no false prophet.
Bruce Springsteen is genuine, profound and humble in his service, his work for his fans, his community.
And to God.

But, there is a reason I say “Check your horns”, before going.

Firstly, because music concerts do not have the function of being a church for everyone.
Had I realized how much meaning Bruce Springsteen concerts hold for other people, I would not have gone.

And I think it is very weird I never read about this before, or heard this from other people, not here in the Netherlands.
It is common knowledge his shows are the best of their kind.
No one better than Bruce Springsteen.
But that “their kind” is very specific blend, of music?
Never heard anyone mention it.

The only explanation I have, is that although Bruce Springsteen shows and I imagine just like Taylor Swift or 30 Seconds to Mars shows, have a religious cult-ish aspect to them;
Most people, will be able to enjoy them without.

And few people whose bones will start rattling, and whose horns will start shaking, when in the presence of what 99% of people would call;
Good.
Goodness.
Purity.
Love.

My first instinct was that it was because I was more evil.
My horns were too big, and too proudly worn, to belong in any way, in this  place of goodness and love.

That it must have been my flirting with the dark side, even when that was just for kicks and for fun, and for making better and certainly more compelling conversation than talking about the weather;
That it was this that meant my “religious threshold” was lower, than for others.

Even though my favorite live moment in a Bon Jovi show is “Lay Your Hands on Me”;
A song where the band leans fully, into its Catholic background.
“Welcome to Jonny’s church of rock n’ roll,” Jon Bon Jovi says.
Love it.
Take my money.
Sign me in, for whatever sect you’re offering, and I will gladly come to church as often as you’ll have us.

So I don’t have a history of being repellent to Christianity.
And even for this website (Rock Star Writer) I remember writing an article about those Catholic references being the secret ingredient, that made Bon Jovi stand out.

So knowing this, gets me to the first option explaining my inability to gel with last night’s concert.
Which is kind of  a boring option, but just for good measure let’s bring this one to the table.
Option one is that Springsteen has moved towards a more protestant expression, and that having a soft spot for Catholic references is about as useful on a Springsteen concert as collecting Pokemon cards.
So that is the neutral hypothesis;
That Springsteen leans, or has started to lean, more towards protestant vocabulary and atmosphere.

But there are two other explanations, which definitely make for the better blogpost.

The explanation of ones own natural constitution.
If we come from the idea that we want our own morals reflected back to us, in others.

If we are darker, if we sport a good pair of horns so to speak, then according to that logic, we also like our idols or music to be darker.
This is something I relate to;
In the early 90s I visited a string of metal festivals and rock concerts, and my old vinyl collection is still a testament of this. With Death Angel, Megadeth and Appetite for Destruction with the original sleeve.

With this history of having immersed myself deeply into the Dark side, I was clearly not the ideal candidate to enjoy a Bruce Springsteen concert.

And the final option is that it is perhaps not our own darkness, which we love to see mirrored in the music;
But it is that we, or at least some of us, are craving to see the opposite, in the music we listen to.

That it was not because I was dark, that I looked for darkness.
But because I was not.
Coming from goodness and unconditional love, I need “evil” music to set boundaries.

Staying in touch with the darkness of choice (heavy music), protects me from being overwhelmed by the darkness of the world.

And it is now that I suddenly realize why my being-a-Bon-Jovi-fan, has been such a mess lately.
And why I have known the time is near that I will make a choice;
Until which point will I invest in the material, and where will I leave it to others?
Where will I cap it?

Writing this article, about the Bruce Springsteen concert, makes me realize why I fell in love with Bon Jovi in the 80s.
What they represented, but what already started waning in the 90s, even though that is when “real music lovers” started appreciating them, and their musical qualities by all objective standards, were outstanding.

Except for me; It no longer worked.

I needed that full on, messy, ranting, questionable at times, but maybe because of that dangerous, Bon Jovi.

What I STILL hear and experience, when I listen to their 80s concerts;
They give me the power to protect myself.
They shield me, they shelter me.

80’s Bon Jovi did not offer reflection, solace and salvation, but an enigmatic blend of the spontaneous, the unregulated, the free, the sexy, and the dangerous. 

Bon Jovi had horns the size of the State of New Jersey!
And through their music, and definitely Guns N’ Roses from the 90s and up (I switched in 1989), I was able to break free from unhealthy cultural patterning.

Without rock music, with bands that “were horned” where the horns stand for deriving power from any source needed, in service of the greater good of freedom;
I would not have had the power to break away.

Their brutal strength set me free and without it I would have been lost.
It is that simple.

And the reason I am no longer feeling Bon Jovi lately, is because I miss that strength. 
I miss their ability to come in, and to lighten the load by culling it for me. By cutting, whatever needs to be cut.
And what we got in return, let’s say “mature Bon Jovi”?
Just like Bruce Springsteen; it only aggravates, my problems.
It’s like now I have my own problems, and I have yours.

In the days around the concert, I made a morning walk through the park.
A few hundred meters from where I would later have that conversation with my que-friend, about being on the fence about the possible evangelic character of the concert, I saw a little snail in the middle of an intersection, on the hot asphalt.
I had no idea how it got there, but I did fear it would not make it, if I left it to its own devices.

So I looked for a few twigs, which I found in the grass which was unexpectedly still wet with dew, and I lifted the snail from the asphalt and placed it in the high wet grass.
I took a water bottle from my backpack, and dripped some water over its overheated body, so that it could quickly cool off, and start recovering from any wounds.
I watched as the little creature curled its body in delight, and it was like he recovered before my eyes and said “Thank you.”
It was the most rewarding, and in all probability, the most meaningful thing I did the entire week.
That, was the moment I felt a deep joy that I could make such a difference, for such a small creature.

During the concert I saw a bumble bee. I saw it twice, about an hour apart. And I wondered if it had still not found its way home.
Was it stuck in the heavily vibrating field of the speakers?
At the beginning of the concert, as well as during Born in the USA, the unnaturally heavy bass tones of the concert, had hurt me so violently and had made me put my fingers in my ears which filtered them out partially, although they affected my whole body and heart in particular.

Maybe the bumble bee was lost, unable to find its way out.

When everybody around me was ecstatic, Springsteen’s music and presence transporting them to higher realms, all I could think of was the one who was not being saved.
Or the two.
They were not lost, because they were beyond being saved;
But because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lost, on the crossroad.

.
~Suzanne
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

Anyone who has tried to get concert tickets in particular in the USA but the practice has spread to daughter organizations as well;
Knows the game has changed since a couple of years.

Instead of all concert tickets buyers being equal, some are, loosely based on a quote which may sound vaguely familiar, more equal than others. 

This more equality a.k.a. privilege, can of course be obtained with money,  and is best known for the practice of “dynamic ticket pricing”.
And I know I’m cutting corners here now (forgive me), but it loosely means that if you are a big fan and really want a ticket, you have a couple of intersecting and interdepending pathways of getting them which usually involve;
-getting access ahead of the official start of the sale
-becoming a member of the fanclub in order to get this early access to purchase the ticket
-entering this coveted time window but then being sucked dry because the price is dependent on the demand. Which is of course huge.

So I probably got a few details wrong, but just remember getting a ticket as a big fan is a guaranteed ticket to capitalist mayhem;
And then maybe, a concert ticket too.

Very few artists have been successful at fighting this, and then from the sideline I understood that a few of the ones who were successful, drew back and gave free rein to capitalist mayhem after all, and so on and so forth.
We’re all doomed, and if you’re a big fan you’re even more doomed than others.

So this is, bar a mistake or two, the much resented practice of dynamic pricing, that is pretty well known, and to which history or purgatory will one  day decide who was on the wrong side of moral and ethical boundaries, and who managed to stay within the lines of the ethically passable.

However!
I stumbled upon an article about the recent Springsteen concerts here in Nijmegen, and realized that a second practice, which has way more years of experience under its belt than dynamic pricing- seems to have gone by unnoticed.

And this is the practice of premium pricing of certain “packages”, which are really nothing more than capitalizing on things that used to be free.
And I’ll get into this in a bit, but the article really struck me, because the reporter seemed to have missed the point entirely of the phenomenon he was describing here at the Goffertpark and I wondered;
Do people not know this?

Has the dynamic pricing discussion actually managed to divert attention away from another, definitely big earner, elephant in the room;
That of super high priced VIP and early entry packages?

And I have concluded; Yes, it has.
And it is exactly this excessive pricing that Bruce Springsteen has successfully managed to fight!
Worldwide!

So, what is this I would say, second over-pricing  vehicle I am talking about?
What does VIP or early access actually mean?

A long long time ago, when the animals could still talk and all concert tickets were created equal, the first 4000 attendants would be gifted a wrist band for the front area.
The Front Area was created for security reasons, so the pressure of the crowd against the rail was divided into two. One in front of the stage, and one against a second rail.
Both fences had an aisle a few meters wide in front of them, which was patrolled by security and first aid personnel handing out water.

At the beginning of the 20th century, access to the front area, which was renamed “Golden Circle”, was no longer handed out based on commitment and showing up early, but it was a separate ticket.
A Golden Circle Ticket was usually 50% higher than a field ticket.

But it didn’t stop there.

Over the years many forms of monetization of this front area have made their appearance, but one is a returning one;
Some sort of package that allows you get into the Golden Circle first.
An “early access” package, or “early entry”.
So when people with a regular Golden Circle ticket still have to wait, and are now in the “chaos phase” where the fences have been removed and they have reshuffled as their group was pushed one layer further forward towards the gates, a few hundred people who have paid three times as much, are already let in!!!
And in an orderly fashion, they do not have to push or fight for their place, in fact they are threatened they will be expelled if they behave in any way pushy. 

The price is about three times the price of a Golden Circle ticket.
It is never named Early Access ticket, but wrapped into a package that includes merchandise or coins for food and drinks (which you do not have time to spend because you are stuck at the rail of course).
It is never said: “For 15 minutes early access we let you pay three times as much.”
But this is of course, exactly what it is.

There are even more excessive and earlier-than-early priced packages, but I will not bother you with that.
You get the idea;
Since about 10 years wanting to get into the Golden Circle EARLY?
Is monetized as well.
It’s no longer the one who shows up early, who gets it, it’s the one who pays the most.

So when I read this article from a local media:
“Springsteen fans organize themselves who gets an early entry”
I was like:
“Wait… what? Are there no Early Entry tickets then?”

I went to the park to find out.
And guess what?

No Bruce Springsteen concert has Early Access tickets!
The fans organize a registration and check-in system, and cooperate with the security of the concert.
And tomorrow night, Saturday 29th of June, the people who have checked in three times a day, for days in a row, are going to get the earliest of entries, and the best spots.

So I thought that was worth sharing.

Bruce Springsteen is like that little town where Asterix and Obelix live, where every story opens with Gaul being under Roman law.
“All of Gaul?” it says.
“All, except one tiny little village, that fiercely fights the Roman rule”

Let us not be disheartened by all the battles we have lost. And of the success capitalism has had, at the expense of concert goers.
Not when we have Springsteen, still fighting the Romans for us.

Not, when we have a last man standing.

.
~Suzanne
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal