Photo by Minh Tran.

Friday night was my first time seeing the Boss in concert, and I felt pretty certain what to expect. I grew up on the East Coast, where Bruce has literally been deified, and the devotion he commands over there has actually made me feel unworthy of trying to see him. New York area fans are SERIOUS about Bruce. I mean, sure, I’ve owned every album he’s ever made, but I got most of them for a buck at Amoeba. So am I devoted enough to be considered a fan? Do I have BSS4VR on my license plate? Did I freak out when he played SNL without the E Street Band? And honestly, have I listened to every track on The River? Alas, the answer to each of these questions is No.

However, the time was right for me to experience the Boss--he and I both aren't getting any younger, and the opportunities we'll have to be in the same room at the same time are ever decreasing. So, far from the place where both he and I come from, I ventured to the Rose Garden to see what all the fuss was about. Bruce did not disappoint, giving all his energy to the performance. If anything, he did seem to be workingman-like about the whole thing, which stands to reason since he does this performance thing a fair amount. It was also funny to see him slump against his microphone stand, which had been fixed to the ground like a stripper pole. I was struck particularly by how potent the recent material is. In fact, two of the emotional highlights of Friday's show came from The Rising, the record before last: "Lonesome Day" and "The Rising" both soared in the live setting, making me want to go back and examine a record that I pretty much ignored when it came out. The other high point was an audience request of "For You," a young man's overworded, slipshod ramble that contrasted nicely with the fist-pumping anthems of the rest of the set.

Meanwhile, Max Weinberg stuck to simple, pounding 4/4 beats, raising his stick in the air after every snare hit in an attention-grabbing flourish. He's definitely a TV personality now, and his super-high drum riser and hidden microphone setup (how the heck were those cymbals mic'ed?) made sure that everyone could see him clearly. He is a powerful but not particularly interesting drummer. As far as the rest of the E Street Band, I was most excited to see Bruce's two guitar foils: Little Steven, who hosts the only thing on the radio that doesn't make me feel like punching myself in the face, and Nils Lofgren, who is even tinier than I dared imagine. They were both awesome. Clarence Clemons, however, is a waste of space. I'm sorry to say it, but an 8-bar sax solo on one quarter of the songs in the set doesn't really warrant the gold throne they had set up for him stage right. Indeed, I felt the band was bloated--violin AND sax? Two keyboard players? I'd love to see a set by Bruce, Nils and Steven, with a better drummer, kicking out some garage band jams, making tight, focused music. But this is sacrilege--the Boss comes with all of the E Street Band, and that's part of the deal. He also comes with a catalog of terrific, emotional songs, and Friday's show proved that point.