Tunnel of Love Express Part 2--All that Heaven Will Allow--Friday night

Friday, April 22, 1988--L. A. Sports Arena

This was it!  I was going to see Bruce and the E Street Band.  Here is what I wrote to my friend, Sue, so she could live vicariously through me...(2016 comment to 1988 notes in green)

"Started a little after 8--1st set ended 'round 9:30--only about a 25-minute intermission--played from 10 to a little after 12--definitely 3 1/2 hours worth.  From where I sat I had a good view of where the band comes up and goes down (I had tickets behind the stage).  Couldn't believe that I was actually seeing all my fave guys coming out of there.  I'm sure you know Roy comes out by himself, then Danny and Max come out and "supposedly" purchase tickets (the stage had a ticket booth to the Tunnel of Love, of course), then Nils and Garry.  Patti came up with heart-shaped balloons, then Clarence and the man himself, Bruce Springsteen.  I still love how the music slowly builds as the musicians came out and then Bruce says, "Ready for a date?" and he throws roses out to the crowd."

Set List for First Set:
Tunnel of Love

Be True--Bruce sang second verse to us at the back "You deserve better than this, little girl can't you see that you do--do you need somebody to prove it to you?"

Adam Raised a Cain--Bruce did great guitar work

Two Faces--hauntingly beautiful

All That Heaven Will Allow--big long story, Bruce and Clarence sit on a park bench, like old friends (that they are), Bruce looking at pictures of the 3 year old 'little Big Man' and then telling us about how there are a lot of young kids in the E St. family and said that in about 15 years there will be a E St. Band Part Two--but would be mostly girls--told about Clarence and him in Europe a few tours ago when Clarence met his wife--"Clarence was always falling in love and always meeting the woman he was going to marry."  He also talked about when they'd sit on a park bench eating bologna and cheese sandwiches with beer next to them watching the office girls go by.  Then he ends it all by saying that he's got to go and get home by 11:00--"She lets me watch 'The Honeymooners' for a half hour and after that it's "lights out'"---I love this story...

Seeds--dug both Nils' and Bruce's guitar work!

Roulette--had a lot of power--Max was great!

Cover Me--Loved how at the end Bruce recited a few lines from the Stones' "Gimme Shelter'--"It's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away.."

Brilliant Disguise--still love the break, and the ending lines are so haunting in concert

Spare Parts--Roy's piano intro is very nice! Loved Bruce's story like the way he started the song--and Nils' slide guitar

War

Born in the USA--what can I say--great way to end the first set and Bruce's solo was great!

Now a 25 minute intermission---Take a look at my t-shirts!  ($17 each!!!)

 

 

Second Set--

Tougher Than the Rest

Ain't Got You into She's the One--My favorite from the evening!

You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)--As Bruce describes this song is about America's favorite past time "No, not that one!" --"Shopping"  {Part of the stage act during this song involved band member Patti Scialfa (later Bruce's wife) and Nils Lofgren's then-wife Cis Rundle strutting across the stage while a bit of Orbison's "Pretty Woman" is played}  Just campy and Bruce fun, as always...

I'm a Coward When it Comes to Love

I'm on Fire

One Step Up--Nils did a nice guitar solo

Part Man, Part Monkey--{More Bruce camp and sexiness, he removed his jacket, vest, bolo tie and got down to his shirt sleeves--the rest I'll leave to the imagination....}

Walk Like a Man

Dancing in the Dark

Light of Day (band introductions)

ENCORES:

Born to Run--{This version was entirely acoustic, and it was one that I look back on and cherish as it was more raw and poignant...}

Hungry Heart--1st verse is required audience participation to sing...Bruce came toward the back of the stage to sing the entire second verse

Glory Days

Rosalita

Detroit Medley

Train, Train

Sweet Soul Music

Bruce then says his quote, "I'm just a prisoner, of rock and roll!!!"

And one final Encore song prefaced by Bruce asking us if we wanted some "religious inspiration--some sexual consummation..."--So he and the band did Eddie Floyd's "Raise Your Hand."

The biggest thing I loved about watching both of these shows "behind the stage" is that you could see everything the band saw.  At times, it gave me the impression that I was on stage with the band.

Stay tuned for the third and final installment of the Saturday night show.  More surprises were in store....

Tunnel of Love Express, Part 1--"You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above"

In 1988, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were on the Tunnel of Love Express tour.  Unfortunately, it was going to be a lot smaller tour than in 1984-1985, and they would be playing less venues in the USA.  So no Phoenix date.

My friend, Sue, who lived in New Jersey, had already seen 5 of the Bruce shows that year.  We noticed that Los Angeles was going to have 5 dates.  Either she or I would try to call Ticketmaster and get tickets to a few shows for me.  Being a novice to the ticket game in the 1980's, I thought I had called the right number, got repeated busy signals, then when I got through I was told the shows were sold out.  Thankfully, Sue was calling from New Jersey and got through to Ticketmaster.  She got me 2 tickets each for the April 22 and April 23 shows!  Awesome!

The plan was once she received the tickets in the mail, she would send them out to me.  I would need to find transportation (cheap Southwest Airline fares) and a person to go with me.  Luckily, a friend from church was living in Sherman Oaks and she agreed to pick me up, let me stay at her place, and accompany me to the Friday night show.  Her roommate would go with me to the Saturday night show.  All set, right?

It was the 2 weeks before the concerts.  Sue had yet to receive the tickets.  She called Ticketmaster and they said the infamous line, "The tickets are in the mail."  I believe the last set arrived on Monday in New Jersey, 4 days before the first concert.  And they didn't arrive on the same day!  Basically, I received a Federal Express overnight package once she got both sets of tickets!  Here is her note that accompanied the tickets!

So with tickets in hand and a small bag, my parents dropped me off at Sky Harbor Airport to fly to Los Angeles on April 21.  It was raining here in AZ and in LA.  I had a bad sinus infection but I was going to see Bruce and that is all that mattered!

Stay tuned for show number one on April 22, 1988 in the next blog...

Hey, Hey We're the Monkees Back in the High Life

3 of the 4 Monkees pictured above appeared

It was the fall of 1986 and my best friend was off at UofA while I was in Mesa going to Mesa Community College.  When it came to concerts, I had no one to go with me.

It was the year of the Monkees 20th Anniversary tour.  I will admit I watched the reruns in the early 70's.  My cousin, 9 years older than me, had caught the TV show when it was first on in 1966.  Of course, MTV was showing the program to a new generation of pre-teens.  My cousin needed someone to accompany her to this glorious spectacle.  Also on the bill was Herman's Hermits (who the Who first toured with in America in 1967), Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, and the Grass Roots.

Not surprisingly, there was a new batch of screaming pre-teens at this show.  I am not sure how they made it through the 3 opening acts.  All I remember is my cousin singing to the Herman's Hermits songs.  

When the Monkees came out, it was just Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones.  Mike Nesmith only appeared at a few shows on this tour (Texas and Los Angeles).  But these guys were good entertainers and if you'd watched the TV shows you would know the songs.  The screaming pre-teens never ceased but it wasn't as bad as the Beatles experiences of the 60's when they would fake play their instruments because they couldn't hear each other.  I can actually say I enjoyed the show.

A month later on October 15, 1986, a fellow MCC friend of mine (and former high school friend) went with me to see Steve Winwood on his High Life Tour.  The beauty of this was that the concert was only 4.5 miles away and it was outdoors.  The opening act was Level 42 who had hits with "Something about You" and "Lessons of Love."  Unfortunately, all I could remember was the throbbing bass in all of the songs.  We are not talking melodic intense Thunderfingers-John-Entwistle bass lead guitarist stuff--oh no.  It was all I could hear--no other instruments.

Needless to say I was relieved to see them go and the piano chords of "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" start.  Winwood opened with an old Traffic classic, not one of the hits from Back in the High Life album.  How amazing is that?

Of course, Steve Winwood played at least half of the songs from this amazing album from 1986.  I remember "Back in the High Life" and "Finer Things" really standing out.  I also remember "Dear Mr. Fantasy", "Valerie", "While You See a Chance", "Arc of  a Diver" and "Gimme Some Lovin'".  He had an amazing band with him and he is an amazing singer and multi-instrumentalist.  

This same week of October 1986, I wished I had known about Neil Young's first Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California at the Shoreline Amphitheatre.  I found out about this 3 months later when I saw Bruce Springsteen and Nils Lofgren on the cover of Acoustic Guitar magazine.  A friend of mine ended up with a bootleg copy of the whole show (on videotape) so I got to see Bruce, Nils, Neil, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Robin Williams, etc., do amazing acoustic performances.  Here is picture from my scrapbook from that performance.  I believe they were doing "Teach Your Children" in this shot.  

Anyway, that is my story from 1986.  I still want to catch a Bridge Benefit one of these days.  If it would just coincide with October break for the kids....

When do they play "Lola"?

In early January 1985, my mom and I were 7th in line at Fiesta Mall waiting outside the Diamond's at 7 AM.  It was quite brisk for an early Arizona January morning, but I was determined to get tickets for The Kinks at ASU Activity Center.

Luckily, I got amazing 3rd Row center seats (closer to singer Ray Davies microphone).  So compared to NO tickets to see Bruce and the E Street Band in November 1984, these tickets were incredible indeed.  Note the ticket price, $12.50!!!

My dad and I picked up my friend Miami Zany EP (long story about the name which I won't go into here) and dropped us off in Tempe at the ASU Activity Center.  I was wearing a London shirt (a hand-me-down from one of my cousins) but I bought this very cool Kinks concert shirt (back of the shirt is shown above) which I put over the London shirt.  I felt like this was just so amazing!  We were going to see one of the British Invasion bands (20 years on) and they were still making vital, exciting rock and roll!

Before the concert started, some frat boy who most likely had seats in the nose bleeds snuck his way down to the floor and near the stage.  He started talking to us and he kept asking about the Kinks song "Destroyer" and also, "when will they play that 'Lola" song?"  He was highly annoying and I tried my best to ignore him especially once the lights dimmed and the Kinks came out on stage.  I didn't keep track of the songs, but remember they played most of the material from their newest album, Word of Mouth.  The performance was amazing--Ray always wanting audience participation with the "Banana Boat" chant "way-oh" and of course, the audience bits in "Lola."  Brother Dave Davies was incredible on guitar and it was a fantabulous show!

I had one other opportunity to see the Kinks in 1987, even had tickets for a performance at the Mesa Amphitheatre, but the tour got cancelled due to the bass player dislocating his shoulder.  Why they couldn't have recruited another bass player (John Entwistle was always keen to gig) I have no idea.

But I have seen Ray Davies since then in 1998 and 2010 and these stories will have to wait for another blog post or two...

When did the fandom start?

1984 was a good year for Rock and Roll.  I was 16 and really enjoying the rock and roll music scene.  In a year of Madonna. Van Halen and Michael Jackson's epic album Thriller, I was not liking the more popular groups.

The closest I got to popular music was when a friend and I went to see Billy Joel at the ASU Activity Center.  He was popular with his most recent album, An Innocent Man.  However, his older material like "Angry Young Man" and "Only the Good Die Young" was more my preference.

My brother, 9 years older than I, would make me mix tapes.  One of my favorites had the following lineup of songs--

Life on the Road--The Kinks
Words--The Bee Gees (before disco)
Let My Love Open the Door--Pete Townshend
Paint It Black--The Rolling Stones
Whenever You're On My Mind--Marshall Crenshaw
Gimme Some Lovin'--Spencer Davis Group
Messing With the Kid--Sam & Dave
Soul Man--Sam & Dave
Gotta Get a Message to You--Bee Gees
Gonna Get You--Pete Townshend
That'll Be the Day--Buddy Holly
It's So Easy--Buddy Holly
Life Goes On--The Kinks

Talk about a musical education!  45 minutes of incredible songs!

Bruce Springsteen was the most popular or mainstream as he ever was in 1984.  MTV showed his video for "Dancing in the Dark" constantly during the summer and this single made it to #2 on the Billboard charts.  Only Prince's "When Doves Cry" beat Bruce out of the #1 slot in August 1984.

Bruce was touring with his E Street Band.  My friend and I were going to get tickets!  We waited in a line of people outside the Diamond's at Fiesta Mall from 4 AM until we realized at 10:30 AM they were going to sell out and we didn't even get in the door of the building!  Augh!  Note to young self, camp out at 10 PM the night before and maybe you will have a chance!

So no Bruce but I used the fall of 1984 to catch up on his back catalog of albums and buy magazines like Rolling Stone and Musician which had feature articles on him.  I was definitely a fan!

But when would I see Bruce?  Would I catch any of this tour?  Would I end up with just bootlegs of some of the concerts?  Stay tuned for future installments of my reminiscences!

NOTE--Above photo of the author taken somewhere in West Germany, 1988.