The Boss comes to My Hometown

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Oh, one more thing, before I go on vacation...

...I saw The Boss again last night:

Twice in one tour - what a treat! But when they announced he'd added dates, including a show here in Richmond, how could I not?

Another great show. Springsteen was very playful last night, with lots of crowd interaction, taking of requests, pulling young fans on stage, handing out drumsticks, and an unheard-of 8-song encore at the end of a power-packed 3-hour show that never stopped save the brief departure prior to the encore. I was on my feet for most of it, and came home with ears ringing, sweaty and exhausted. And blissfully happy.

My friend and I had great seats - very close to the front, at lower level stage right. My only complaint is that the sound was horrible. Not sure who is to blame - Springsteen's sound engineers, or the Richmond Coliseum. Probably a combination of both. I've seen him there before, back in '05, but our seats faced the stage head-on back then, where all the speakers face, and the sound back then was sublime. Last night there was so much buzz and reverb that it was really hard to make out what the song was, until he started singing the lyrics, which at times were also hard to hear. Because of the sound issues, the singers and instruments sounded out of tune, at times. Such a shame. The reviewer in the local paper also had the same issue. So much for the press having the best seats in the house.

Anyway, if you're a fan and would like to see more photos and two brief videos, I invite you to visit my Flickr photoset.

Enjoy. I definitely did!

And now I bid you adieu for a few days.

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