Friday Feelings: Teenage Years, Bruce Springsteen, and Good Aging

Friday Feelings on Teenage Years, Bruce Springsteen, and Good Aging

The year was 1978 and I was a typical teenager in Junior Highschool testing out new music liked by new friends. I had thick straight hair, new hard contact lenses, a slender body, and an ear for rock-n-roll music.

Today, the year is 2024 and I am a middle-aged woman, semi-retired, with two grown sons and a granddaughter on the way. I have no hair due to alopecia, wear soft contact lenses, have an aging athletic body, and an ongoing love for live rock-n-roll music.

As I stood at the Bruce Springsteen concert last night listening to this iconic 75-year-old energetic, enthusiastic, rocking man and his Estreet Band, I wondered how different I might have perceived this live concert in 1978 compared to 2024. Would I have appreciated it as much as I did last night or would it have been just a fun teenage experience making me feel cool?  You know how teenagers are.

Well, as I write this, I feel cool – actually really cool – with “Born to Run” still running through my mind and “Spirit of the Night” in my veins this morning, my Springsteen floor wristband still draped on my wrist, and my new grey concert shirt on. Adorning it is a Springsteen button from 95X, the rock station near my hometown, that I pinned on it last night.

I have enjoyed live music all my life starting with a 1972 Sonny and Cher concert at SPAC, which my parents brought me and my sister to. Since then I’ve seen so many shows at SPAC, about 30 Dave Matthews Band concerts, and even country shows like Kenny Chesney and Luke Byrant since my son turned me on to country when he was in college. I love rocking and rolling and enjoying the live show experience.

But, nothing, nothing will rival last night’s experience watching “The Boss,” a forty-plus year wait for the best live show I’ve seen. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much as a teenager perhaps because Bruce has aged so beautifully. He smiled throughout the concert. Hugged fans and gave out harmonicas. Gathered signs. Played, and played, and played to his heart’s content…and the audiences too.

Time has a way of making things better, and in this case, my long-awaited experience of standing for 3-hours rocking out to a man with a pure love of performance, music, and his audience.  The wait was so worth it. I know I wouldn’t have felt this way in 1978. Only with age and time, do experiences “rise up” to the best. Wine, whiskey, and Bruce Springsteen.