Original subtitles

Now, the E Street Band has come thousands of miles tonight.

And we're here for one reason.

Because you're here!

And where we wanna go, we can't get there by ourselves.

Where we wanna go, we can't get there by ourselves!

We need you!

So I got one question that I want to ask you.

Can you feel the spirit?

If you can feel the spirit, I want you to answer me with a "Yeah!"

Yeah! Can you feel the spirit?

My three words for Bruce Springsteen are hope, heart and perspective.

Intense, passionate and earnest.

Bruce is power, Bruce is belief, Bruce is togetherness.

My first experience with Bruce Springsteen

was in here in this venue, 1987, the Tunnel of Love Express Tour.

And my journey started on that night.

I was nine years old and I was hanging in the fences up here

and having a blast.

And there must have been a hundred people behind me who couldn't see the show.

But I was a kid at the time, so they probably thought,

"Hey, let the boy enjoy himself."

But I remember I recorded the entire show.

Three-and-a-half hours on an old Walkman

and on the old cassette tapes.

And I still have them at home. I keep them in a box.

And once every now and then,

I stumble onto this box and I look at it and I smile.

'Cause I actually remember.

I remember the night, it was a beautiful summer night.

And what these tapes represent is basically why I keep them.

And they represent a great day in a 9-year-old boy's life,

and that's priceless.

My favourite singer's Bruce Springsteen because

I think when he has a concert,

he puts a lot of effort into his singing.

He takes a deep breath before every song,

and when the camera goes close up,

you can just see his veins popping out 'cause he's working so hard.

And after one song, he's as sweaty as a normal singer would be

after he's done 10 songs.

These are some of the pictures that I won, or I bought, or framed them,

but this particular one, it's a little mouldy.

I used to hold this picture up to my son

and say, "Daddy. Daddy."

So, I think, maybe, I played some head games with my son

for the first few years of his life thinking that this was his daddy.

A song about growing up.

Hi, I'm Theresa Martin,

and this is what I've collected over the years.

I have an abundance of love for Bruce.

So, Theresa, when did you actually become a Bruce Springsteen fan?

I became a Bruce Springsteen fan in 1982.

Really? And do you recall how many live shows you actually attended?

I'm not sure. I'm in double digits clearly, but I'd say 30 plus.

Thirty plus, that's quite an adventure you've had.

I also understand that you've won a few Bruce Springsteen contests. Is that correct?

That is correct. I've won two.

One being... The first contest I won was...

Help me. The Today Show.

And you know what, I'm good.

Because you know what, it was The Today Show.

It was in 2002 when The Rising first came out and I gave birth to my first son.

And he was a month old,

and I actually was home,

and The Today Show had questions.

I answered them and I won, and we went to New York City.

So I'd like to introduce my son, Dominic.

And this is my son now. He's 10 years old.

Dominic, you had a little bit of a special moment, didn't you?

What's the question?

You had a bit of a special Bruce Springsteen moment, didn't you?

- Yes, I did. - And can you explain that to us?

Okay. I've got it. Thank you.

This is the picture I got.

After the concert, we were waiting on the kerb,

and our friend had gone to get the vehicle.

And the police came and stopped all the cars from where they were going,

and a black SUV came,

and in the back seat with his window down was Bruce Springsteen.

Everyone ran up to the car,

she was told to back off by the policeman standing next to her,

and I shook his hand while getting this close-up picture.

Dominic, where was that concert at?

Fenway Park in Boston.

Awesome. Awesome.

So, now, you're the next generation Bruce Springsteen fan.

- Yes, I am. - Excellent.

- What's your favourite Bruce song? - Death To My Hometown.

- Why? - I like it.

Which is good, however...

Because of the words taught to me by this person right here.

And when Mommy tells you to listen to the words or understand the words,

- what do you say? - Okay.

- And do you hear the words? - Yes.

- Do you really hear the words? - Yes.

- Okay, just wanna make sure. - Thank you. Goodbye.

Thank you, Dominic.

So we got to the park at 4:00 with our signs with us, our homemade signs.

I had my "I'll be your Courteney Cox" sign.

I had my aviator sunglasses on. It was pouring with rain.

I had my Courteney Cox T-shirt on.

And then, James said to me,

"Rachel, come on, get on my shoulders," and I was like, "No, I don't want to."

I felt bad for the people behind us 'cause they wouldn't be able to see,

and he's like, "Come on, you never know when we're gonna see Bruce again."

Literally, a couple of seconds into the song, Bruce spotted me and started laughing.

And he was pointing at me and I was waving at him.

Next thing I know, I get put on the big screen with my sign.

The next thing I know, the girl in front of me just turned around to me and screamed,

"He wants you on the stage! He wants you on the stage!"

The next thing I know, I'm just being pushed through this sea of black bodies.

I had my sunglasses on, I couldn't see anything.

Then the next thing I know, I'm dancing with Bruce Springsteen on stage.

Before I knew it, it was all over. That was it.

We took a bow and he gave me a big hug,

and the only thing I could say to him was, "Bruce, I love you!"

I can't get through a day without listening to Bruce.

His storytelling is perfect.

It's helped me through serious highs and serious lows.

Since then, he was two things for me, a friend and a teacher.

I think, most of all, he taught me how to be a man, and a decent man,

through his songs and through his life.

Because I lost my virginity to Thunder Road.

Whenever I'm feeling lonely or depressed,

I can always listen to one of his songs or albums

and it always helps me feel better.

A song by Bruce can stop me dead in my tracks.

Even a song I've heard over and over again for 28 years.

But Bruce is timeless.

And he's helped me live in my own time and become who I am.

I've been a fan of Springsteen's all my life.

He was just standing in that spotlight, and he was so powerful,

and the whole crowd was just mesmerised by what he could do

and the stories that he could tell, and I just remember thinking,

"What is this? Who can do this? What kind of power is that?"

Hi, my name is Kitty. I'm a truck driver.

And Bruce Springsteen is my favourite artist to listen to on the road.

Recently, I drove through Arizona and I listened to his album Nebraska.

And the song Atlantic City came on,

and it just felt really good listening to that loud

while driving through the desert.

In fact, I think every important moment of my life

has a theme song that's Bruce Springsteen.

So, all of these CDs in my car,

absolutely every single one is Bruce Springsteen's.

Wait, actually one is his wife, Patti. My favourite album from Patti.

But that's all we listen to in this car. So my three sons, they have no choice.

I only listen to Bruce,

and they are schooled in the music of Bruce Springsteen

when they drive around with Mommy.

And I have to take them all over God's creation.

They know they don't have a choice.

It's no Disney bop nonsense music, it's Bruce Springsteen.

And I love it 'cause it gives me such joy. I'm so proud of them.

When they can sing songs that are 30 years old

from when I was little.

Bruce's sound and the E Street Band

sounded completely different than anything else I'd ever heard.

With Clarence in there, and the keyboard players

and the heavier drumming,

it's like a punchy soul band or something. Sexy sax.

Hence began my love for rhythm and blues

and sex music, I guess, soul music.

Bruce's lyrics

always made me feel

like I was going through someone's family photo album

and looking at their life,

and feeling what they felt,

and smelling their coffee,

and feeling their sadness

and their triumph.

So, David, what does Bruce Springsteen mean to you?

Bruce Springsteen means love.

Not for him, but for you.

You being a fan.

I've had Bruce Springsteen songs rammed down my throat 24/7.

It tends to lose its edge. It really does.

I've been all over Europe.

So, how many concerts have you been to?

I think you reminded me. It was about eight. Eight that I've actually been to.

Yeah, Amsterdam, Paris,

I've seen some beautiful cities along the way,

but then, I've always had this little bit where I've had to go to a concert in the middle of it,

which tends to spoil it for me.

His dream was to get on stage with Springsteen.

I heard him talking about it from the time we met

until it actually happened.

"That's my lifelong dream."

And I said, "You're really gonna do it?" And he goes, "I'm gonna do it."

And I said, "You promise?" And he said, "I promise."

So, he puts the suit on, he's dragging me across the street to get to there,

and as soon as he got up there, people are going, "Yo, Elvis! Hey, Elvis!"

They're high-fiving him and they want their picture taken,

and they're asking him to sing songs, and all the anxiety just melted away.

We had a sign that said...

- "Can The King sing with The Boss?" - "Can The King sing with The Boss?"

Bruce started doing All Shook Up.

One, two! One, two, three!

All of a sudden, he stopped singing and the band kept playing

and he said, "Okay, King, come on up."

And it was like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe it's happening to me."

It was my dream of 20 years.

And there I was and I'm being helped up on stage.

Hello, King!

And I saw him being pulled up on stage and everybody around me is going,

"Hey, he's up there! He's up there!"

Because they all were sharing the experience with me, it was surreal.

It was like, "Oh, my gosh,

"I'm married to Elvis and he's singing with Springsteen,

"and his dream's realised."

And my heart was just pounding. I was so excited.

Right when he was about to start singing, his son texted me and said,

"Did my dad get on stage? Ha-ha!" And I went, "He's up there now."

I was so happy to hear about it. I grabbed my buddy and I said,

"He's singing with Bruce Springsteen. He's singing with The Boss."

He had the faith and he handed me the mike and I said, "Okay, this is it."

And so, I did my best and as I was singing, at one point, I dropped to my knees...

Take it, Bruce!

...and I kick out my leg.

Which when you look at the video, it looks like an Elvis move,

but the fact of the matter is when I dropped to my knees,

I pulled my hamstring,

and I immediately kicked out my leg 'cause I pulled my hamstring.

And then I stood up, and my leg was hurting a little bit,

and at that point, that's when I said, "Hit it, Bruce!"

And he did his guitar solo.

And then, I realised that during the guitar solo,

that there is no guitar solo in All Shook Up,

and I didn't quite know what to do at that moment,

and I turned around and looked at Max and I backed up

thinking that I'm gonna have to change the song.

And out of no disrespect to Bruce or the band,

but I backed up and looked at Max and right at the end of the guitar solo,

I went into Blue Suede Shoes and the band was right there with me.

And I remember, out the corner of my eye,

I see Bruce coming up and I remember as I'm singing,

saying to myself, "I think you're done, Nick," just by looking at Bruce.

And I said, "Okay, Bruce, take it home." And he grabs the mike.

Take it home, man!

Elvis has left the building!

Elvis has left the building!

Thank you, King!

And then, I remember jumping off the stage.

He got totally mobbed by the crowd 'cause they were all so excited.

Everybody wanted to hug him and high-five him,

and I'm just waiting 'cause I just can't wait to hug him

and kiss him and say, "Oh, my God! We realised your dream!"

And it was like a scene from Rocky and Adrian...

We're yelling for each other,

just to try to catch up to each other so we can embrace.

And once we did, it was like the most...

I don't know. Tears fill your eyes 'cause you're just so happy.

And as we turn around, we look up, and Bruce was holding that last note.

He pointed to us and he kept saying, "The Philly Elvis! The Philly Elvis!"

The Philly Elvis!

The Philly Elvis!

Then the last thing he said, which I'll never forget, he looks and says...

I have no idea where the... he came from.

Hail The King!

He means inspiration, he means joy, and he means salt of the earth.

I know that's three words, of the three words,

but I don't... He's the salt of the earth.

He's just the best! He's the best!

Happy, handsome and hot.

Supernatural, divine, inspiration.

My soul brother.

A local legend.

In three words, I would say, "In him we trust."

Am I looking okay? Okay.

Passion, passion, passion.

It was March 29th, 1976, right smack in the middle of the '70s,

and it seemed like all our parents were gone.

Distant, working, busy, drunk at the country club.

So somehow it was okay for a group of girls

to go to see a rock 'n' roll concert on a Monday night

in March of our ninth grade year.

I don't remember what happened when we got to the concert.

I don't know what happened to the other girls.

But I know that as soon as I got there, as soon as the lights went out,

I made my way to the front of the stage, back when you could do that,

and was front and centre up against the stage right in front of Bruce.

Even after all these years and all the shows that I've seen,

the concert still defies description.

And I think that only the people

who saw him in the early days in the small venues

before the mega crowds,

and when you could get so close

that you were sharing the sweat and spit of whatever band member you are closest to,

can really know the ferocity and the intimacy of those concerts.

After graduation, I couldn't really get a job,

and so, I started working at Jamba Juice

making oatmeal in the early morning.

I had to get up at 3:00. I didn't have a car, so I rode my bike to work.

And that was when Working On A Dream came out,

and I would listen to that on my way to work

and feel like "I'm such a hardworking person.

"I'm the backbone of America."

Sometimes I feel like that when I listen to Bruce.

Like I'm really important, the work I do...

The more physically demanding my job is,

the more important I am when I listen to Bruce.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how I feel.

Madison Square Garden, 2000. The Reunion Tour.

I worked in a factory for 20 years and I'd saved up enough money eventually

to afford to go on a "Bruce Trip," as we call it.

Four days in New York, two concerts at Madison Square Garden.

So, me and my lovely wife, Cath, stayed in the Hotel Pennsylvania

across the road from Madison Square Garden.

We went down to the bar to pick up our tickets on the night of the first concert

and excitedly opened the envelope, looked at the tickets,

looked at the map, seating plan,

and we were right at the back, right at the top.

So a bit disappointed, but we were in New York, America for the first time.

So looked at the positives, went across the road,

up the escalators, right to the top, right to the back,

and as we got to the top level,

this rather bear-like character in baggy shorts and a beard,

as he walked past me, he muttered the immortal words,

"You wanna be upgraded?"

"Sorry?" I don't know what he meant. I didn't quite hear him.

"Let me see your tickets," he said. So I showed him our tickets.

He looked at them and said, "I think we can do better than that.

"Give me your wrist."

Put my wrist out, and he slapped an orange wrist band

on my wrist and Cath's.

And I said, "What's that for?"

And he said, "Don't remove that from your wrist.

"Do not leave the building.

"If you leave the building, you won't be allowed back in."

Like he'd said it a thousand times.

He put our tickets in his pocket

and then, he peeled off a couple of tickets, gave them to us and said something like,

"I work for Bruce. I don't want any money from you.

"I don't want any recognition. Please don't point me out to other people.

"Thank you for your support. Enjoy the show." And he was gone.

So we're looking at the tickets. Entrance, whatever it was.

We thought, "We better find this entrance then."

So we walked around Madison Square Garden at the top,

and there was no entrance and I thought,

"I've just given my tickets to a complete stranger,

"and we've got tickets that don't get us in anywhere."

Cath, my wife pointed out that we'd just gone past a cocktail bar,

like they do in America.

Not a beer stand, like in England.

And she said, "And there's a couple in there with orange wrist bands on.

"Let's go and ask them."

We went to the cocktail bar.

Sure enough, a very elegant couple sitting there,

and we said, "Excuse me," and we told them our story.

He said, "Let me see your tickets."

He looked at the tickets and he goes,

"You've got the best seats in the house. What's your problem?"

I still found it a bit hard to believe.

But sure enough, we went to a staff member and showed him,

and he just pointed us down through that entrance

and then, the next level down, "Keep going. Keep going."

And we got to the back of the front section with a maroon rope across

and we thought, "We must be behind here somewhere. This is fantastic."

We showed the man, he unclipped the rope, "Down to the front, sir."

And we ended up on the front row at Madison Square Garden

to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in the year 2000.

I got so excited,

I bought my wife three glasses of champagne at $7 a glass.

And I was a factory worker at the time, and it was phenomenal.

So that's what it's like to be a Bruce Springsteen fan.

Danny!

Here we are, just hanging out in the evening,

at home, in our living room, talking about Bruce Springsteen, like we do every night.

- Yes, we do. - Okay.

Anyway, this is my vintage shirt.

Remember this one? I hardly ever wear it because I have to preserve it,

and I never even went to a show.

- And how did you get that shirt? - I never even went to a show.

We've never been able to get tickets when we had money,

and then we didn't have money, so we couldn't go.

Unfortunately, not, but we're still huge Bruce fans.

Oh, honey.

- What? But we are. - I know we are.

All right. So?

Anyway, this was my ex-boyfriend, who I was living with in Manhattan,

and he was a musician and I was a writer/actress/waitress.

And I think he went to the show, but I was already seeing you.

And then, he was trying to woo me back with the Bruce shirt,

- and it didn't quite work. - And I won.

He might have been able to woo me back if he'd brought Bruce with him.

Anyway, yeah, so it's my favourite shirt.

And I don't wear it too often so I don't wanna wear it out.

Right, but for this occasion.

But it's funny 'cause we were talking the other night

and we were saying about how... We were talking about...

How Bruce is in our lives and stuff like that,

and we were talking about the fact that we're...

It sounds so stupid,

but we are like the people that are in his songs in different ways.

Very much so. Blue collar, together 28 years.

- Yeah, exactly. - Struggling with the kids,

and you go to work every day in Manhattan,

and works with his hands, and has been doing that for over 30 years.

- But we're still together. - Yes, we're still together.

And that's the main thing.

If you say it one more time, it might not be.

So, I've got these tickets to see Bruce with my girlfriend in Hamilton,

and she calls me on October 20th,

the night before the concert, while I'm at work, and just tells me it's over.

And I think "This is gonna be the worst day of my life."

So, I get home, I get drinking, and I don't know what else to do or what to think

except I guess I need somebody else to go see Bruce Springsteen with me,

and I guess that won't be too hard to find.

And then, I think, I've got tickets on the floor,

and I realised, "No, no, no. What I need is a sign."

"Hi, Bruce. I just got dumped."

We all know what that's like.

Where's my man? Right there?

What happened, bro?

She didn't think I was spending enough time with her.

You probably weren't!

What? Can you get a hug? Come on up here.

It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be all right.

Don't worry about a thing.

Thank you.

I got dumped plenty of times myself. They're regretting it now!

That's right! She'll be regretting it.

That's right! They left too soon! Too soon they quit!

They missed that record company advance money.

They left too soon!

Hi, my three words are

poet,

comfort

and gluteus maximostus.

Hope, assurance and redemption.

Working class hero.

And I think that, in general, Polish people could relate to his music,

especially during communism because he was singing about freedom.

By that time, people couldn't speak English so well.

Like in the song, Born In The U.S.A., they could understand only the chorus,

so everybody was thinking that he's praising the fact that he's an American.

So I guess that if you hear him singing Born in the U.S.A. with such charisma,

whether you wanna be like that, I wanna be an American, too.

So those were like the sounds of freedom I would say, really.

And a special moment for me

was when Bruce decided to go on the Reunion Tour with the E Street Band,

just around the millennium.

And the boys, they hit Copenhagen as well.

And I was here. It was one of those nights to remember.

I remember during the encore of the show,

Bruce decides to play Blood Brothers, beautiful song.

Beautiful, beautiful song.

And during the last verse of the song,

the guy next to me, I don't know his name,

I'd never seen him before, I haven't seen him since,

he decides to put his arm around me.

All of a sudden, this big guy is having his arm around me,

and it was just one of those moments where it didn't seem weird at all.

Let's sing!

I remember walking home after the show with my girl and she said to me,

"At some point, I felt like I was the only one there.

"I felt like he was playing for me."

And I said, "I know.

"I know exactly what you're talking about. I know."

Hello. My name is Jane.

I'm living in Helsingør, in Denmark, just a small town.

This is the first time I ever tried to make a video from my camera,

so this is not very good.

However, I wish to say something about me and Bruce.

We have been friends ever since 1985, though he does not know me.

I have been listening to his music every day since '85.

I know the lyrics, I know the music.

Every day when I go home from work, I hear his records in my car.

I relax, I get in a very, very good mood when I listen to Bruce.

It doesn't matter whether it is the new music or the old music,

I just love listening to his music.

I'm not the kind of fan who knows the size of his shoes

or the names of his children,

although I know he has three children and he has a lovely wife, Patti.

She has a wonderful vocal.

And of course I understand why he loves his woman.

One of the best music I have heard him sing

is the Red Headed Woman.

It is the kind of song that a man who really loves his woman has made.

And it must be wonderful to be Patti, to receive such a song.

I don't know what to say.

I'm the kind of fan who has attended all his concerts since '85, here in Denmark.

I'm always standing in the first row,

screaming and shouting and dancing like a teenager to a Beatles' concert.

This summer I was that lucky

that I finally, after all these years, touched him.

We touched each other twice in Roskilde in Denmark,

and I cried, I wept, because it was so big.

It's a great song about a great subject. Cunnilingus, that's right.

And hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

And as I like to say, if you can pronounce it, you can probably do it.

What can I say about it? It's a college town.

There's probably people practising cunnilingus out there as we speak.

I hope so.

And I do mean practising,

because you young whippersnappers, it takes a while to get that under your belt.

It's like balancing a plate on the end of your nose.

It's not as easy as it looks.

It takes some dedication, it takes discipline,

attention to craft and detail.

That's right. It takes... Yes.

It takes patience, patience and more patience.

As I usually say.

But anyway,

do not get into the whole Freudian complications

of moving from one song into the other.

We'll just leave that alone. All right?

That's fine.

What can I say? Where was I?

If there's any kids out there,

cunnilingus is Latin for "It's nice to keep your room very neat."

I hadn't been to a ton of rock 'n' roll yet, but I'd seen my share of shows.

And I understood, in some way,

that what I was witnessing was something far beyond me

and my world as I knew it.

I was way too in the moment to know that my life was changing.

But I did know that with each song, I was leaving something behind.

The really critical departure happened

during the long, soul-shaking instrumental in Jungleland.

He turned his back to us, he walked towards the drum,

he swayed and he danced to the sax, the bass, the organ, the piano.

He was young and taut.

And all that man and men and song and sound

became something bigger and more powerful

than anything I understood or knew yet in my young body.

And it was something about rock 'n' roll and sex

and men and music and myself,

and I grew a few years and a few inches.

When that incredibly beautiful man had his perfect body

moving perfectly to that crazy, sexy, sad song,

everyone was totally transfixed, tranced out.

I don't know if anybody else was there.

But it was like the genie had been let out of the bottle,

and for me, there was no going back.

I think I cried. I must have.

I was ripped out of my skin. I was ripped out of my senses.

It was like the thunderbird had swooped and had me in its talons.

And then, someone behind me lifts me up onto the stage.

Really gently, just lifts me up,

and I stand up and I'm standing right there next to him.

And I'm so close, I can see the sweat through his jeans

and his dirty Converse.

And I look at him and he's looking at me and he smiles,

and I moved to the side and the next thing I know,

someone comes and really gently lowers me back down to where I was before.

And I look around and there's men all around me, smiling.

I'm soaked to the skin and I'm wearing red satin.

Let's go!

He's a very important figure to me.

He tells me that it's okay to be what you want to be.

You can have a master's degree and be a truck driver.

You can do what you want.

Explore the world and disregard

people's stereotypes and expectations.

Because that's what he is to me.

He is rock 'n' roll, he is country, he is a sex symbol,

he is patriotic, he is political but poetic at the same time.

And, yeah, I think he's someone that I really look up to.

What would you say to Bruce if you met him?

Shorten your concerts. Three-and-a-half hours.

I think that relationships have been brought together

and then folded before you've actually finished your concert.

It's just too long.

For the people who are there, for their loved ones,

it's quite a long period of time.

I'm thinking, "What time does the last train leave?

"How can I make this picnic that I've brought last?"

It's things like that, that really matter to me.

The night before this happened, I was so broke that I'd sleep in a public park.

And then, 12 hours later,

I'm standing there with my guitar on the street,

getting ready to play some cafes.

This guy comes up to me and he says, "Hey, Bruce is coming down the street."

And I did, "Yeah." Just another hero for me.

I didn't really believe it.

But then, I looked across the street and I see Bruce up there,

and this tall, black man with him, that was Clarence Clemons,

and I said, "Well..."

And I shouted out, "Hey, Bruce, why don't you come and play us the real thing?"

And he looked at me, thought it was funny.

Then I said, "Hey, come on." And then, he made a U-turn.

He came across the street. And that's where this picture happened.

I handed him one of the guitars

and he starts here on this song, I'm On Fire.

And I said, "Hey, I gotta do something for my family."

I saw there was a video camera across the street.

So I came parroting here, behind him.

I was nervous about what he would feel about it,

but I said, "Well, hey.

"He should be cool enough,

"and this is the street, we're all kings on the street.

"There is nobody above another there."

It was hard to believe this was all happening.

There was a crowd in the front.

And you never can tell what happens in life, never can tell.

It was amazing.

We got on with it for, I think, it was for 15 minutes and 17 seconds.

So, they say every man has 15 minutes of fame in his life.

I've always been a bit overboard.

I didn't really realise what had happened.

It was too quick.

And the day after, I was on the front page with Bruce.

It was a great thing

that such a big man would come a step down and just...

He was just one of us.

Okay, he had his success but he was still just one of us,

and that's what I really loved about it.

Really loved that.

We just said goodbye to one another and he walked his way and I walked mine.

It was exactly how it should happen on the street.

Hi, my name is Gillian.

Hi, my name's Gillian.

Hi, my name's Gillian and I'm a pretty big...

Hi, my name's Gillian and I'm a pretty big Bruce Springsteen fan.

After my first Bruce... Hi. No.

Hi, my name's Gillian and I'm a pretty big Bruce Springsteen fan.

After my first Bruce concert in April,

I was so excited and so full of emotion,

and I wanted to let Bruce know how important he was to me.

So I wrote him a letter thinking I'd be able to send it to him,

but I couldn't find a fan mail address.

So I wrote it anyway and just put it out there,

in case I'd ever have the chance to tell him how important he is

and his music is in my life.

So this is the perfect opportunity for that.

So I'm going to share that letter now.

"Dear Bruce, to say I am a fan of yours would be quite an understatement.

"You music is woven into my very being.

"It has become a part of the story of me,

"turning into a soundtrack of the past couple of years of my life.

"I first discovered your music about four years ago.

"I head Glory Days on the radio,

"and I guess it spoke to me and to where I was at that point in my life.

"I started looking at more of your songs.

"And my parents were quite amused

"that I was suddenly listening to music from 'their time.'

"But that's the thing, Bruce, your music doesn't have a time or a place.

"Your music is a story,

"and it bends and flows into the stories of everyone who listens to it.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you.

"It seems like every time I hit a bump in life, I turn to you and to your songs.

"They pick me up and dust me off in a way that no one and nothing else can.

"We all go through dark times in life,

"and sometimes, things aren't going to get better

"and they're not going to be all right.

"In those times, music can be the best companion.

"Because it reminds you there can still be beauty in this world,

"and that all is not lost in spite of it all.

"Without you, I would be lost. Thank you."

Thank you.

- Thank you. - Thanks, Bruce.

- Thank you. - Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bruce.

Thank you.

So, thank you, Bruce.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thanks for the music, Boss.

Thank you, Bruce. We love you!

Thanks, Bruce.

And thank you for everything.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So, thank you, Bruce.

Thank you for your music.

Thank you, Bruce!

So, thanks, Bruce.

- Thank you. - Thank you, Bruce.

- Thank you. - Thanks.

Thank you, Bruce. Thank you for your amazing music.

I just want to say thanks.

Thanks, Bruce.

Thank you, Bruce.

Thank you so much.

Cheers, Boss.

From the deepest part of my heart, thank you.

It was nice being alone with you tonight.