Bruuuuuuuuce

In what will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert last night. Bruce (you know, like we're friends on a first name basis) was a stellar entertainer. Whatever it cost for front-section seats, those people definitely got their money's worth. He was all over them and, of course, collected their homemade posters and sang their requests, including a song that he and the E Street Band hadn't played in 30 years. He was energetic, clever, and somehow, he connected with every person in the arena.

His charitable passion is feeding the hungry, so Second Harvest Food Bank had the opportunity to collect donations at the concert. His fans spontaneously donated $3,475 to us, which is much more than we've ever collected at such an event.

I volunteered to help collect money with two other staff members, plus my aunt Joni. After thousands of folks streamed into the arena and the show was about to begin, a stranger walked up and gave us two free tickets - a great gift since we didn't have tickets at all and were sad we'd be listening to muffled sounds of one of the greatest artists of all time from the concourse - so Joni and I used the tickets for the first half of the show while the other girls collected money, then we traded during the second half of the show. Big thanks to that guy, whoever you were.

We hoped we'd see the likes of Dierks Bentley or Lady Antebellum cruise in the doors like normal people with tickets. And then, of course, we had visions of drawing a $10,000 donation check from them on the spot. No Dierks, but we did see Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, and one of the guys from Sawyer Brown (who said nice things to us about Second Harvest), and Jake Owen (who saw me giggle and point him out). And we saw this one guy whose identity we can't agree on, because he looked like Waylon Jennings, but considering his death, it probably wasn't Waylon. It was too old to be Shooter, so we aren't sure, but he had an entourage, complete with a bodyguard and two young children with mohawks.

It was an incredibly entertaining people-watching opportunity, famous or not. People will wear anything (or practically nothing) to a concert.

So, thanks to Bruce and his fans for a great night.