Epic night in Des Moines

My tenth Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band show, on Monday in Des Moines, unseated April's Denver show from the top of my concert rankings. Just hearing "Incident On 57th Street" live for the first time would've been enough for me. But the whole experience, from start to especially the finish, was epic…

• This was Rachel's fifth show, but the first she's experienced in the pit. Only 255 people showed up between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to enter the lottery for access to the area directly in front of the stage. (I've never seen fewer than 500 show up.) So, all of us got in. As you can see from the photos, we were 5-10 feet from the stage all night.

• I almost never say this about a concert venue. But kudos to the Wells Fargo Arena staff. Nice people all the way around. From the ticket takers to concessions to security.

• To those who wonder why anyone would see a performer ten times, here's my explanation. I could point to the value one gets for the money (this show went almost three hours without a break) or the fact that bands like this just don't come along very often. But the biggest reason is simply that every show is different. I don't just mean the crowd reaction is different or the songs are ordered differently. I mean I've heard at least two different songs at every show I've attended. In Des Moines, I heard four—"Satisfaction," "The Wanderer," "Into The Fire" and the aforementioned "Incident." (Granted, two of those were covers. But I can't tell you how cool it was to see that band play "The Wanderer.") In total, I've heard 70+ different songs at ten shows.

And for the cherry on top…

The show ended just after 11:15 p.m. and we decided to let traffic clear out before heading for the car. We saw a handful of people, most carrying Springsteen memorabilia, standing near a loading dock. So, we thought that must be where the band exits and we may as well catch a glimpse.

About 10 minutes later, an SUV creeps out, the window rolls down and there's Springsteen. (As total luck would have it, I purchased a tour poster as we left the arena. They sold out of them at the Denver show and I got the "display model" here after the guy in front of me bought the last of the main supply.) Springsteen motioned for the waiting throng to come on over and he started signing autographs.

I have to say it was a pleasure to see the lack of pushing, shoving and general poor behavior that I would've expected in this situation. I waited at the back of the group, fully expecting him to meet a few people, wave goodbye and be on his way. But, as the crowd thinned out, I thought, "Holy crap, I might actually meet the guy." Sure enough, my turn arrived. I think I thanked him for putting on a great show and I think he thanked me for coming to see it. All I'm sure about is he asked my name and I responded correctly, because my poster was signed "To Chris" when it was all over.

Others used their audience with The Boss to tell him how much his music affected them. But I'm afraid I didn't get to ask about his writing process or any other interesting subject. I figured the poor guy probably just wanted to get back to the hotel and go to sleep.

Frankly, I had the same thing in mind, after eight hours in downtown Des Moines. A long, epic day.

It all adds up

Back in February, I wrote “Reveling in my cheapskatedness.” The gist of it was I’m the geek who pours over coupons and aims to save wherever and whenever possible. I’d decided in January that I’d quantify this year’s savings, to assure myself that thriftiness/frugalness/cheapskatedness is paying off.

Yesterday, I bought tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s October concert at the Sprint Center. And, in a moment of inspiration (or weakness, depending on how you look at it), I also purchased a pair to his St. Louis show, which takes place the night before the KC concert. Given this budget-busting moment, I think today is as good a day as any to total up my year-to-date savings.

Through July, grocery, restaurant and other coupons had saved me a total of $869.41. Store savings (basic sales, special “club” pricing, etc.) totaled another $923.11. The grand savings total is $1792.52. Now I don’t feel so bad about going overboard on Springsteen tickets. Come to think of it, I could go to seven more of his shows and still come out ahead. Now, that’s a nice thought.

Random thoughts from the Arizona getaway...

Phoenix traffic can be horrible. We Kansas Citians don't realize what a blessing it can be to have so many highway options.

The Royals can be horrible. Man, they looked bad against the Rangers. But it was easy to overlook that when the sky was blue, temperature was near 80 and you're sitting 5 rows from the dugout. That said, there should be a law against funnel cakes costing $6.

Every vacation should include time to just do nothing.

Sedona is like Manitou Springs, CO on steroids.

What a great place for running in April. (June/July/August/etc., not so much.)

If you're ever in Scottsdale and think it'd be nice to visit Taliesin West, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's homes, bring your wallet. You can't go in without going on a tour…and a tour costs a minimum of $27.

Kudos to Valle Luna restaurant in Scottsdale…and to Cary for recommending it.

Thoughts during the Springsteen show:

#8 show I've seen…and I'd probably rate it 8th out of the 8. It was a great concert, just not as great as the other seven. Only the second show of the tour, so saw a few more screw-ups than I'm used to.

Updated concert rankings (in order): Kansas City, Houston, Dublin #2, Omaha, St. Paul, Dublin #1, Dallas, Phoenix

Kind of weird to see "Badlands" open the show.

Lots of stuff from the new album—"Outlaw Pete," "My Lucky Day" and "Kingdom of Days" were great.

There should be a law against a bag of roasted nuts costing $7.50.

Clarence is showing his age...but the big man looked great dancing during "Out In The Street," whistling during "Working On A Dream" and hitting all the big notes when he had to.

Does any song really need two tambourines? ("Because The Night")

Two new backup singers for this tour…that means 12 people on stage.

I could do with "American Land" leaving the setlist…but it was great to finally hear "Land of Hope and Dreams" live.

Can't wait for the Denver show (Good Friday)

First impressions, second chances

Former Iowa State basketball player Paul Shirley writes a fun blog for ESPN.com. The subject is often music. A few weeks back, he wrote about how he decided to listen to a CD several times (seems it was seven) before making a final determination on the CD's worthiness.

It's a great idea, though unrealistic for the average person who can't spare the time (or effort) to re-listen to a CD that initially doesn't seem all that great.

I thought about Shirley's blog while listening to the latest albums by Bruce Springsteen and U2. Each of them seemed, at best, average on the first listen. But I stayed with them, thinking surely I was missing something. Turns out I was. Now that I've spent some time with each CD, I really enjoy them both.

Springsteen's "Working On A Dream" follows last year's "Magic." He hasn't made consecutive records this quickly in a long time, leading many people to feel The Boss sacrificed quality for speed. WOAD certainly is a departure from Springsteen's recent work. "The Rising" was heavily influenced by 9/11, while "Magic" is Springsteen's response to the George W. Bush presidency. WOAD isn't quite as deep as either of those. Songs like "Surprise, Surprise," "Kingdom of Days," "My Lucky Day" and "This Life" find The Boss in a celebratory mood, which I found to be a nice departure from the tone of his previous two albums.

That's not to say WOAD doesn't have some meat to it. "The Last Carnival" is a moving tribute to Danny Federici, the E Street Band member who died of complications from melanoma last year. And "The Wrestler," which won a Golden Globe, but somehow didn't get an Oscar nomination, is a great tune as well.

While Springsteen has been producing work at a rapid pace, U2's "No Line On The Horizon" is their first album in nearly five years. Again, I wasn't wild about the first listen. But I'm appreciating it more and more. I dig Edge's work on "Magnificent." I like the whole feel of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," which is the song we heard live at the Letterman show. And Adam Clayton's bass on "Moment of Surrender" is addictive.

Of course, there are certain artists who've earned repeated listens from me. Springsteen and U2 top that list. But I'd like to think I'll take the time to give other artists more of a break in the future. Because you never know what you'll miss on that first listen.