Boss Time

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It’s a good day. Saturday. The skies are blue, the air is warm. Festival time. Getting to Megaland in Landgraaf takes longer than planned. Traffic, lack of proper directions, a completely illogical parking system, and funny logistics to the actual festival ground gets us in the gates right in the middle of The Killers’ performance. Little do I care. Sure, they’ve got a few good songs, but they’re no heavyweights yet.

A few hours and beers later the main act takes the stage. Years of anticipation to see The Boss in concert becomes reality. As is customary, the intro to Badlands kicks off the party. Don’t really know the song, but the intro has got some catchy rock’n’roll feel to it, and the scratchy voice sets the “I’m the sheriff around here” tone.

It’s the opening of the European Working On A Dream tour. The concert follows a clear and well-designed path. They’ve done this before. They know their stuff. They do it good. Maybe not with a magical touch, but regardless of which, The Boss on a bad day is still playing in a league of his own. The new song Working On A Dream, well, works. It’s not the traditional street rock’n’roll that earned The Boss a seat among the immortal, but it’s funky and simple enough to get stuck in your head. And with Outlaw Pete, The Boss makes sure everybody else is relegated to the second division of vocal powerfulness.

But the real reason I’m there isn’t to listen to the new stuff. Or any other stuff for that matter. The beautiful day has become night when the intro to the one song I would gladly exchange any other acts and performances comes on. First the drums. Then the guitars. Then “In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream”...I’ve pictured the moment when I would finally hear Born To Run live for many a years. In my imagination I would space out and become one with the song. Sadly the experience didn’t live up to the anticipation, but it came close. Instead of feeling the song, I focused on it. Still though, brilliant song, one of the best.

Everything must come to an end though. A few songs closer to midnight, Little Steven takes the stage and ask The Boss if the show is over. The Boss answers “It ain’t over til I say it’s over! What time is it?”. “It’s Boss Time!”. And the show goes on with the finale.

Some Dutch girl up front has made a poster, saying “Dutch Courtney Cox”, referring to the music video where Courtney got up on stage to dance with The Boss. The poster shows up on the big screen on the stage, and when Dancing In The Dark comes on she’s invited up on stage. Creative, funny, and possibly the only spontaneous part of the show.

The show is over, time for some 100,000 people to go home. Great day, great performance, great show, great fun. “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run”. All the way back to Amsterdam.

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Comments

[Theo van Veenendaal]

your blog about Holland
Dear Kristoffer and Peter, I have read your travelblog about your visit to Holland and it was very interesting! I am Dutch myself and for my Geography Masterthesis I am doing research among tourist bloggers from abroad. Your blog caught my eye because you visited some less famous places in Holland, like Landgraaf, for Pinkpop. It is so interesting to find out why a part of the tourists in Holland visit those less famous places next to the highlights like Amsterdam and its surroundings. That's why I am wondering if I could ask you some questions about your visit, to complement the info in your blog. It won't be a long survey, but more of a short interview-type conversation about your experience and opinion. You would help me a lot and I am also very curious to know about what you think about Holland and the reasons why you choose to visit it. I really hope to hear from you. The interview will be used in a completely anonymous and confidential way. Kind regards, Theo van Veenendaal [e-mail]