Topic: Harley-Davidson 105th Celebration/Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band
This past Saturday, I was invited to attend not only a day at the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration held on the Summerfest and surrounding grounds, but also to attend the Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band show by one of my best friends Mark. Mark’s wife dropped us off at a location to catch a city bus down to the event. We had decided not to drive into what we knew would be a mass of humanity and Harleys. As it turned out, this was both a wise and not wise decision.
When we arrived at Milwaukee’s Lakefront, we had been dropped off at Discovery World which is just north of the Art Museum. Both buildings are located right on Lake Michigan and are architectural gems. The area that surrounds these two buildings was used as parking lots for the thousands and thousands of people that had driven into Milwaukee on motorcycles, as was the parking lots that had been reserved only for motorcycles. Everywhere you looked you could see bikes and the majority of them were not the low end Harleys, if there is such a thing. They were the high end, fully loaded and some customized touring bikes. I did take a number of pictures of just a couple of parking areas. Trust me, I could have spent the entire day walking around to photograph every spot that had Harleys parked in them. This alone was one of the most incredible sites I’ve ever seen.
In addition to the general public parking of the bikes, there were special custom and antique bikes on display. Some of these I’m sure are either priceless or are at such a price level that would normally price them out of most people’s income range. As Mark and I made our way to the Summerfest grounds, one thing became very clear to me. The crowd of people that was there, was a more mature crowd than I thought would be present. Oh there were full families that took in the fun, but mostly it was people ranging in age from their mid 20s to 70s. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, that I met or saw was acting in a well mannered and adult way. No drunken load mouth a-holes to spoil this grand event. AND there was not a huge police presence either as I thought there would have been.
On the Summerfest grounds at most of the stages, there were bands playing. Joan Jett was currently on stage at the Harley Roadhouse. Blind Melon was about to take the stage at the U.S. Cellular stage and later that night Buddy Guy and numerous other bands would be playing. ZZ Top and the Foo Fighters had played the night before at the Summerfest stages. This type of activity lasted from when the activities started on Wednesday of last week with a massive gathering of Harley riders at Miller Park to kick things off with Kid Rock as the entertainment, all the way through Sunday. In addition to this location, some pretty notable people were also playing clubs around town. For example, Wes Jeans was playing shows for three days at a local club. Rev. Paul and his wife Cathy were able to make it to one of the shows and he told me Wes played for 4 hours. Needless to say, if you wanted entertainment, Milwaukee was the place to be this past week/weekend. Also, the Harley dealerships around town had daily events including live music.
Once Mark and I had seen enough in and around Summerfest, we decided to take the walk to Veterans Park which is just north of the Summerfest, Art Museum and Discovery World grounds. That was where Bruce and his Band would perform that night. The gates were suppose to open at 5:00 PM, but when we got there at 4:45, a couple of thousand people had already entered, so we decided to stay back a bit because we knew as time would go on, the crowd would push forward. Now, this event was like how I remembered what Summerfest used to be like when I was a young man in my early 20s. You picked out a spot on the burnt out grass and sat your butt down or you stood for the entire event, no chairs were to be found. Almost a Woodstock for the Old People type of happening 
As Mark went to get him and I something to drink, I looked over the crowd that had already gathered and could only speculate how many people would be present when Bruce and his band took the stage at 9:00 PM. Just as I glanced over my should and behind where we had sat down, sat Rev. Paul and Cathy. I couldn’t believe that they had almost come up and sat right by us. Needless to say, they were rather surprised to see me as I approached. I was so happy they were there as they are great to watch a show with. When Mark got back, I introduced him to my friends and the four of us just decided to hang out for the show together.
Up first on the stage was a band called The Robert Allen Jr. Trio with Paul Martin on harmonica and literally, they tore into some heavy Blues and Rock songs of their own and some covers too. Robert Allen, the trio's singer and lead guitarist, actually lives in Delafield, Wisconsin just 30 miles west of Milwaukee. This group was outstanding from beginning to end playing hard and fast songs. Rev. Paul had mentioned this fellow to me before and I had simply forgot about him. He now is on my list of CDs that I must pick up next time I place an order. As no video was allowed to be shot, I will include his website link here:
Next up was Alejandro Escovedo and his Orchestra. Oh my, their first song had some Mexican influence to it and both Mark and I wondered how that fit in between Robert Allen Jr. and Bruce Springsteen. Well, let me tell you, after that first song I had to stand up to check this group out because they absolutely rocked the house, or should I say field. Alejandro had a man on cello, a woman on violin, three guitarists including himself and of course, a drummer. In addition, Alejandro provided the lead vocals. This group of musicians is very dynamic and how I would categorize their music in a heavy Rock theme with a slight Mexican influence. This group is not only dynamic, but filled with excellent players. Here’s Alejandro’s website:
http://www.alejandroescovedo.com/
The final act of course was Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band. I had seen that Bruce was scheduled to come out either at 8:30 or 9:00 PM and so apparently, he decided to spilt the difference with us and take the stage at 8:45 PM. I can’t describe this entire show for you because frankly, you and I don’t have time to read and write it all. Let me say this one thing and then I’ll just touch on a few highlights. Bruce Springsteen IS music!! My goodness gracious, I’ve never, ever seen anyone expend more energy and yes love, for what they’re doing than Bruce and his Band. Professional, talented, fun loving and soulful are just mere words that attempt to scratch the surface to explain just how great this performance was. The band played everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING!
Now, just a few of the highlights: Bruce will be 59 years young this September 23rd and honestly, I have no idea where this man gets his energy from. To say he’s in terrific shape would be like saying the Yankees have won a couple of Championships. For the entire show he barely stood still and many times got right up and into the crowd to grab hands and hug people. The stage was set up in three tiers with the top area where most of the band played during the night. Then a couple of steps down from there was a long runway that allowed Bruce simply to expend some energy. And finally down from that tier, were separate, if you will, fingers of stage where Bruce could walk out and be surrounded by people. It was down in this area that Bruce would fall back into the crowd or lay back while playing guitar, or to sing sweetly to a little girl in the audience.
During one song in particular, Bruce decided to anoint and bless a few members of the crowd and so he had a big pan of water with a large sponge. He went back and forth dipping the sponge into the water and spraying out water onto the people that were standing below these finger stages. At the final end of the song, Bruce took the fully drenched sponge and went up to a tall young man who had is arms raised, slapped the sponge on top of his head and blessed him while singing the final verse. The crowd went NUTS!!!!!
At another point of the show, Bruce went down into the crowd to gather signs that people had made and most of them had one song listed on them for the band to play. Bruce must have gathered 15 to 20 of these signs and set them on the stage. Then for the rest of the show, he would pick one up once in a while and then he and the band would play that song. Yes, some of these were his songs, but others were not. Actually, the first sign he picked up that he said was his favorite, was a sign that someone made of a bull steer with cotton on it making it look a bit like an odd sheep. And what song is that? “Wooly Bully” of course! And so Bruce and the Band played a great version of “Wooly Bully”.
As I said before, Bruce and his Band never stopped performing reeling off song after song. And while this went on, Bruce never stopped moving. At one point during a song Bruce stepped down from the main stage onto the long runway and while singing reared back and started running full speed from one end to the other. And about the mid-point he dropped to his knees and slid about 20 feet. Then rose to his feet and started singing. I never once during the whole show observed him ever trying to catch his breath. I thought to myself, “What is this guy made of, iron?”
I’m sure you all know who makes up Bruce’s band members, but I must say they are all, every last one of them, extraordinary players. And Bruce himself is a very good guitar player. I had wondered about his voice of late, but let me tell you, for the entire show Bruce’s voice was strong and clear and he rarely shared vocal duties with anyone. The sound at the venue was terrific and you could hear the most subtle stroke of a guitar chord and the booming loudness of the band without any distortion or buzzing.
As I said earlier, Bruce and his Band took the stage at 8:45 PM and without saying this, I’m sure you all realized that no one sat during this entire show. At about 11:45 PM while the band was still playing their series of encores, Mark and I decided to leave the venue to get a head start on the crush of the crowd. We headed out of the park and inadvertently went off the wrong way. This caused us to walk 30 minutes back and forth around a huge pond only to get back to approximately where we had started out from. As we approached the stage area from across this giant pond, we could then hear that Bruce and Company were still performing. Yes, it was now 12:15 AM which means they had been playing 3 ½ hours and still were going strong. At this point Mark called his wife Patty, because he realized that very few if any city busses would be running. Patty and Mark’s oldest daughter decided to drive down and pick us up from the grounds, bless their hearts!
Epilogue to the show:
I had to working Sunday and I was fine getting up in the morning on about 4 hours sleep, but the day at work wore on as if it had no end. I spoke with Mark over the phone and he told me that the final song that was played that night was the fitting “Born to be Wild” by Steppen Wolf. I told him that initial estimates were that 60,000 people attended the show, but on the morning news it was reported that 100,000 people were present. I really doubt that second figure and so did he. Here is the complete set list from the night that I was able to get off the web:
Gypsy Biker/Out In The Street /Radio Nowhere/The Promised Land/Spirit In The Night/Wooly Bully (Sam The Sham cover)/Darlington County/You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)/Darkness On The Edge Of Town /Youngstown/Murder Incorporated/She’s The One /Livin’ In The Future /Mary’s Place/Working On The Highway/Racing In The Street/The Rising/Last To Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands
Encore: Seven Nights To Rock/4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)/Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out/Glory Days/Born To Run/Rosalita/Bobby Jean/American Land/Thunder Road/Dancing In The Dark/Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf cover).
And here are the pictures of Summerfest and the surrounding grounds along with shots from the show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8384830@N0 … 058813243/
Hope you all enjoyed this little report……
Roy
P.S. Bruce said this was the last stop of his current tour.
