The last time I was in Portland, Oregon, was in 2013 and I was in town to complete my 21st marathon (and second Portland Marathon). Ten years later a marathon wasn’t involved, nor was there any running. Turns out, walking was the most challenging portion of this trip.
In July 2022, when Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band announced their first tour in six years my area was not included. Having been a fan of his for most of my life I needed to try and get tickets to another city.
Even though my sister and I saw his Springsteen on Broadway show in 2021, it’s been 7 years since we’ve been to an actual live concert with the E Street Band.
If Bruce wasn’t coming to us, I guess we were going to Bruce.
After looking at the dates, my sister and I entered our names to become Verified Fans and selected Portland as our best choice. Honestly, I don’t understand how that whole process works or if it’s simply a lottery, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact I rarely go to concerts and Ticketmaster felt sorry for me. Either way, our lucky (Western) stars aligned and we got selected.
After being Verified and receiving the purchasing code, there still wasn’t a guarantee we’d secure tickets. Hearing stories of the ticket-buying experience was making my Hungry Heart, well, less hungry. Reports of skyrocketing prices were terrifying. As much as my sister and I wanted to see Bruce, we had financial limits for what we’d pay for him. Some of us didn’t sell our music catalog for half a billion dollars and don’t have Bruce bucks to show for it.
Again, our lucky stars aligned and I was able to snag tickets in a decent area of the arena at their regular price ($490 for 2 tickets including those ridiculous extra fees). We had seats and a view and that was good enough for us.
Fast forward seven months.
February is an emotionally tough month for me — it’s the anniversary month of my dad’s death (February 18th marks 4 years) and his birthday lands 6 days later. Having a Springsteen concert the day after my dad’s heavenly birthday was something my sister and I desperately needed.
However, Mother Nature decided to dump close to 11 inches of snow the day before our flight and gave Portland its own Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. Our flight was canceled and pushed back 24 hours.
The following day we returned to the airport with High Hopes and arrived in Portland the day before the show. We took a Leap of Faith hoping Bruce didn’t cancel since Out In The Street the snow and ice left some pretty dicey conditions. Just walking in Portland was an adventure. You could say we walked with our own E Street Shuffle to a few places such as Powell’s Books, Foot Traffic, Peet’s Coffee, and Broadway Books. And we did utilize public transit as well.
Thankfully my Hoka Speedgoats did not let me down and neither my sister nor I took any spillage on those icy snow-covered Backstreets. And not only did Bruce not cancel the concert, but he and the band brought the heat to the Moda Center where for the first time in 7 years my sister and I rocked out for nearly 3 hours.
These are the Glory Days that I absolutely cherish and it was Magic.
P.S.
Apparently, my name has a better chance of being selected as a Verified Fan than it is in the New York City Marathon lottery because I did not – once again – get picked. But that just gives me a reason to believe another race has my name on it.