I'm sure most everybody has at least heard a few Bruce Springsteen songs. Personally I'm a casual fan, which means I have a "greatest hits" CD and know few songs beyond those. But, I mostly like whatever I hear from the guy. Could care less about his politics, but oh well.
My brother is a huge fan of the guy however, and so on Sunday night him and I went to Atlanta to see Bruce and his E-Street Band at Philips Arena. The drive down was pretty uneventful, except I drove through Gadsden for the first time ever. You know what? I'd be okay if it's the last time I do that. Lots of "red" in that area, if ya know what I mean.
We stayed at the Hilton, which was cool, simply because I can say that I "stayed at the Hilton". Valet parking and all, yo.
The concert itself was pretty awesome. We went through a "lottery" since we had floor seats, and were one of the 450 people allowed to be in the "pit". Basically, it was the area in front of the stage. The majority of the night we were about 30-40 feet from Bruce. I could care less about his sweat hitting me, so this setup worked for me. No opening act (thank God, they usually suck). The second song played was Darkness on the Edge of Town, a favorite of mine that he doesn't play at every show. I was pretty happy to hear it. Other than that, I knew about 5 or 6 songs out of 25. Most were good, but it's a lot more fun when you can sing along with everybody else. Still, nobody appeared to be too drunk, no fights were started, and generally there was no craziness in The Pit. I consider this a good thing. My eardrums also never bled, which is also a plus.
Monday morning, we had a little time before checkout so we went to the World of Coca-Cola museum. It is a pretty cool place to visit if you've never been. Lots of old Coke memorabilia, of course. You can taste-test over 60 products that are sold around the world (and not in North America). There was also a 3D movie. Not a bad way to spend some time for $15.
Random rants, since I am such an anger-filled person:
- Like I said, Gadsden sucks. Lots of traffic lights with no obvious sequence. Also lots of rednecks.
- People that tailgate me, then pass me, then get back in my lane, and THEN slow down, piss me off. I always drive with Cruise on on the highway, so don't get in front of me and slow down. It's just not cool.
- Camera nazis at Philips Arena. Cell phone pictures suck, but it's the best I could do.
- CNN. Actually, the CNN Center and the food court were pretty cool. I just think CNN sucks. So does Ted Turner. So do the Braves, unfortunately.
- Finally, if you are staying in downtown Atlanta and need to get back to I-20 West, good luck. I pride myself on being a pretty good driver and it took me 20 minutes to get on an interstate I could see. I should have had my GPS, but it shouldn't be that hard. Plenty of signs directing you how to get to I-75 and I-85, but none for I-20. The genius that designed those roads needs to be, in the words of Garfield, drug out into the street and shot.
Later y'allz.
