Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

It's been a while since I've been moved to write about music. Until now.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed in our nation's capital last night. As usual, Springsteen simply leaves those who see him live speechless.

Rather than talk about the concert in which Ottawa was fully prepared for, I want to write about one of Bruce's live albums released in 2005. Hammersmith Odeon is where Springsteen lost his European virginity.

It was here, in the great metropolis of London, Europe saw for the first time this American; this Yankee on their soil.

My uncle used to tell me Springsteen saved rock and roll. When the context of the era is consulted, in many ways this statement is not exaggerated. He brought rock back down to its roots.

"I have seen the future of rock'n roll and his name is Bruce Springsteen," Jon Landau once famously proclaimed. That night in England, Londoners - who are no strangers to rock'n roll legends - saw these prophetic words play out in the flesh proper. Yes, the night unfolded like like a thunder bolt leaving those who were there in an operatic trance.

Part of the enjoyment, for me, of listening to Hammersmith is in trying to imagine the faces in the crowd that night. Don't forget, Springsteen's sound was very much against the current of the musical times.


Who is this kid? This upstart and his New Jersey- obsessed rhyming lyrics about cars, girls and guitars? Saxophone and piano? My Lord, didn't this guy know that disco and glam rock were the way to go?

A conversation between a couple of lads may have gone something like this: "Hey, Steven, I have tickets to KC and the Sunshine Band and some American - Bruce Some-steen. Which one do you want to go to?"

"We'll probably regret it but let's go check out the kid."

Lucky wise decision. Not only did they witness history, the rest of it is magical history.

After Hammersmith, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were on their way into the annals of the rock and roll folklore.

It's a great record. The sound remarkably crisp. Springsteen fully understood the stakes. He removed the breaks and headed straight for the girl from the inner-lakes. Bruce let loose and untied the noose tightening around his poetic neck that night. The guitar spoke with the roaring sound of an American car. Lightning fast he left London in a cast after the crowd fell over themselves. It's ok. No surgery was required for the injury. Who had time to be hurt anyway? Lost hearts and loose tramps were busy being filled by the wondrous notes from one they would eventually call The Boss.