Bruce Springsteen: The Boss is Back

The concert on the waterfront in the small Jersey Shore town of Asbury Park was the coming out party for the material from Springsteen’s latest album, "The Rising." The album was largely inspired by the events of September 11 and the emotions of the country that followed it. Springsteen warmed up in the 2,500 seat Convention Hall on the shore and fans braved the sweltering heat to get inside and hear a couple acoustic classics and a variety of new material. Once the concert was fully underway, the full band and Springsteen offered up Glory Days for the energized crowd, while the rest of the set was entirely filled with new material.

As the war on terrorism and the lingering fears of the country are still front-page news, the Springsteen album is one of the first that has addressed the latest loss of innocence, or naivety, of America. Springsteen and his band have always had their fingers on the pulse of the country’s consciousness and have attempted to capture a bit of inspiration and a bit of the courage that brought the country together in the wake of September 11.

The Today Show covered the concert as a celebration of small-town America and Asbury Park is about to embark on a $1.2 billion re-development project intended to revitalize the struggling waterfront town. From the sweltering heat to the community involvement to make such an event a reality, the message from the concert and the people involved was one of unity and pride. It’s refreshing to see that music is still one of the most powerful unifying tools that this country has to offer, and no one produces that kind of music better than Bruce Springsteen.