I was tired. Very tired. Every so often I'll get to Friday with the feeling that I'm falling into the weekend, limping home in a state of muffled exhaustion.

Except that this was Tuesday.

There's nothing like starting your "living for the weekend" phase that early in the week. It can make those last three days pass in a long, gray and disorienting fog.

Well, there was one very good thing to look forward to this past Tuesday evening, the fresh and minty copy of Bruce Springsteen's Hammersmith Odeon, London '75. I knew it would be waiting for me on the kitchen table because Mom and Dad, members #1 and #2 of the Saleski family extended, were nice enough to go on the hunt earlier in the day.

Yessir, me and the DJ and Lisa went on and on about the 30th Anniversary Edition of Born To Run. Still and all, the idea of having that delicious Hammersmith concert on CD did put a little spring in my step (emphasis on 'little').

Now, given my past history with computers, you would think that I wouldn't be screwing around with such technology at eleven o'clock at night...but I really, really, really, really wanted to give this thing a proper listen. The one saving grace here is that my computer runs the beautifully Bill Gates-free Suse Linux. So fearlessly I popped in the CDs, ripped 'em, plugged in the iPod, synced up and headed off to the couch to enjoy the music sitting beside the WorldsBestCockerSpaniel™.

For whatever reason (probably tired, fumbling fingers) I ended up starting with "She's The One". The variation of this version is the bluesy harmonica introduction. After a bit the guitar chords fill in the space before that familiar keyboard line shows up and Bruce begins to sing "With her killer graces and her secret places..."

My fog offically lifted when the first verse passed and that Bo Diddly beat flew into high gear. I felt a little adrenaline surge as some electric pricklies crawled up the back of my neck. Man oh man, I even broke out in a little sweat.

This being the E Street Band's first visit to London, it's fairly safe to say that they (the audience AND the band) had no idea what was about to happen. You can sort of hear that with the crowd reactions: fairly reserved at the start, cranked up a little more after the blistering combination of "She's The One" going into "Born To Run", and flat-out jubilant at the conclusion of the insanely great "Kitty's Back"->"Jungleland"->"Rosalita". If you've only read of legendary Springsteen performances, you owe yourself a listen to this disc.

I'm not big on pitting one group against another, but after my first Springsteen show, I almost laughed at the notion of The Rolling Stones being the greatest rock 'n roll band in the world. It was the first concert I'd ever been to where I was actually a little relieved that they didn't play any more songs. At nearly four hours in length, I couldn't take anymore! On that one night in London, those folks got a big taste of what I'm talkin' about.