“La Festa in Trieste”–It rhymes and Bruce shouted it several times during night.
On the train now, the morning after, returning to Venice from an amazing night.
The guy across the isle has his Springsteen T shirt on and an American flag scarf around his neck. He is smiling and tapping his foot as he listens to his earplugs. A woman 2 rows in front is singing “The River” with her Italian accent. Oh yes. Bruce has been here.
The fantastic, take no prisoners style show aside, here are a couple of things we noticed: Barely any Americans in the audience. Bruce packed a soccer stadium, not in Milano or Roma but in the more remote city of Trieste. A reminder of how universal his spirit has become. And, for the most part, he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.
The age of the crowd. Many many let’s say, middle-aged folks. There were families with kids—not young children but young teens and twenty somethings with their parents. The young woman next to me, from Treviso, had bought the tickets for her parents for a Christmas presents. For the “Dancing in the Dark” segment when Bruce pulled someone out of the audience, there was a sign that said, “Dance with my Mom, please” and he did. The woman was about my age and thrilled!
The concert went on and on a full 31/2 hours. The finale included a video tribute to Clarence Clemons whose nephew is doing a great job in the band currently.
No pictures.
We ate a great lunch in Trieste at Da Giovani, recommended by Lydia Bastianich in a little article on Fodors. This amazingly bustling place is in the heart of downtown, near our Hotel (Filoxenia). Pork products abound and were first rate. Through a language lapse I didn’t get the “cren” (freshly grated horseradish) on mine. We’ll have to go back—Ken really wants to try the sauerkraut next time, too.
Because we had never gotten our tickets in the mail we took the bus in the middle of the day out to the stadium to retrieve them—no sweat. Relieved and with tickets we took the bus back and wandered a bit.
Really looking forward to returning here in 2 weeks with Amy and Kev but wondering about having a car???