Bruce almighty Springsteen fans line up for an experience they say borders on religious By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:46 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024

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This article was published 12/11/2024 (676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Graham Atkinson has been posted up at Canada Life Centre since Sunday — three full days ahead of Bruce Springsteen’s Winnipeg debut at the venue Wednesday night.

Prior to that, Atkinson spent 24 hours travelling from his home in Brisbane, Australia, to catch the final four shows of Springsteen’s current world tour.

“The mountain doesn’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad comes to the mountain,” says the lifelong fan, who’s lost track of how many times he’s seen the Boss live.

Springsteen concerts are akin to a religious experience for fans who have grown up alongside the New Jersey-born rock icon and his more than 50-year career. For general-admission ticket holders, worship begins well before showtime.

Atkinson, bleary-eyed and jetlagged, launched the local “roll call” upon arriving in Winnipeg and will be managing the line system with other impassioned concert goers — or “crazies,” as he lovingly refers to the group of a half-dozen people hanging out in the arena’s Portage Avenue vestibule — until doors open on Wednesday.

The fan-run roll-call system has been a fixture of Springsteen shows for years and involves doling out line numbers to determine the order of entry into the pit. Participants must attend “roll call” several times per day to hold their stop in the queue. Miss a call and you forfeit your number. The intermittent line is an attempt to keep the front-row rush civilized with a mind to the 75-year-old entertainer’s core demographic

“Springsteen fans are a little older,” Atkinson says with a binder in hand. “We don’t do camping.”

By 10 a.m. on Tuesday, there were about 30 people on the list, including fans from Australia, Scotland, Poland, Norway and elsewhere.

Amy Marker travelled from Chicago to see the show — her 13th on this tour — and snagged the fourth spot in line. She’s been a fan since teendom and enjoys the community that surrounds the roll calls.

“We’re gonna be in the pit and probably in traction the next day.”–Kathy Reid

“It’s great to hear their stories and learn about what they do for a living and how Bruce has inspired them,” says Marker, who keeps coming back for the positive messages in Springsteen’s music, as well as his performance prowess. “I’ve seen over 50 shows and you can tell he’s just putting all his energy into it and making an effort to connect with the fans.”

Virgilio Amaral and Rafaela Mello are hoping to connect with Springsteen thanks to their spots — 18 and 19, respectively — in line. The couple from Brazil met in college and bonded over a shared love of the Boss. They’re planning on bringing a crocheted “mini Bruce” doll to the concert and hope to be able to deliver it to the man himself.

“For South Americans, it’s hard to be a Bruce fan,” says Amaral, who has seen Springsteen 10 times but never at home. “We have to travel.”

It’s not all bad, though. They spent last summer following the tour around Europe and are looking forward to seeing some of Canada while they’re in town.

“We use Springsteen concerts as an excuse to travel to other countries,” Mello says.

Still, the couple is holding out hope he’ll return to Brazil in the future — something Springsteen seemed receptive to when Mello and Amaral met him in person years ago.

“He lied to us,” Amaral says with a smile. “That was 10 years ago.”

It’s a dynamic local fans can appreciate.

After decades of speculative rumours and local lobbying, it was announced in February 2023 that Springsteen and his E Street Band would finally be making their first-ever Winnipeg appearance later that year. However, the highly anticipated concert had to be postponed while the frontman recovered from a peptic ulcer.

Less than a week from the rescheduled date, local fans were feeling a mix of cautious optimism.

“I will know that the show happened when I’m leaving the show,” Kathy Reid says. “I won’t believe it till it’s over at this point.”

“I’m waiting to see instruments getting plugged into amplifiers before I get excited,” adds husband Stu Reid, a longtime CKUW-FM radio host.

Springsteen introduced the couple nearly 40 years ago. Well, not directly.

Kathy, who was living in North Carolina at the time, found Stu through his Springsteen fanzine, Bruceness. Their love of the artist’s relatability and longevity sparked a long-distance relationship; they married five years later.

While they’ve seen the Boss dozens of times, their fandom has waned slightly as the cost of concert tickets continues to rise. Seeing him at home, however, was a bucket-list must.

“I’m sitting here with my wife and daughter, who would not be here with me if it wasn’t for Bruce Springsteen,” Stu says over the phone. “So, he means a great deal to me.”

On Tuesday, the Reids had claimed their spots in the queue and were preparing for a long 24 hours until curtain.

“We’re gonna be in the pit and probably in traction the next day,” Kathy says with a laugh.

Diane Geddes — who ran a social-media campaign to get Springsteen to Winnipeg — was looking forward to enjoying the show from her seats with a similar level of surreal excitement.

“We’re as close as we’ve ever been to this happening, but, you know, I’m sure tonight I won’t sleep,” Geddes says over the phone Tuesday.

She, along with other local and out-of-town fans, will be meeting for a pre-show get-together on Wednesday at Hargrave St. Market.

Geddes has been to roughly 60 Springsteen concerts and always gets a kick out of watching the first-timers experience the spectacle — which, tomorrow, will include her daughter.

“They’re going to see something pretty amazing,” she says, advising fellow concertgoers to dance and clap and forget about work the next day. “Don’t be afraid to let loose.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney