The band took the stage, most of them wearing black. Springsteen went to the mike. "If it wasn't for John Lennon," he said, "a lot of us would be in some place much different tonight. It's a hard world that makes you live with a lot of things that are unlivable. And it's hard to come out here and play tonight, but there's nothing else to do." I've seen people digging firebreaks to save their homes, and I've seen some desperate fist fights, and God knows, I've seen hundreds of rock & roll shows, but I have never seen a human being exert himself the way Springsteen did that night in Philly.
This year is more poignant than the others before, of course, because it marks the moment at which John Lennon has been dead exactly as long as he was alive. This doesn't seem horribly cruel, it just is horribly cruel. I can only be grateful that I'm on this side of things and not the other; I get to listen to his songs over and over and over all I want, I get to watch endless video of him being funny, brilliant and grouchy. I get to live in a world that knew him.
I'm sure I'll be adding articles throughout the day, from people who certainly had a more intimate knowledge of the man and the event.
Also it's slightly cheesy, but interesting that most people learned of John Lennon's murder thanks to Howard Cosell. Wtf, indeed.
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