Music Reporter's Notebook

I caught Bruce Springsteen’s harmonica


HARTFORD, Connecticut, U.S.A. – When I first heard my dad got tickets to the Bruce Springsteen show in Hartford on April 24, I didn’t know if I was going to go.
But boy was I glad I did.
We got there early before the show started and we walked down to the front row to watch the crew set up. Ironically, no one ever came for the seats we were sitting in, and we wound up getting to sit there for the whole concert.
I was wearing my dad’s old Springsteen shirt from the early 1970s that has a picture of Bruce in his “Jersey Devil” days, wearing a funky cap and big sunglasses with metal rims.
During the concert, Bruce spotted my tee shirt and smiled. At the end of the song “Promised Land,” he tossed me his harmonica.
I was shocked. It all happened pretty fast and I wasn’t really thinking when I caught it.
Everyone around me got very excited and started saying, “Congratulations!” and giving me thumbs-up and high-fives. That made me feel really good. Finally, when the band exited the stage at the end of the show, Bruce gave me “the guns” and a wink.
Several days later, I still can’t quite believe this really happened to me. It just goes to show you that you never know.

Jared Brown is a Junior Reporter for Youth Journalism International.

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