I haven’t made it to any “real” concerts for several months, but I happened across two on Netflix that were well worth my time.

The first was “Springsteen on Broadway.”

I’ve written before about how much I love Bruce Springsteen. I feel fortunate to have seen him live in (real) concert once; it was around 2000 I’m guessing. I would HAVE LOVED to see him on Broadway recently, but sadly, the tickets to that show plus the trip to New York etc. just weren’t in the cards for me.

However, as it turns out I got to see the show anyway! On Netflix! That’s right – Netflix is now running his Broadway show so I saw it close up, way closer than if I had made it to the show.

The Broadway show followed the stories in his book pretty closely. He talked about seeing Elvis for the first time on TV (this is what started it all for him), his love/hate relationship with his hometown (he assumes everyone has this), and his parents, including his dad as being his biggest “hero and foe.” Each story made me wonder what song he was going to lead into. It was all very poetic. There was a beautiful song about his mom I hadn’t heard before, something about going dancing. I need to look this one up. He talked about forgiveness with his dad; this was beautiful and something I hadn’t heard him talk about before – that he actually did ask for forgiveness in his own way. His wife Patty came out for a beautiful version of “Tougher than the Rest.” Oh man I just loved this show and plan to watch it again sometime!! Thank you, Netflix!!

Taylor Swift, Reputation Stadium Tour

This may be a surprising follow up to what I just wrote, but the second concert I just finished watching on Netflix was the Taylor Swift Bad Reputation Stadium Tour. OMG this was insane. I have always liked her songs though I realized during this concert I didn’t know many of them, not like the tens of thousands of fans who filled Texas Stadium two nights in a row and who were crying to see her (seriously even many men are seen crying!!) When I think about why I like her and Bruce it is because they are both songwriters and they tell stories.

Granted I don’t see many if any “pop” or flashy tours. My last few have been (links to previous posts): Green Day, Tom Petty, Counting Crows, Alan Jackson, Killers. So those are more my style, and maybe all concerts in this new pop/country genre are like this, but just WOW: the dancers, back up singers, her flying around in a cart above the crowd, the stage props, and costume changes. I loved every moment of it (while watching as I exercised on my elliptical!!) and I will probably watch it again. At the end I was like Holy Shi$ that girl is an entertainer!!

So if you like me haven’t been to a good concert in awhile (or even if you have!) check out these options on Netflix and let me know what you think!!