Dear Bruce Springsteen (3),

So you got me again.

A few months back you were coming over to Amsterdam to play in the Heineken Music Hall and I decided not to go. The reason was partly that I had no idea what kind of music to expect (turned out it was folk, but not the boring kind but the fun kind with aprox. 9.324 other musicians on stage with you) but mostly because of the prize.

80 f-ing euro for a ticket. Shameless!

Anyway, I obviously immediately regretted not going the moment the gig was sold out. I regretted it even more when I downloaded the album the tour was based on and realized that I really liked the album (the excellent "We Shall Overcome. The Seeger Sessions"). By the time I read the reviews of the concert I was actually slapping myself in the face and I don't think we have to go through the words I used when I saw some footage of the show on TV.

The problem with the entire Springsteen thing is, that there are many reasons not to like you. There's the ticket prices (yeah like you really need another 6,5 million), there's the weird "Oh I'm really in pain when I'm singing this" faces. There's the prostitute related song. There's the annoying chuckle. There's the lack of an E Street Band album and tour in the last four years. And there's the fact that you record a tribute album to Pete Seeger, and then don't include any songs actually written by the man himself (funny? yes. nice to a shriveled 87 year old? not really). And of course, there's Born in the USA (just because I know all the words and sing along when its on the radio doesn't mean I like it. Oh and Zucchero; same goes for "Senza una Donna" buddy).

But in the end, it's just so much more fun to ignore all that and scream along to "Prove it all Night" or "Ramrod" or any of the other brilliant songs you made.

And so, when I heard you were coming back to the Netherlands, I bought a ticket. I know I said I wouldn't, and I don't think I really wanted to, but in the end I had no choice (I was online when the tickets went on sale, so obviously I had to see if I could get through to the website selling the tickets. When I didn't I obviously had to try again every 20 seconds just to see if I could, in theory, buy a ticket. When I did get through... well, you can't not buy a Springsteen ticket when it's right there on the screen, now can you? It makes sense in my head, let me be).

So yes, I'm going to see your show in Rotterdam in october. I'm going to be alone and I'm going to have a fairly crappy seat probably next to smelly people who are going to complain that you're not playing "Born to Run". You better be worth it.

Love, Boris

PS. Not only is Michael Bolton still alive, he's making a come-back! Another dissapointment!