Umpy's report from Cleveland and Detroit

Hey Umpy...what about SPRINGSTEEN? :)

Sorry about the late report however I had alcohol induced writer's block.

A thrilling weekend in Cleveland and Detroit.

We arrived in Cleveland Saturday night so that we could search for Cleveland Browns' tickets on Sunday.

We headed down to Browns Stadium Sunday afternoon hoping to find some tickets to the Browns and Seattle Seahawks game.

We cruised down the bar area near the stadium hoping to find someone with extra tickets. Although were unsuccessful in the bar area, the atmosphere was electric. Two hours before the game people were cheering, hollering and barking for the Browns.

After our fruitless attempt to find tickets in the bats, we headed down to the stadium. It's a magnificent sight to behold.

While we were looking for tickets, I peeved off a scalper. Minutes before the start of the game, a scalper was trying to buy (at a very discounted price of course) some extra tickets from a desperate seller. I went over to the seller's wife and told her that I would be willing to buy their tickets at a much fairer price. Done Deal, angry scalper, but we were in!!!!! All's fair when you are trying to buy tickets!!

The experience of going to an NFL game in Cleveland is unbelievable.
Everyone is dressed in the Browns colours. The cheering, rooting and barking for the Browns never stops. The atmosphere is truly electric.

As for the game itself, we saw a very exciting defenseless game which the Browns won by kicking a field goal in overtime.

Since the game started at 4:00 pm we had to make a mad dash (about a 20 minute walk) to the arena in order to see the main attraction.

Bruce scored touchdown after touchdown after touchdown with his performance. Next to the second Chicago show, this was the best show that I have seen, so far, on this tour. The crowd was awesome as well. Highlights for me included great versions of It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City and Kitty's Back which are two of my favourite songs.

We rolled into the Motor City the next day. I have to admit that of all of the cities that I have been to, Detroit is my least favourite city. The arena is in the middle of (Radio) nowhere.

The weather in Detroit was miserable. It was cold and raining however Bruce warned things up in a hurry with another strong performance.

Early in the show I spotted Martha Reeves (Martha and the Vandellas) in the crowd. I thought that Bruce might have invited her on stage to perform with him however that did not happen as Brice rolled through a very good but shorter than usual performance.

Like a fine wine or Chardonnay, Bruce and the band get better with each performance. Highlights included very entertaining versions of Jackson Cage and Ramrod both of which were played by request.

Next stop...the canucks will be rolling into Albany next week.