November 25, 2024
Last Friday night, November 22, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performed their final concert of the year in Vancouver's Rogers Arena. The penultimate song of the evening was "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," with a sweet little visual enhancement that brought a smile to the face of "Santa" Springsteen himself.
Before the concert began, as ticketholders for "the pit" were lined up waiting to be let in, venue personnel came by the line with boxes of Santa hats. Longtime fan Amy Marker, who had a ticket for the pit and provided the great photos above, informed us that the distribution of the Santa hats appeared to have been arranged by the Springsteen touring organization as a nice little surprise of sorts. Everyone in the pit line (about 125 people at the time) was given a hat and instructed to keep it hidden and not put it on until the appropriate moment in the show. "The venue security guy," relates Amy, "told us to keep the hats hidden 'until the right moment, and you all know when that is.' Everyone around me confirmed that we understood, and we all knew it would be right before 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.'"
Letters To You soon will have a special report from contributing writer Joyce Millman on this very special final show of 2024, final night for the Canadian leg of this tour, and one of the tour's longest shows yet. It will be accompanied by plenty more great photos, as well. So stay tuned, faithful readers, and you'd better be good for goodness' sake!