The current Bruce Springsteen tour has had its ups and downs. Sometimes even the utmost professionals forget what city they are performing in when they try to pump up the crowd. Overall though it has been par for the course when compared to all of his previous tours. He plays all the hits for the fans, mixing in just enough deep cuts for the super fans in the audience, and has a generally all around good time. Then, at some point, he starts the opening riff of the classic “Dancing In The Dark” and pulls somebody out of the audience to dance with him on stage.
As many know, the original “Dancing In The Dark” girl was Courteney Cox, pre-Friends ubiquity. It’s safe to say not many audience members live up to that high standard, but a recent choice might have done just that. On a tour stop in St. Paul, Minnesota Bruce and the band chose 91-year old Jeanne Heintz from in front of the stage to come up and join in on the fun up close and personal. It wasn’t the lucky lady’s first time up there with Bruce either. She was also a guest of The Boss at a Des Moines concert way back in 2008 when she was stilly a sprightly 84. As the Star Tribune reports, this time was special:
…she and her daughter Jackie have attended more than 100 Springsteen shows together. Jeanne got his attention that time with a sign that read, “I drove all night to dance with you.” This time, the Boss’ crew set her up with the good seats, and he seemed to know exactly where to find her.
If this ends up being Ms. Heintz’s last show after years of following his tour, one final dance is definitely a sweet and touching way to end her run as one of his biggest fans. On top of the adorable mini-reunion between Heintz and Springsteen, there is also the great detail that the moment occurred in the same city that the original music video was filmed so long ago.
Springsteen filmed the original music video for the song – which MTV would go on to play about 18,000 times by year’s end — during the day before his performance at the St. Paul Civic Center (Xcel Center’s predecessor).
Looks like it’s time to film another version, but this time Jeanne gets to take on the Cox role and dance the night away.
(via The Star Tribune)
