Springsteen, the early years

I will happily buy Eleanor Powers’ Bruce Springsteen memoir, “I Loved Him First” [“One Last Chance to Make It Real,” May 5], but there are thousands of fans who have to say to Eleanor in unison, “We loved him before you!”

I first witnessed the awe-inspiring Bruce in early 1975 in Cleveland. At the time, the single of “Born to Run” was on radios everywhere, but there was no album yet in sight. Cleveland was one of the first cities to really break Bruce; his first two albums had been in heavy rotation on WMMS throughout ’73 and ’74. Before my first live Bruce experience, I thought I had seen the great performers of my day: Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell. But nothing and no one had prepared me for the four-hour Bruce concert that literally changed my life.

Fortunately for the world at large, even the earliest fans always knew that Bruce was too thrillingly good to keep to ourselves. We would simply have to share. The good news is Bruce has never forgotten any of the early or late-coming fans. His recorded work and live performances continue to make us laugh, cry, vote, change our lives and say over a beer at the end of the day, “I loved him first!”

Tom O’Leary

Los Angeles