Born to run . . . on stage with The Boss
Young fan’s handmade poster caught Springsteen’s eye
Ten-year-old Maddie Abbott of Toronto is “The future of rock and roll,” according to the legendary Bruce Springsteen, who yelled it out at a recent concert.
Maddie quite literally took over the stage from The Boss at a Bruce Springsteen concert at the United Centre in Chicago at the end of August, during his U.S. tour.
After Springsteen noticed Maddie’s decorated handmade bristol-board poster, on which she wrote, “It’s my 1st Show and I’m Waitin’ on A Sunny Day,” the superstar performer brought her on stage.
She hugged him, then he put her on his shoulders and walked across the stage, before the confident girl took the microphone out of his hand and sang the chorus to “Waitin’ on A Sunny Day” solo, pumping her fists to a roaring crowd of more than 20,000 Springsteen fans.
The Boss, meanwhile, looked on, astonished, and gave Maddie’s mother two thumbs up.
“It was one of two best experiences of my life,” gushes Maddie, who wants to be a performer and takes singing and acting lessons. “The first best experience of my life is that I was born. The second was being on stage with Bruce Springsteen,” she says. “But if I wasn’t born, then that would have never happened!”
For the Abbott family, who live in Forest Hill, it was a much-needed pick-me-up.
Her mother, Nicole, and father, Allen, who has seen Springsteen in concert 26 times, had originally planned to go together. But Allen was unable to travel as he is recovering from a surgery related to longtime kidney issues. So Nicole, a freelance makeup artist, took her daughter instead. “When my mom told me, I acted really calm, but inside my head was beating with excitement,” gushes Maddie, who has been a Springsteen fan since she was 4. “I did feel sad for my dad.”
She called her father right after the concert. “He was crying. I could hear him sniffling, like 10 times!”
Her father chimes in, “I was sitting in bed when it happened, and Nicole kept sending me photos and videos and it completely perked me up. With everything I’m going through, to see Maddie on stage with Bruce was unbelievable. We always say that with something bad comes something good.”
“Dad, you need to shave,” interrupts Maddie. “You look like George Clooney!”
While in Chicago, Nicole and Maddie made a glittery sign for Springsteen, who is known to collect signs from fans. “I spent about an hour on it,” Maddie says. “Then I took a bubble bath and curled my hair before the concert.”
About 20 songs in, Springsteen announced, “I have to sing with this little lady,” and motioned for Maddie, sitting in the fourth row, to come on stage. She went running. “I almost started to cry, I was so excited, but I made myself stop,” Maddie says.
“That’s also when I started to cry,” adds Nicole, who still tears up while showing the video from her phone.
Maddie hugged Springsteen after high-fiving some fans.
“I touched his back, it was gross. It was like a lake on a Wednesday!” she laughs and shudders.
Then she took the mic from Springsteen and sang the chorus of “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” while The Boss looked on.
Springsteen yelled, “Sign her up!” and, “This is the future of rock and roll.”
“This is something that I can tell my children and they can tell their children until the sun explodes!” says Maddie, who made it to the top10 for a part in the Mirvish production of Matilda, now playing in Toronto.
A YouTube video of the experience has had thousands of views.
Not only is Maddie still in shock — “My mind is just, like, blown away!” — but she nods eagerly when her dad says, “Bruce always makes us feel good. He always gives us strength.”