While we have attended various classical and jazz events in Rome over the years, we’ve never been to a rock concert. When it was announced in May 2022 that The Boss would be playing at Rome’s Circus Maximus in May 2023, we knew we had to go. We crossed our fingers that day in May 2022 that Covid would be in the rear view mirror by the time the concert rolled around.

We dutifully got up at 3:30 a.m. (EDT) one morning to try and buy tickets from Italy’s ticketone — and we got lucky.  A very nice thing was that the tickets were — particularly compared to the U.S. — very cheap. Our general admission tickets were just 115 euros each (€100 plus a €15 processing fee). Our previous tickets to see Springsteen in Washington, DC, were several times more expensive. It’s no wonder people travel internationally for their favorite artists to save money.

The tickets are generated in your specific name(s); and to discourage scalping, the name can only be changed once. It’s a much better process — though it does require staff checking every ticket holder’s ticket and ID, but that went very smoothly. So, we’re glad to see it catching on in the U.S.

The Circus Maximus is not your regular rock and roll concert venue. It was once the largest race track in Rome, where charioteers competed against each other, amusing some Roman emperor who would descend from his fabulous palace on the adjacent Palatine Hill. Today, one end of the Circus Maximus is an archaeological site where you can enjoy an engrossing virtual reality experience (more on that in a later post). The rest is essentially a park where people jog, walk their dogs, or just hang out in the afternoon sun.

We didn’t know what to expect from the rock concert. The Tripadvisor community helped a lot in that respect. There were several threads started on the Tripadvisor Rome travel forum where people shared information about the 2016 Springsteen concert at the Circus Maximus, and how excited they were to get tickets for the 2023 show.  As the concert date approached, people chimed in with information about other Springsteen shows on his European 2023 tour. As new information would come out about things such as the opening acts, we used the Tripadvisor forum to spread the word.  We also met up with some fellow Springsteen fans at our Tripadvisor meetup in Rome the day before the concert.

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Finally, the big day came.  We took a taxi to the Forum Boarium, which was as close as we could get, and joined the throngs walking to the Circus Maximus.  The mood everywhere was joyous. The police presence was prevalent but not overwhelming. Everything was surprisingly organized (which is… not always the case with events in Rome).  Our tickets were checked against our passports as we entered (part of the anti-scalping measures), and then we saw that the crowd in the Circus Maximus. It could only be described as incredibly massive (estimates we heard were 80,000 people!).

Like everyone else with general admission tickets, we had to walk the length of the Circus Maximus and enter towards the back. Italy had been experiencing quite a bit of rain — with tragic consequences.  While Rome did not experience flooding like some other parts of Italy, it had enough rainfall to make the Circus Maximus a bit muddy.  It made for a bit of squishy and mucky turf but, for us, it added a certain festival nature to the event. It did not rain on the concert, which made us all pretty damn happy.

We headed to a place where we could just barely see the stage, but had a good view of one of the giant screens.  We had no sooner found our spot when miraculously — out of the 80,000 fans — we ran straight into Paul and Carol, whom we had just met the night before at our meetup! They generously bought us a round of beers, and we happily chatted. 

And then as the sun began to set, and right on time, The Boss and his crew arrived.

Alas, the stage was some distance away, and, this being a park and not a true concert venue, there is a big tree in front of the stage. But the music was great, and we watched the show on the big screens.

 

As the daylight faded, the obligatory lasers came on.

Everyone was singing along as the show came to a close with some of Springsteen’s biggest hits, and some people were dancing.  I mean, you don’t have to be an American to scream, “Born … IN THE USA!” Indeed, thousands of Italians (and British, Irish, Swedish, French, Germans, and many others) were doing just that.

We started edging towards the exits as the show wrapped up.  The Roman authorities had closed the nearest metro stop, so we had to walk to the Colosseum metro.  So, we passed Rome’s most iconic sight under the moon, and headed home, a bit muddy, definitely tired, and very happy.