When Bruce Springsteen met Ottawa kids who stole the CTC stage

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As he prepares to attend his 35th Bruce Springsteen concert Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre, Scott Bradley is unquestionably a Boss of Bruce Springsteen fandom.

The basement of the family home near The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus is a Springsteen shrine, complete with autographed photos and memorabilia. A replica of Springsteen’s guitar strap hangs off one of Bradley’s own six strings.

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From Canada to the U.S. to Europe, beginning with his first show at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium in 1985, all the concerts have been special in their own way.

One, however, stands out above all the rest. During Springsteen’s last show in Ottawa, on Oct. 19, 2012, the singer brought Bradley’s sons Pete and Stu — then eight and seven years old — up on stage.

Already well-schooled by their father on Springsteen’s discography and having attended their first Springsteen concert during a family vacation two months earlier in Boston, they were aiming to be seen.

Standing only several rows from the stage, the two were holding a sign saying they knew the words to Waiting on a Sunny Day.

“They were the youngest people in the pit,” Scott Bradley said. “They were going for it.”

Springsteen, who routinely sparks his sold-out shows with bouts of crowd engagement, was all in, letting the kids steal the show for a couple of minutes. He even encouraged the Bradley boys to tell his infamous E-Street band to crank it up a notch for their benefit. After the show, Springsteen tossed his harmonica to the Bradleys.

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“I remember little things, like when he pointed at us earlier in the show and he saw our sign,” said Stu, now 19 and a commerce student at Dalhousie University in Halifax. “I remember when we were on stage and Peter was hogging the mic from me, and I was whispering, ‘It’s too high for me.’ It was a little bit of a blur after that. My mind was just racing and I was just thinking, ‘What the heck just happened?’ ”

Peter, now 20, and an engineering student at Dalhousie, says he didn’t have time to think about having stage fright in front of 20,000 fans. For a few moments, he sang with his arm stretched across Stu’s shoulders.

“I was just going to sing a song that I had sung a thousand times with my siblings and my dad in the car, and I didn’t give it much of a second thought,” Peter said.

He also fondly recalls leaving the building like, well, a rock star, receiving the red carpet treatment with high fives all around.

“I never remember it being so easy to leave Canadian Tire Centre,” he said. “I don’t know how much of that I’ve exaggerated in my mind looking back, but it really did feel like it.”

A dozen years later, thanks to YouTube, the bouncing, singing brothers remain for the world to see. The scene is also still featured on Springsteen’s website. The screams of joy in the background are from their proud dad.

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The Bradley boys have truly remained brothers in arms ever since.

They followed their sister, Maren, 22, to the Rideau Canoe Club. All three have since become national stars on the water.

Scott, who leads government relations at OpenText, and his wife, Fiona, are longtime dedicated volunteers at the Rideau Canoe Club.

Maren, a commerce student at Dalhousie and a kayak specialist, was the first to head east because nearby Dartmouth serves as headquarters for Canada’s top canoeists and kayakers.

Peter and Stu have won four national titles together, including the U 18 C2-1000 metre championship in 2022. In 2019, they teamed up with two others to capture the Canadian under-16 C4-1000 metre crown. They live only a couple of blocks from each other in Halifax.

Peter leaves this weekend for the Junior Pan-American championships in Uruguay. It’s unfortunate timing, considering that the Bradley boys had originally planned to revisit their Springsteen experience in Ottawa this weekend.

Earlier this year, Scott and Stu went on a father-son bonding trip to Ireland and England, catching a pair of Springsteen shows along the way.

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As for revisiting that glory day on stage 12 years ago, they sometimes can’t help themselves from checking out the old videos.

“I come back to it every few months and I found a new one from a different angle last month,” said Stu. “I listen to his music all the time and every now and then I think about it.”

They have some fun when they’re in a new crowd and someone is talking about Springsteen.

“Among my close friends, it’s a bit of a running joke that I can’t resist bringing it up and I get teased a little bit,” said Pete. “Someone will have a (Springsteen) story to tell and I feel I can always one up anyone with that.”

Stu Bradley says reliving the story with teachers and professors is often a bonus.

“I can remember a few assignments where we would be asked to write about an old memory,” he said. “I would throw that story in with hopes they are Springsteen fans and I would always get joyful comments back when they read it, sometimes even them saying they were at the concert. I like to think of it as a free pass to an A.”

The memories are also prominent in the Bradley basement.

Alongside all the pictures of the children’s kayak and canoeing successes is a framed photo of Pete and Stu on stage beside Springsteen. Scott Bradley purchased the photo from Springsteen’s official photographer. The singer’s harmonica is also inside the frame.

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Springsteen signed additional photos for Scott Bradley when he attended a 900-seat performance on Broadway in 2021.

“You can see that our family is pretty close, and that time on the water, more than anything else, keeps them together,” he said.

“When they got on to the stage, that was my dream. It was a crazy thing. You think it can’t get any better than this. But it does. It stands there as this funny little asterisk to what they’ve been able to accomplish. It’s a neat little footnote.”

Music is a fixture in the house, but it’s not all Springsteen, all the time. Maren is off to Toronto next week, taking in her third Taylor Swift concert with Fiona.

As for this weekend’s Springsteen show, though, Pete Bradley has one wish.

“My hope is that maybe we’ll see some videos of my dad up on stage for this one,” he said.

kwarren@postmedia.com

X: Citizenkwarren

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