By: Leila Monroe
Anne Abel’s memoir High Hopes is more than a fan’s chronicle of following Bruce Springsteen around the globe. It’s the story of a woman who discovered resilience, connection, and her own voice in unexpected places—from tense classrooms in Philadelphia to packed arenas in Australia, from chance encounters with rock legends to the intimidating world of live radio.
A Surreal Moment in Melbourne
In Melbourne, Abel found herself in the middle of a crowd of 60,000 Springsteen fans, sandwiched between two sets of seatmates who seemed uninterested in talking. Alone, missing the wedding band she usually wore as a small shield of belonging, she tried to shrink into the background.
Then something extraordinary happened. She spotted Barbara Carr—Bruce Springsteen’s longtime manager—near the stage. Carr, whom Abel had met just days earlier outside a hotel in Adelaide, seemed to be pointing directly at her.
“I couldn’t imagine how she would recognize me among a stadium of 60,000 people,” Abel recalls. “Furthermore, why would she want me to come to her?”
But Carr was indeed beckoning Abel forward. Abel made her way down six rows of seats to the wooden barrier. “Anne, don’t you remember me?” Carr asked warmly. Abel, astonished, replied, “Of course I remember you, Barbara, you’re a celebrity.”
Carr had sought her out simply to say she hoped Abel enjoyed the night’s show. It was a brief exchange, but one charged with validation. As Abel made her way back to her seat, she noticed the jaws of her seatmates hanging open. “Everyone was looking at me with open mouths, as if trying to figure out what important person I was,” she laughs. By the end of the concert, both neighboring groups turned to her and said, “You were absolutely right. He is amazing.”
For Abel, the moment was not about celebrity access. It was about being seen and acknowledged in a crowd where she had felt invisible.
Taking the Mic on E Street Radio
That theme—of being seen and heard—continued when Abel returned from Australia brimming with energy. She attended a gala in New York, where she bid on the chance to co-host Live from E Street Nation on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio with Dave Marsh, a veteran music critic and Carr’s husband.
At first, she was thrilled. But after listening to Marsh’s combative style on-air, dread set in. “He was belligerent and rude. Anyone who called in he yelled at,” she says. Worse still, Abel didn’t consider herself an expert. “I hadn’t known who Bruce Springsteen was two years earlier.”
Rather than backing out, Abel threw herself into preparation. For months she studied music, determined to show up ready. Still, on the morning of the broadcast, nerves consumed her. At 3 a.m. she resolved not to speak at all. By 6 a.m., after a cathartic workout to Springsteen’s music, she found her courage. She decided to go on air and share six favorite songs.
Once in the studio, her fears melted. Marsh gave her the freedom to talk, and she surprised him by starting with Tupac Shakur’s Dear Mama instead of a Springsteen track. Over the course of the show, Abel held her ground, even impressing Joan Jett with her knowledge of music history.
The turning point came when Abel corrected Jett, reminding her that Marsh himself had coined the term “punk rock.” For the first time that morning, Marsh made direct eye contact with her. “Anne, you are right,” he said. Before the show ended, Marsh declared her the “most knowledgeable guest host” he had ever worked with and extended an open invitation to return.
For Abel, the experience was transformative. “I had come home from Australia with a positive ball of energy I had never had before,” she says. “By co-hosting the show, I kept that energy alive—and proved to myself I belonged.”
The Silence of Friends
Ironically, the very energy Abel carried back from her travels wasn’t always welcomed by the people closest to her. When she returned eager to share stories from her trip, her friends showed little interest.
“They just wanted to see me as the depressed person who had little to say about herself,” Abel explains. “I realized that my friends expected our relationship to be about me being an audience for their stories.”
That realization was painful, but it underscored the larger lesson Abel had been living: growth often changes the dynamics of our closest relationships. The challenge is to keep going, to keep speaking, even when others prefer silence.
The Power of Recognition
From being motioned down by Barbara Carr in front of thousands, to earning the respect of Dave Marsh in a live radio studio, to realizing the limits of certain friendships at home, Abel’s memoir is about the power of recognition—both from others and from within.
Her journey underscores a truth that resonates far beyond Springsteen fandom: belonging doesn’t always come from fitting in, but from daring to stand out. And sometimes, the most life-changing moments arrive when you least expect them—at a concert, in a studio, or in a fleeting conversation with someone who simply remembers your name.
