[media-credit name=’Jaron Berman’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Rocker Bruce Springsteen made a big impression on University of Wisconsin students Thursday when he entered a student’s house after performing at a John Kerry rally to listen to the presidential hopeful’s speech from the West Washington apartment porch.

After performing two songs before the crowd of more than 80,000 attendees, including singing the Kerry campaign theme “No Surrender,” Springsteen reportedly entered one of the student houses lining the street, 508 W. Washington Ave., to watch with students as Kerry spoke.

“Springsteen went over the fence and went into the students’ house and watched the Kerry speech with the students drinking beer,” said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.

NBC journalist Tom Brokaw, who was in Madison to cover the rally, was also reported to have followed Springsteen into the house to visit with student spectators.

“These people in the house had Springsteen and Brokaw in their house,” Verveer said. “Brokaw didn’t have a beer with them … but Springsteen definitely had a beer with them.”

Kerry also paid special attention to the student presence, jumping the security fence to shake hands with students, according to Verveer. Secret service agents were forced to rip beer bottles out of the hands of students to make sure they were not used as weapons against the Massachusetts senator.

Verveer said the turnout for the rally was much higher than predicted, both because campus support for Kerry is high and also due in part to students turning out to see performances by Springsteen and Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl, who played hits “Learn to Fly,” “Times Likes These” and “My Hero.”

“I think we underestimated the tremendous amount of support Kerry has,” Verveer said. “[But] it didn’t hurt to have the ‘Boss’ and Dave Grohl there.”

UW students carrying banners lined the porches of houses on the avenue as balconies overflowed. UW sophomore Anna-Elise Olsen hosted a group of more than 30 students on her balcony.

“I thought the rally was absolutely incredible,” she said. “It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever been to in Madison. We just made such a day out of it.”

Some UW students who attended the rally spoke enthusiastically about Kerry.

“I think he addressed the right issues,” said UW freshman Amy Handler, listing off health care and tuition. “The Bush administration has made all the wrong choices. Bush hasn’t supported the country.”

Handler said she was particularly impressed with the rally’s turnout.

“I think the rally went really well. This is almost unheard of,” Handler said, adding the city had expected at most 60,000 people to attend. “[Well] over 80,000 [attended] and we don’t even know how many people came because some of them couldn’t get in.”

Some students admitted they missed class to attend the rally.

“I just skipped my one power lecture,” UW junior Liz Balligan said. “I didn’t have any strong expectations, but I was very impressed with [Kerry] as a person. Seeing him live reinforced my views.”

Fifth-year UW student Mitch Wildermuth said while he did not think Kerry’s speech offered anything new, he was glad he attended the rally.

“I came because I wanted to see the person who has a good chance of being the next president,” he said.

Abby Peterson contributed to this report.