'What Love Can Do', Bruce Springsteen premieres

A very nice setlist by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Philadelphia's Spectrum on Wednesday night. Highlights include the world premiere of "What Love Can Do" from the "Working on a Dream" album and "Outlaw Pete" was given a much needed rest for the first time this tour. Bruce opened the show with "Thundercrack" a fan favorite from the early 1970s and perfect for a Philadelphia crowd. The entire "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album was played for only the second time this tour, and so far no other dates have been scheduled for a full playing of this classic 1978 record. Also nice to see "Human Touch" back in the setlist, he played it at the Oct. 8 Giants Stadium show. Before the final song, "Rosalita," Curt Ramm played "Gonna Fly Now" - the theme from "Rocky" - on the trumpet.

Show began at 8:31 p.m.

Patti Scialfa was there and Max Weinberg played the entire show.

1. Thundercrack

2. The Ties That Bind

3. What Love Can Do (tour premiere)

4. Hungry Heart (crowd surfing)

5. Working on a Dream

6. Badlands

7. Adam Raised a Cain

8. Something in the Night

9. Candy’s Room

10. Racing in the Street

11. The Promised Land

12. Factory13. Streets of Fire

14. Prove It All Night

15. Darkness on the Edge of Town

16. Waitin’ on a Sunny Day

17. Sherry Darling w/ three accordions (request)

18. Human Touch

19. Long Walk Home

20. The Rising

21. Born to Run

Encores:

22. Ramrod (birthday request)

23. Detroit Medley

24. American Land

25. Dancing in the Dark

26. Short, trumpet version of Gonna Fly Now (theme from Rocky) before Rosalita

Show over at 11:14 p.m.

Next show: Monday again back at the Spectrum.

Bruce Springsteen takes 'Wrecking Ball' to Giants Stadium

Bruce Springsteen (tickets) debuted a new song, "Wrecking Ball," during the opening night of his five night farewell run at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, which is scheduled to be torn down in 2010.
The song, which pays homage to the last days of the venerable stadium, features references to beer, mosquitoes the size of airplanes, the NFL's New York Giants, and the line "bring on your wrecking ball."
A video stream of Friday's (10/2) performance of the song is streaming at Springsteen's website.

Night Three at Giants Stadium, Bruce Springsteen live blog

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began the third of their five Giants Stadium concerts at 8:25 p.m., with "Wrecking Ball." This song, divine by the imminent demolition of Giants Stadium, has opened all three gigs. "Bring on your wrecking ball," sang Springsteen, repeatedly, in a challenging tone.
The second song, "Out In the Street,"the always uplifting was a real crowd pleaser, with Springsteen bringing a young fan onstage to sing along with him.
During "Hungry Heart," Springsteen started running around the "pit" section of the stadium floor, as he has on other nights. But instead of running all the way around, he leaped into the crowd at the halfway point, and crowd surfed across the pit, all the way back to the stage. Unbelievable.

Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium: 'Born To Run' and so much more

"Born To Run" night at Giants Stadium, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing the entire landmark album, in order.
But with other album themed nights planned "Darkness On the Edge Of Town" on Friday, "Born In the U.S.A." on Saturday and Oct. 9, and "Born To Run" again on Thursday keep in mind that the album section ended up being less than a third of this gig.
Springsteen played 29 songs, staying onstage for more than three hours and ten minutes. "Born To Run" has eight songs, and takes less than an hour to play. Even without "Born To Run," this concert would have been longer than most rock headliners’ sets.

"Born To Run" was one of the brillient many particular things about this gig, which kicked off the last concert series ever at Giants Stadium.
"Join us tonight to shut the old lady down ... we’ve had a lot of great nights here ... another one let’s make this," Springteen said after taking the stage.
He opened with a song written for the occasion: "Wrecking Ball." It’s a rousing anthem about seniority, and resilience.
"Through the mud and the beer and the blood and the cheers/I’ve seen champions come and go," Springsteen sang, before paying tribute to the venue itself: "My home is here in the Meadowlands/Where mosquitoes grow big as airplanes/Here where the blood is spilled and the arena is filled/And Giants play the game."
The defiant chorus was directly inspired by the stadium’s upcoming demolition: "You take your best shot/Let me look what you’ve got/Bring on your wrecking ball."
The song set the tone for the evening perfectly. At times, Springsteen gazed into the heart of darkness ("Seeds," "Johnny 99," "Hard Times"), but he also performed some of the brightest, catchiest pop songs he has ever recorded ("Hungry Heart," "Waitin’ On a Sunny Day") with manic energy and crowd pleasing stunts. During "Hungry Heart," for instance, he ran around the arena floor, making a circle around the huge "pit" area in front of the stage, singing and pressing flesh the whole way.
Other highlights included oldies "Growin’ Up" and "E Street Shuffle" (both requested via fan signs), the gig closing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," and "Into the Fire" with an powerful addition: an intro of eerie wailing by Springsteen.
The "Born To Run" songs arguably the richest and most majestic of Springsteen’s career were a treat to hear in their original order. "Thunder Road," coming first, served as an invitation. The romantic vision of the frenzied "Night" complimented the romantic vision of the slower but more emotionally cathartic "Backstreets." The atmospheric, gritty story song "Meeting Across the River" set up the gritty closing epic "Jungleland."
Late in the evening, Springsteen added a spoken word segment to "Growin’ Up," talking about "the weirdest dream I ever had."
There were a lot of relatives at his house, he said, and a cake. "This is the part you won’t believe," he said. "There were 60 (expletive) candles on it."
It was easy to forget at every other point in this gig, but Springsteen turned 60 on Sept. 23.
For live blogging from the four upcoming concerts, videos and other springsteen coverage, visit NJ.com/springsteen.
Here is the gig’s setlist:
"Wrecking Ball"
"Seeds"
"Johnny 99"
"Atlantic City"
"Outlaw Pete"
"Hungry Heart"
"Working On a Dream"
"Thunder Road"
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-out"
"Night"
"Backstreets"
"Born To Run"
"She’s the One"
"Meeting Across the River"
"Jungleland"
"Waitin’ On a Sunny Day"
"The Promised Land"
"Into the Fire"
"Lonesome Day"
"The Rising"
"Badlands"
"No Surrender"
"Raise Your Hand"
"E Street Shuffle"
"Growin’ Up"
"American Land"
"Dancing In the Dark"
"Hard Times"
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"

Bruce Springsteen to continue exploring classic albums in concert

It was just a week ago that we raved here on Pop & Hiss at the spectacle that was the Bruce Springsteen gig at Chicago's United Center. A three hour epic rock concert with a tasty nugget lodged in the middle: a complete performance of the 1975 classic "Born To Run".
After the gig, many in attendance, including yours truly, stratified the concert as their favorite from Springsteen. Apparently The Boss agreed.

Today Springsteen's team announced that the five upcoming Giants Stadium gigs will each contain similar tasty nuggets, that is if you are fans of "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Born in the USA" and the aforementioned "Born To Run". Sorry, "Nebraska" fans, maybe next tour.
Playing an entire album in its entirety is nothing new for current rock tours. Recently Steely Dan performed three of their classic albums at the Gibson, Nine Inch Nails blazed through "The Downward Spiral" at the Hollywood Palladium, and in November Devo and The Pixies will come to L.A. to perform some of their finest albums in their entirety.
Longtime Springsteen manager Jon Landau explained, "Chicago convinced us that this was actually worth doing. The audience was so supportive of the concept that it convinced us to go ahead with this at Giants Stadium."
Complete schedule of the Jersey shows:

Sept. 30: "Born To Run"

Oct. 2: "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Oct. 3: "Born In The USA"

Oct. 8: "Born To Run"

Oct. 9: "Born In The USA"

Fans Meet in Jersey to Mark 60th Birthday, Springsteen Scholars

Springsteen turned 60 on Wednesday. In his honor, fans and music-loving scholars from around the world have collected in his home state of New Jersey. The event is more than a rock star’s birthday party.
About 130 educators, journalists, historians and musicologists will present academic papers at [bn:URL=http://www.cpe.vt.edu/glorydays/registration.html
p://www.cpe.vt.edu/glorydays/registration.html] “Glory Days: A Bruce Springsteen Symposium.” [] The event, which is open to the public, is taking place through the weekend at Monmouth University in West Long Branch and the Sheraton Center in nearby Eatontown.
“Bruce Springsteen, at age 60, continues to be vibrant and relevant and a cultural figure worthy of study and discussion,” said Mark Bernhard, the director of continuing and professional education at Virginia Tech and the conference’s arranger.
Participants will hear from Vini Lopez, the first drummer in Springsteen’s E Street Band; Joe Grushecky, who has written songs, recorded and played with him, and the person Springsteen called his “landlordess” at the New Jersey house where he wrote his breakthrough album, “Born to Run.”
The symposium follows a similar event four years ago. Virginia Tech put together this year’s event with Penn State Altoona, which sponsored the 2005 symposium.
Lopez will appear on a panel about Danny Federici, the E Street Band keyboardist who died of melanoma last year. Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum and author of the book “Greetings from E Street,” and Tinker West, a former Springsteen manager, will join him.
Stone Pony Concerts
Grushecky, who made the “American Babylon” album with Springsteen’s help in 1995 and later co-wrote the song “Code of Silence” with him, will talk about the collaborations. He will also perform at the Stone Pony nightclub in Asbury Park, which has scheduled three nights of Springsteen- related shows in conjunction with the symposium.
An onstage interview with Marilyn Rocky, the “landlordess,” will conclude the event. Rocky rented him a home in Long Branch, New Jersey, in April 1974. He lived there until after “Born to Run” was released the next year. She will also discuss her correspondence with the star.
This writer, who also attended the previous symposium, will conduct the interview and present “Greetings from Freehold: How Bruce Springsteen’s Hometown Shaped His Life and Work.”
The program includes talks by the authors of two books about Springsteen: Jim Cullen (“Born in the U.S.A.”) and Eric Alterman (“It Ain’t No Sin to Be Glad You’re Alive”).
Jim Musselman, whose Appleseed Recordings has released four songs featuring Springsteen, will host a panel examining his social consciousness. Another panel, “The Road to Resilience in Hard Times,” will address how Springsteen’s music helps fans deal with personal and economic loss.

Bruce Springsteen plays Born to Run album in Chicago

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the entire "Born To Run" album in order last night at the United Center in Chicago.
It was only the second time that has ever been done, the first was on May 8, 2008 at a benefit show at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.
It had been announced the Bruce would do the entire album in Chicago, as well as the Nov. 18 show in Nashville.
On paper, not actual a great setlist overall in Chicago, even with all of "Born to Run" being played..
The show opened with "Seeds" and the request part of the show was moved to the encores where Bruce did two covers "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Rockin' Robin" both tour premieres.
An internet report said the crowd sang "Happy Birthday to Bruce" during the encores. Bruce turns 60 on Wednesday.