Boston 15 August 2012 - show 55

In the 1600s the Pilgrims outlawed the celebration of Christmas in Boston for more than 20 years.

Looking for news of the show I found myself on brucespringsteen.net and a review which included a nice paragraph:-

 Bruce gave perhaps the most revealing insight into the spirit of this tour. Speaking about “living with ghosts” during “My City of Ruins,” he said, “They inhabit our memory,” as friends and family like, “the man who they named that pole for over there [late Red Sox icon Johnny Pesky], or the man that stood over there [Clarence Clemons], or the man who sat over there [Danny Federici]. So this is for all those ghosts hanging around out here.” That spirit of shared memory and struggle has driven Wrecking Ball through every barrier and here to Fenway.

Boston.com  has an interesting take from some fans although I think it would be torture for me to be able to hear and not see!

The cheers of “Bruuuuuce” reverberated off the brick walls of Fenway Park as Bruce Springsteen emerged from underneath the baseball shrine to hop into an SUV that would transport him to the outfield stage.

But the frenzied fans who greeted and shook hands with him did not even have tickets. These “concert goers,” who were camped on Van Ness Street, were sitting outside — opting to listen to the show from the backstreets.

“I’ve found that from outside you can hear well enough to still share in the experience,” Michael Butler, 37, of Boston, said as the band breezed through “Promised Land” to open the concert. “We’re talking music here, it’s an audio thing, and I can hear the show fine.”

Finally I can't leave this night without pointing you in the direction of my favourite Bruce blog once again.  There are some great reviews of the Boston shows on Blogness on the Edge of Town.  A snippet from Boston night two:-

From the very beginning when Springsteen wandered out onto the stage alone to greet the crowd and launch into “Thunder Road” accompanied only by Roy Bittan on piano, it was clear it was going to be a different kind of night. And the collection of rare tracks, covers and requests that followed more than bore that out – of the 30 songs played Wednesday, 18 hadn’t made an appearance the night before. For most artists, that’s an entire show. 

So to the set list.

Ahhh Backstreets with Dream Baby Dream. When I first heard that Backstreets had been played with an interlude I thought it might be Sad Eyes. I admit, I had a chuckle about the hankering over old arrangements when everyone raved about the '78 intro to Prove It, but I've got to say, I would love to hear Backstreets/Sad Eyes. 

This would have been a pretty good set list for me and if I could pick my favourite songs out of both nights I could make a near perfect set.

	Boston 14/08/12 Time 7.11 to 10.41	Boston 15/08/12 Time 8.10 to 11.28
1	The Promised Land (33)	Thunder Road (30)
2	Out In The Street (27)	Hungry Heart (16)
3	We Take Care Of Our Own (54)	Sherry Darling (2)
4	Wrecking Ball (54)	Summertime Blues (2)
5	Death To My Home Town (54)	Girls In Their Summer Clothes (2)
6	My City Of Ruins (54)	We Take Care Of Our Own (55)
7	Spirit In The Night (29)	Two Hearts (9)
8	The E Street Shuffle (14)	Wrecking Ball (55)
9	Jack Of All Trades (47)	Death To My Hometown (55)
10	Atlantic City (9)	My City Of Ruins (55)
11	Because The Night (23)	Knock On Wood (1)
12	Johnny 99 (18)	Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street (8)
13	Darlington County (13)	Thundercrack (5)
14	Workin’ On The Highway (24)	Frankie (2)
15	Shackled And Drawn (38)	Prove It All Night (18)
16	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (54)	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (8)
17	Boom Boom (1)	Working On The Highway
18	Drive All Night (2)	Shackled And Drawn (39)
19	The Rising (51)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (55)
20	Badlands (47)	Backstreets (8)
21	Thunder Road (29)	Badlands (48)
22	We Are Alive (47)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (38)
23	Born To Run (54)	Who’ll Stop The Rain (5)
24	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (9)	Rocky Ground (32)
25	Glory Days (15)	Born To Run (55)
26	Dancing In The Dark (54)	Detroit Medley (2)
27	Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (53)	Dancing In The Dark (55)
28	Dirty Water (1)	Quarter To Three (1)
29	Twist And Shout (17)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (54)
30		American Land (8)
31
32
33