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

Boston 14th August 2012 - show 54

Boston's harbor is home to the very first lighthouse ever built in North America

Backstreets review of Boston night one includes a couple of references to the European leg.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's return to Fenway Park also marked their return to U.S. shores after a much-lauded summer leg in Europe. 

While this first show back in the states largely found Bruce and his E Street machine warming back up, revving their engines with a Night A set, "Spirit in the Night" highlighted something else they brought back from Europe, a number of arrangements refined and expanded as the summer went by. "Spirit" became a setpiece overseas, and this performance showed why: with the stage lights now finally registering as darkness fell, it was a stirring new intro, a newly energized rendition, and a special moment with Bruce and Jake down front. "Death to My Hometown" and "Shackled and Drawn" have also been nicely jacked up since Newark in May.

I think it's far to say that the tour got better and better whilst Bruce was over this side of the pond but perhaps that's the tour evolving in the same way as ever and it would have happened... wherever in the World.  We look forward to more surprises during the fall.

After the Hard Rock Calling early exit I was surprised to find that USA has curfews too:-

One thing they brought back with them: playing in broad daylight. This first open air Wrecking Ball show in North America started earlier than usual with a 6:30 ticket time (presumably adjusting for a 10:30 curfew), Bruce and the band taking the stage at around 7:10. So like those European festivals and Scandinavian shows, there were bright skies above well into the show.

Well here is the set list - not four hours but still a long show with a couple of premiers. 

I'm not familiar with either of the covers but we were introduced to John Lee Hooker (of Boom Boom fame) a couple of years ago by my brother who couldn't believe we hadn't heard of him!

	Helsinki 31/07/12 Time 7.53 to 11.49	Boston 14/08/12 Time 7.11 to 10.41
1	Rockin’ All Over The World (1)	The Promised Land (33)
2	Night (6)	Out In The Street (27)
3	Out In The Street (26)	We Take Care Of Our Own (54)
4	Loose Ends (2)	Wrecking Ball (54)
5	We Take Care Of Our Own (53)	Death To My Home Town (54)
6	Prove It All Night (17)	My City Of Ruins (54)
7	Wrecking Ball (53)	Spirit In The Night (29)
8	Death To My Hometown (53)	The E Street Shuffle (14)
9	My City Of Ruins (53)	Jack Of All Trades (47)
10	Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (7)	Atlantic City (9)
11	Be True (3)	Because The Night (23)
12	Jack Of All Trades (46)	Johnny 99 (18)
13	Downbound Train (7)	Darlington County (13)
14	Because The Night (22)	Workin’ On The Highway (24)
15	Lonesome Day (19)	Shackled And Drawn (38)
16	Darlington County (12)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (54)
17	Light Of Day (2)	Boom Boom (1)
18	Shackled And Drawn (37)	Drive All Night (2)
19	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (53)	The Rising (51)
20	Back In Your Arms (1)	Badlands (47)
21	The Rising (50)	Thunder Road (29)
22	Badlands (46)	We Are Alive (47)
23	Land Of Hope And Dreams (37)	Born To Run (54)
24	We Are Alive (46)	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (9)
25	Born In The USA (29)	Glory Days (15)
26	Born To Run (53)	Dancing In The Dark (54)
27	Detroit Medley (1)	Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (53)
28	Glory Days (14)	Dirty Water (1)
29	Dancing In The Dark (53)	Twist And Shout (17)
30	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (52)
31	I Don’t Want To Go Home (1)
32	Higher And Higher (1)
33	Twist And Shout (16)

Boston Monday 26th March 2012 - show 4

The distance from Tampa to Boston is about 1193 miles (flight time approximately 2hours 40 minutes) so total so far from show to show is 2168 miles.

Not much time tonight so this will be brief.

Here is a review from The Boston Globe

Bruce Springsteen always seems to arrive just when you need him.

Bad day? Terrible news? Feeling rundown? Looking to put a name to that restless feeling you have been having?

Monday night, Springsteen and his stalwart contracting and expanding E Street Band brought their restorative powers to a sellout crowd of 18,210 at the TD Garden and did the most elemental thing you could hope for: Banish distractions and aggravations in favor of some fun

That’s exactly what Springsteen promised during his cheeky street-corner-preacher testimonials, at one point assuring the crowd that they would go home with hands, feet, and voices hurting.

That he and the band managed to deliver the fun while still digging deep emotionally into many of the painful and pointed songs about the divided times in which we live from his latest album “Wrecking Ball,’’ as well as pay tribute to those they have personally lost, was a tribute to their commitment.

The indefatigable showman and his cohorts played for 2 hours and 50 minutes with an energy that bordered on superhuman, with Springsteen himself seemingly serving as the power source as he ran, knee-slid, and crowd-surfed his way around the arena. The group moved as a unit with grace and spirit through a sometimes puzzling set list that ignored a wide, popular, and quality swath of Springsteen’s considerable catalog but still brought the fire. (With the exception of an encore of “Dancing in the Dark,’’ the set consisted almost completely of songs from 1980 and earlier, or 2001 and later, overlooking almost everything that came between “The Rising’’ and “Wrecking Ball.’’)

The band - swollen to 16 with the addition of a 5-piece horn section and a trio of singers and singer-percussionist - slid from sound to sound with dexterity working itself into a righteous lather on a medley of the soul classics “The Way You Do the Things You Do’’ and “634-5789,’’ which Springsteen prefaced with a comically souped-up rap about his recent show at the Apollo Theater. The band ratcheted up the tension, building the crescendos of anthems like “The Rising’’ and “Badlands’’ to an ecstatic crest. It moved poignantly through the sobering “American Skin (41 Shots),’’ bringing to mind images of Trayvon Martin. Then the band eased nicely into folkier and Celtic flavored tracks, including “Death to My Hometown.’’

Without naming names, Springsteen paid touching tribute to dearly departed members of the E Street family, keyboardist Danny Federici and sax player Clarence Clemons. During a breakdown of the soulful “My City of Ruins,’’ he took a roll call of the band and then said some people were missing.

But, Springsteen said to the audience “as long as you’re here, and as long as we’re here, they’re here.’’

Atlanta 18/03/12 Time 8.10 to 10.44	Boston 26/03/12 Time 8.15 to 11.05
We Take Care Of Our Own	We Take Care Of Our Own (4)
Wrecking Ball	Wrecking Ball (4)
Badlands	Badlands (3)
Death To My Hometown	Death To My Hometown (4)
My City Of Ruins	My City Of Ruins (4)
The E Street Shuffle	Thundercrack (1)
Jack Of All Trades	Jack Of All Trades (4)
Seeds	Jackson Cage (1)
Easy Money	She’s The One (1)
Waitin' On A Sunny Day	Easy Money (4)
The Promised Land	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (4)
The Way You Do The Things You Do	The Promise Land (4)
634 -5789	The Way You Do The Things You Do (4)
Shackled And Drawn	634 - 5789 (4)
Lonesome Day	American Skin (41 Shots) (2)
The Rising	Lonesome Day (2)
We Are Alive	The Rising (4)
Thunder Road	We Are Alive (4)
Rocky Ground	Thunder Road (4)
Land Of Hope And Dreams	Rocky Ground (4)
Born To Run	Land Of Hope And Dreams (4)
Dancing In The Dark	Born To Run (4)
American Land	Dancing In The Dark (4)
Tenth Avenue Freeze Out	Raise Your Hand (1)
	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (4)