East Rutherford 21st September 2012 - show 66

Night 2 then - does the 'night 2 rule' apply when it's the filling in a three night sandwich?

It Appears it might do. Blogness on the Edge of Town describes the SETLIST (to end all setlists?) and goes on to announce Ladies and gentlemen … It appears Fenway 2 is no longer the show to beat.


A couple of interesting facts in this review for those of you who like such things:-


last night (Sept. 21), he opened the second of his three-night stand at MetLife Stadium in E. Rutherford, N.J. with ‘Living on the Edge of the World,’ a 32-year-old song which he had never before played live.

But perhaps the biggest surprise came at the end of the main set, when Springsteen followed up a rare performance of ‘Incident on 57th Street’ with ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),’ which is how they appeared on 1974′s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.’ That sequence has been performed fewer than ten times in the nearly 40 years since the album’s release.

A bit more about Living On The Edge Of The World from Backstreets :-


The show opened with a live premiere, a rough, loose, and fun "Living on the Edge of the World" that found Bruce coming down front... and completely forgetting the lyrics. Luckily there was a sheet of paper with the lyrics taped down there. Bruce tore it from the floor and read from it for the rest of the song, in good spirits the whole time. At the end of the song, he ripped up the lyric sheet in a moment of comic frustration. This was more fun than it sounds, and though Bruce said it "would have been even better if we got it right," well, ragged and right was good enough.

I like this story of the show. It's a little snapshot of a Springsteen concert rather than a review of the set list. A few snippets here:-

When you go to MetLife Stadium or The Izod Center, exit strategy is important.   With the perfect spot, we unloaded the two chairs for my wife Marie and myself and a little table for our small tailgating feast of roast beef sandwiches with provolone.  

Everyone has a story of a show or song and you all sit around sharing everything, food, drink and new friendships, short friendships, but friendships none the less.

We had great sight lines to the stage that was about 110 yards away.   Everything on the stage looked like it was set up for an ant concert.  But with binoculars and the big screens, we had pretty decent views that weren’t so bad

What I noticed immediately was there were a lot of newbies and we have learned that is never good.  Other than the four folks in front of us, we were in a very dead energy section.

My highlight of the night would have been Jole Blon and the Backstreets review describes one of those only-at-a-Springsteen-show moments :-

Bruce found a "Jole Blon" sign from the crowd, claiming that he had seen the sign for some 94 shows in a row. It certainly was a familiar sight to tour followers. He went down front to the sign-bearer: "How long have you been waiting for this song?" "All my life!" she screamed. From the shots of her on the video screen, it was worth the wait.

So here is the full set list

	East Rutherford 19/09/12 Time 8.30 to 12.24	East Rutherford 21/09/12 Time 8.28 to 11.37
1	Shackled And Drawn (49)	Living On The Edge Of The World (1)
2	Prove It All Night (24)	Out In The Street (32)
3	The Ties That Bind (15)	Night (8)
4	Hungry Heart (25)	Hungry Heart (26)
5	We Take Care Of Our Own (65)	No Surrender (19)
6	Wrecking Ball (65)	Lost In The Flood (4)
7	Death To My Hometown (65)	We Take Care Of Our Own (66)
8	My City Of Ruins (65)	Wrecking Ball (66)
9	Spirit In The Night (37)	Death To My Hometown (66)
10	E Street Shuffle (17)	My City Of Ruins (66)
11	Jack Of All Trades (55)	Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street (10)
12	Human Touch (3)	Jole Blon (1)
13	Johnny 99 (20)	This Little Girl (1)
14	Darlington County (20)	From Small Things (1)
15	Working On A Highway (32)	Talk To Me (5)
16	Easy Money (18)	This Depression (4)
17	The Promised Land (37)	Shackled And Drawn (50)
18	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (65)	Mary’s Place (1)
19	Mansion On The Hill (1)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (66)
20	Racing In The Street (10)	Incident On 57th Street (4)
21	The Rising (57)	Rosalita (15)
22	Badlands (58)	Rocky Ground (34)
23	Land Of Hope And Dreams (44)	Born To Run (66)
24	We Are Alive (54)	Ramrod (5)
25	Thunder Road (39)	Bobby Jean (14)
26	Born To Run (65)	Dancing In The Dark (66)
27	Rosalita (14)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (65)
28	Dancing In The Dark (65)	American Land (12)
29	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (64)
30	Twist And Shout (25)
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East Rutherford 19th September 2012 - show 65

So here we are - the first of three shows at The Met Life Stadium.  There had been discussions in our house about whether to go or not.  In the end we decided not !

There was a time when going to see Bruce in New Jersey was one of my top ambitions. After this year's European tour, and the rave reviews about the crowds as well as the set lists, I wonder whether it is better to spend our hard earned cash on extra shows in Europe.

Speaking of the overseas shows I'm not sure where this reviewer got his information about the Europeans:-

This was also Springsteen’s first Jersey show since his three-month semester abroad, and naturally some of us were anxious. Would The Boss play the guitar with his pinky out? Would he be wearing a beret?

Anyway back to tonight. There are no shortage of reviews for tonight's show.  Of course Bruce's first show at The Met Life Stadium was always going to be a big event. 

There are the reviews we have come to expect this tour like the one from examiner.com :-

Bruce, now age 62 played for nearly 4 impossibly romantic and superhuman hours. Bruce's energy, crowd surfing and performance was so powerful it can only be described as religious...
...Once you've seen Bruce live, you will have no doubt how he earned his notorious nickname, The Boss.

But from Tris McCall on NJ.com a slightly different take:-

It might have been the approach of autumn that was getting to him, or the prospect of facing a new Meadowlands stadium, for the first time, without Clarence Clemons by his side. Maybe he was thinking about his 63rd birthday, which arrives, like one of those freight trains he’s always singing about, on Sunday. 

Even the charismatic street preacher persona he has cultivated on recent tours is fading away, replaced by something quieter, more reverential and, occasionally, even wordless. During “My City of Ruins,” a nightly dedication to the two late members of the E Street Band, he nearly stopped the song cold to hover for a silent minute at Clarence Clemons’ former station. The natural entertainer disappeared, replaced by a man momentarily oblivious to the world around him. So much of this tour has been dedicated to exhibitions of Springsteen’s superhuman virility. Here, he did not look young — and didn’t try to.  

And this review is written in the same vein:-

I've seen Bruce on stage many time, but this was the oddest concert of them all. Try as he could, he couldn't shake the ghosts that haunted the Stadium, chilling on the chilly night. And the result was a concert that didn't deliver Bruce's magic, his ability to rise us up. We couldn't quite get there. he was too down. It was a downer. It was like hanging with a friend who is always kidding around (somebody like me, to be honest) when they are feeling sad. They try and shake it off but it lingers.


So to the set list.

About three hours before the show Bruce appeared on stage to do a couple of songs acoustically - Growin’ Up and For You.

The set is a 'Patti list' if you see what I mean - Human Touch, Mansion On The Hill and Easy Money all feature her vocals.

I think I'm at odds with most people in saying I like the Bruce and Patti version of Mansion On The Hill.  I would've been happy to see this live so no apologies for the You Tube clip below which also takes in the ice cream story Stan Goldstein mentions in this review.

	Washington DC 14/09/12 Time 8.24 to 11.54	East Rutherford 19/09/12 Time 8.30 to 12.24
1	Prove It All Night (23)	Shackled And Drawn (49)
2	My Love Will Not Let You Down (8)	Prove It All Night (24)
3	The Ties That Bind (14)	The Ties That Bind (15)
4	Hungry Heart (24)	Hungry Heart (25)
5	We Take Care Of Our Own (64)	We Take Care Of Our Own (65)
6	Wrecking Ball (64)	Wrecking Ball (65)
7	Death To My Hometown (64)	Death To My Hometown (65)
8	My City Of Ruins (64)	My City Of Ruins (65)
9	Spirit In The Night (36)	Spirit In The Night (37)
10	Blinded By The Light (1)	E Street Shuffle (17)
11	Jack Of All Trades (54)	Jack Of All Trades (55)
12	Jackson Cage (4)	Human Touch (3)
13	She’s The One (21)	Johnny 99 (20)
14	Johnny 99 (19)	Darlington County (20)
15	Darlington County (19)	Working On A Highway (32)
16	Shackled And Drawn (48)	Easy Money (18)
17	Waitin’ on a Sunny Day (64)	The Promised Land (37)
18	The Promised Land (36)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (65)
19	Racing In The Street (9)	Mansion On The Hill (1)
20	The Rising (56)	Racing In The Street (10)
21	Badlands (57)	The Rising (57)
22	Land Of Hope And Dreams (43)	Badlands (58)
23	We Are Alive (53)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (44)
24	Thunder Road (38)	We Are Alive (54)
25	Born To Run (64)	Thunder Road (39)
26	Detroit Medley (3)	Born To Run (65)
27	Dancing In The Dark (64)	Rosalita (14)
28	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (63)	Dancing In The Dark (65)
29	American Land (11)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (64)
30	Twist And Shout (24)	Twist And Shout (25)
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