Anaheim 4th December 2012

Anaheim's name means:  'Home by the river,' from 'ana,' referring to the nearby Santa Ana River, and 'heim,' German for 'home.'

From LA Weekly

The Los Angeles Magazine starts it's review in typical fashion:-

Don’t tell Tony Danza but there’s only one Boss, and last night he brought Anaheim’s Honda Center to its knees. Actually, Bruce Springsteen’s knees are the ones we should be talking about. Despite his 63 years — or maybe because of them — the man delivered an absurdly dynamic live show that gave the crowd precisely what it craved. He crowd-surfed. He played fan-requested B-sides. He danced with a woman who was celebrating her birthday. He told stories about being kicked out of Disneyland in 1985. He picked up a little girl from the audience and carried her around stage on his shoulders. Nobody cherishes their fans more than Bruce Springsteen, and they cherish him.

I've stumbled upon a great blog post here. I mentioned in my last post that I enjoy the personal touch that a blog brings and this writer who was at Anaheim tells us how Bruce has infiltrated her life since she saw him in Los Angeles:-

I saw Bruce in April, in Los Angeles... with some of my dearest friends, and it was a kind of revelation. Some kind of magic happened in the Sports Arena, in that school gym writ large and transformed by one of the few bands that still believe in it.

“Wow. He’s pretty good,” I found myself thinking, all understatement and wonder. The truth was that was the only observation for which my head had room, filled up as it was with words and melody and the Mighty E-Street Band.

It's worth a read if you have a couple of minutes. You'll nod your head in complete understanding at some of the things she says:-

“Born to Run” made its way on to my running playlist- first as a joke, but then so I could scare the neighbors while pelting down the hills behind my house belting, “I want to know if love is wild, babe, I want to know if love is real!” I cradled Nebraska close to my chest as I curled on a ledge overlooking the Grand Canyon and wondered how thin the line was between falling and flying.  

everything dies, baby, that’s a fact/ maybe everything that dies, someday comes back

LA Weekly has a few Bruce related pieces. I mention it here only because I like:-

...I resolved to see him this time around, Orange County traffic be damned.

Because the Greatest Rock and Roll Show One Will Ever Experience is worth a little effort, dammit.

And on to the set list. Dare I say it ... yes! - Tom Morello may well be a great guitarist but the solos go on far too long for me.

	Oakland  30/11/12 Time 8.22 to 11.29	Anaheim 4/12/12 Time 8.23 to 11.47
1	Land Of Hope And Dreams (58)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (59)
2	Cover Me (8)	Adam Raised A Cain (7)
3	Adam Raised A Cain (6)	Streets Of Fire (5)
4	Something In The Night (8)	Hungry Heart (41)
5	Hungry Heart (40)	We Take Care Of Our Own (84)
6	We Take Care Of Our Own (83)	Wrecking Ball (84)
7	Wrecking Ball (83)	Death To My Hometown (84)
8	Death To My Hometown (83)	My City Of Ruins (84)
9	My City Of Ruins (83)	Spirit In The Night (50)
10	The E Street Shuffle (23)	The E Street Shuffle (24)
11	Pay Me My Money Down (6)	Long Time Coming (1)
12	The Ties That Bind (19)	Reason To Believe (2)
13	I’m Goin’ Down (6)	This Depression (6)
14	Devils And Dust (2)	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (11)
15	Because The Night (35)	Bad Luck (1)
16	She’s The One (30)	Because The Night (36)
17	Shackled And Drawn (67)	Darlington County (28)
18	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (83)	Shackled And Drawn (68)
19	Raise Your Hand (12)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (84)
20	The Rising (67)	Raise Your Hands (13)
21	Badlands (75)	Ghost Of Tom Joad (7)
22	Thunder Road (46)	Badlands (76)
23	Kitty’s Back (4)	Thunder Road (47)
24	Born To Run (83)	Jungleland (8)
25	Dancing In The Dark (83)	Born To Run (84)
26	Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (6)	Dancing In The Dark (84)
27	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (82)	Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (7)
28		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (83)
29
30
31
32
33

Prague 11th July 2012 - show 43

Prague’s famous castle is the largest castle area in the world. It’s a whopping 18 acres in total with numerous courtyards and subsidiary buildings in its grounds.

There's a review on Backstreets about the Prague show.  Here are a few snippets :-

The show had a distinctly international flavor, with not only fans traveling from traditional Springsteen strongholds (Spain, Germany, the United States) but also with many fans from other European countries (Greece, Poland, Romania) for whom this show represented the closest Springsteen tour stop to their hometown. The die-hards down front brought much energy to the vicinity of the stage, but the rest of the house was a different situation: people applauded, and clapped along at times, but remained seated.

...Bruce working extremely hard, showing off the different pieces of what a Springsteen show encompasses. There was his fierce guitar solo during "Prove It All Night," and Bruce displayed his harmonica and falsetto skills on a particularly strong version of "The River." He tried goofy dancing during "Working on the Highway" and the party-trick singalong that is "Waitin' on a Sunny Day." 

Finally, by the encore, Bruce succeeded — most notably with the power of "Born in the U.S.A." to get the Czech audience up and out of their seats. Encore songs such as "Bobby Jean" and "Dancing in the Dark" may be rote elsewhere, but they fit the mood perfectly in Prague, helping keep energy high and bodies dancing until the end of the show. A reported 10:00pm curfew was ignored as Bruce exclaimed, "It’s too early to go home!" before bringing the show to a close with "Twist and Shout."

A couple of good ones in the set list that haven't appeared so often this tour - Prove It All Night and My Love Will Not Let You Down. The Ghost of Tom Joad would have been a surprise.  I see from the Backstreets article that the last time he played Prague was on the 'Tom Joad' tour.

Here's the set list

	Zurich  09/07/12 Time 7.22 to 10.45	Prague 11/07/12 Time 7.27 to 10.42
1	Don’t look Back (1)	The Ghost Of Tom Joad (3)
2	Badlands (35)	Badlands (36)
3	Ties That Bind (10)	Prove It All Night (13)
4	We Take Care Of Our Own (42)	We Take Care Of Our Own (43)
5	Wrecking Ball (42)	Wrecking Ball (43)
6	Death To My Hometown (42)	Death To My Hometown (43)
7	My City Of Ruins (42)	My City Of Ruins (43)
8	Spirit In The Night (20)	Spirit In The Night (21)
9	Working On A Dream (1)	Candy’s Room (9)
10	Growing Up (2)	She’s The One (16)
11	Save My Love (4)	This Hard Land (1)
12	Jack Of All Trades (39)	Jack Of All Trades (40)
13	Youngstown (10)	Atlantic City (6)
14	Johnny 99 (12)	Because The Night (17)
15	Working On The Highway (16)	My Love Will Not Let You Down (4)
16	Shackled And Drawn (28)	Working On The Highway (17)
17	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (42)	Shackled And Drawn (29)
18	Promised Land (28)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (43)
19	If I Should Fall Behind (1)	The River (20)
20	The River (19)	The Rising (42)
21	The Rising (41)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (30)
22	Out In The Street (22)	Thunder Road (25)
23	Land Of Hope And Dreams (29)	Born In The USA (19)
24	We Are Alive (39)	Born To Run (43)
25	Born In The USA (18)	Bobby Jean (11)
26	Born To Run (42)	Seven Nights To Rock (11)
27	Hungry Heart (12)	Dancing In The Dark (43)
28	Seven Nights To Rock (10)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (43)
29	Dancing In The Dark (42)	Twist And Shout (7)
30	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (42)
31	Twist And Shout (6)
32
33

Here's This Hard Land which , according to the Backstreets article, was played in lieu of a sign request for Blowin' In The Wind