St Paul 12th November 2012 - show 77

St Paul is the capitol of Minnesota although Minneapolis is the State's largest city.

Most Bruce Springsteen shows are great. Some are a little more special than others. Monday night in St. Paul, Minn., from accounts I've gotten from friends who were there, was one of those special nights.  So says Stan Goldstein in his review. 

The 'second night' rule is certainly evident again here.  Seven songs in before we get to We Take Care Of Our Own !

There are over 4900 reviews of Wrecking Ball Tour shows on Ticketmaster. Obviously the opinions are hardly unbiased, as most people who go to the shows are already fans. They make great reading anyway and somehow it's very satisfying to have someone else affirm your own feelings.

Anyway a review of today's show goes like this:-

For the second night of St. Paul/Mpls. concert stop Bruce turned it up a notch! The tone for this concert was so different from the Sun show. From Jungle Land, E-street shuffle, downing a beer, Wrecking ball, to the Rising, what a show. He was smiling and running around the stage area like a man half his age. The new horn section was AWESOME. The sax solos did not miss a beat. I have been to 15 Bruce concerts and again I found something new to talk about. He is the ultimate live performer. Thanks for the new memories Bruce and I hope there will be many more to follow. I was spent at the end of the 3 hour show. I can hardly wait for him to return. You bet I will attend as many shows as he is willing to put on.
Favorite moment: Jungle land and Bruce enjoying a cold one
Setlist: Ramrod, Hungry Heart, No Surrender, ??, Night, Something in the NIght, Stolen car, We take Care of our own, Wrecking Ball, Death to my Hometown,Rise -up, E-street Shuffle, Bury my money Down, Devils and Dust, Youngstown, Murder Inc., Candies Room, Shackel and drawn, Waiting on a sunny day, Rising, Badlands, Land of Hope and Dreams, Jungleland, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, 10 th Ave freeze out, American land

Here's the set list which you may notice has one or two difference from the one above.

	St Paul 11/11/12 Time 8.16 to 11.18	St Paul 12/11/12 Time 8.22 to 11.25
1	We Take Care Of Our Own (76)	I’m A Rocker (4)
2	Wrecking Ball (76)	Hungry Heart (34)
3	Out In The Street (39)	No Surrender (21)
4	Death To My Hometown (76)	Night (9)
5	My City Of Ruins (76)	Loose Ends (3)
6	Spirit In The Night (46)	Something In The Night (7)
7	It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City (7)	Stolen Car (1)
8	Hungry Heart (33)	We Take Care Of Our Own (77)
9	Jack Of All Trades (58)	Wrecking Ball (77)
10	Atlantic City (14)	Death To My Hometown (77)
11	Savin’ Up (1)	My City Of Ruins (77)
12	Open All Night (4)	E Street Shuffle (20)
13	Darlington County (25)	Pay Me My Money Down (5)
14	Two Hearts (10)	Devils And Dust (1)
15	Shackled And Drawn (60)	Youngstown (13)
16	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (76)	Murder Inc (22)
17	Long Walk Home (2)	She’s The One (27)
18	Badlands (68)	Shackled And Drawn (61)
19	Thunder Road (43)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (77)
20	If I Should Fall Behind (3)	The Rising (63)
21	Rocky Ground (37)	Badlands (69)
22	Born To Run (76)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (52)
23	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (19)	Jungleland (7)
24	Dancing In The Dark (76)	Born To Run (77)
25	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (75)	Dancing In The Dark (77)
26		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (76)
27		American Land (13)
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31
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33

 and ... as Stan Goldstein says  Take a watch of "Devils & Dust" it's just chilling. Wow!

Penn State 1st November 2012 - show 74

The 16,000 seat Jordan Center hosts circuses, sports exhibitions, family shows, commencements, lectures, and Big Ten Basketball, as well as some of the top-name performers in the music entertainment industry

All the reviews of tonight's show emphasise Bruce's references to hurricane Sandy Rolling Stone
says :-


Bruce Springsteen dedicated a wrenching version of "My City of Ruins" to Asbury Park, New Jersey, during a performance last night in Pennsylvania... 

I particularly like this mention from the same article:-
  

..holding up a sign handed to him by someone in the crowd that read, "Never forget, 4th of July, Asbury Park."

"There you go," Springsteen said. "We can't let a hurricane get rid of that one."

There are a couple of references in the Backstreets review worth a mention.

The first has cropped up before but I still makes me laugh:-

Bruce made his traditional acknowledgement of seeing old faces and new faces in the crowd, and took it a step further by asking how many people in the crowd had never seen the E Street Band before. After the loud cheer in response, Bruce said, "We're gonna fuck you up! That makes me happy." 

The second is something I don't remember from any other review:-

Security had confiscated most signs from the GA crowd... obviously the 'Sandy' sign mentioned earlier got through.

There are some people who might think that is no bad thing especially if they have had the experience of standing behind someone blocking their view with a sign... and we all know that the songs picked out aren't really random.

Anyway here's the full set list.

	Rochester  31/10/12 Time 8.15 to 11.15	Penn State 1/11/12 Time 8.23 to 11.39
1	A Night With The Jersey Devil (1)	Lion’s Den (2)
2	We Take Care Of Our Own (73)	We Take Care Of Our Own (74)
3	Wrecking Ball (73)	Wrecking Ball (74)
4	Out In The Street (37)	Out In The Street (38)
5	Death To My Hometown (73)	Death To My Hometown (74)
6	My City Of Ruins (73)	My City Of Ruins (74)
7	Spirit In The Night (43)	Spirit In The Night (44)
8	Monster Mash (1)	Seaside Bar Song (5)
9	Something In The Night (6)	It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City (6)
10	Atlantic City (12)	4th July Asbury Park (Sandy) (2)
11	Jackson Cage (6)	Darlington County (23)
12	She’s The One (25)	Working On The Highway (37)
13	Cover Me (4)	Cover Me (5)
14	Downbound Train (9)	Because The Night (31)
15	Shackled And Drawn (57)	Shackled And Drawn (58)
16	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (73)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (74)
17	Drive All Night (4)	Raise Your Hand (7)
18	Radio Nowhere (10)	Backstreets (11)
19	Badlands (65)	Badlands (66)
20	Land Of Hope And Dreams (49)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (50)
21	Jersey Girl (2)	Jersey Girl (3)
22	Thunder Road (42)	Born To Run (74)
23	Born To Run (73)	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (17)
24	Detroit Medley (4)	Dancing In The Dark (74)
25	Dancing In The Dark (73)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (73)
26	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (72)	Shout (1)
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31
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33

Pittsburgh 29th October 2012 - show 72

The designer of the Ferris Wheel - Mr George Ferris - was from Pittsburgh

So where would you love to go to see Bruce? New Jersey? New York? Scandinavia?  Well, as a Joe Grushecky fan, high up on Mike's wish list must be Pittsburg.  The review from Timesonline.com tells us

 ... As always in Pittsburgh, Springsteen called onto the stage his pal, local rocker Joe Grushecky, who along with guitar-slinging son Johnny Grushecky, pitched in on a couple of encore tunes, including “Glory Days.” 

Apparently Garry had his moment during Glory Days. He ... danced with a female fan who had been holding a sign in his honor.  It was his birthday after all.

“This is very unusual,” Springsteen said, quipping, “I’ve never actually seen Garry move.”

Backstreets review remarks that the night was heavy on the Darkness songs - no bad thing of course but in complete contrast to Hartford which featured a lot of River era songs.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette seemed suitably impressed with the show.  Early on it's article says:-

he ... raised the roof at Consol in what may have been the most joyful and rousing show of the many he's done here.
Springsteen, at 63, is going through some sort of superhuman phase of his career, where he's taken what was already the Greatest Show on Earth (sorry Ringling) and ratcheted it up several notches. (That wasn't gushing now, was it?)

and the final paragraph:-

If you didn't know any better, you'd think Bruce was running for president. Good thing he's not because he's a lot more valuable moving people on a much deeper level. Let's hope he keeps rolling for a long time to come.

So to the full set list

	Hartford 25/10/12 Time 8.08 to 11.21	Pittsburgh 27/10/12 Time 8.18 to 11.28
1	Held Up Without A Gun (1)	Don’t Look Back (2)
2	Radio Nowhere (9)	Candy’s Room (12)
3	Jackson Cage (5)	The Ties That Bind (18)
4	Hungry Heart (30)	Streets Of Fire (3)
5	We Take Care Of Our Own (71)	Hungry Heart (31)
6	Wrecking Ball (71)	We Take Care Of Our Own (72)
7	Death To My Hometown (71)	Wrecking Ball (72)
8	My City Of Ruins (71)	Death To My Hometown (72)
9	Spirit In The Night (41)	My City Of Ruins (72)
10	Pink Cadillac (1)	Spirit In The Night (42)
11	Incident On 57th Street (5)	Pretty Flamingo (1)
12	Point Blank (4)	Talk To Me (6)
13	Because The Night (29)	Adam Raised A Cain (5)
14	You Can Look ( But You Better Not Touch) (2)	Because The Night (30)
15	Out In The Street (35)	She’s The One (24)
16	Shackled And Drawn (55)	Working On The Highway (36)
17	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (71)	Shackled And Drawn (56)
18	For You (3)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (72)
19	The Rising (60)	The Rising (61)
20	Badlands (63)	Badlands (64)
21	Land Of Hope And Dreams (47)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (48)
22	Kitty’s Back (3)	Racing In The Street (36)
23	Born To Run (71)	Born To Run (72)
24	Bobby Jean (15)	Glory Days (20)
25	Dancing In The Dark (71)	Light Of Day (3)
26	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (70)	Dancing In The Dark (72)
27		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (71)
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