Rochester 31st October 2012 - show 73

Ontario Beach Park in Rochester is home to the only antique carousel in the country never to have been moved from its original location.

Tonight's concert was postponed from last night making this Bruce's first Halloween concert for 20 years.

Backstreets  tells us:-

The rescheduled show on Halloween night in Rochester absolutely captured the spirit of the holiday, as the E Street Band walked onstage to spooky noises being played on the PA, the stage lit in blue, and thudded solidly into the live premiere of "A Night With the Jersey Devil."

I loved Monster Mash when I was a kid. I don't think I'm quite old enough to remember the original release in 1962 but my brother certainly owned a copy of the single.  The rendition tonight was played as a sign request but it seems Bruce had an inkling. 

He remarked that coming up to the show, he was thinking about what might be the greatest Halloween song of all time. "This probably isn’t it!" As the band readied themselves, Bruce joked that "we, cleverly, may have rehearsed it this afternoon at soundcheck! How did we know somebody would have this sign?" Set to a reggae/ska beat with a lively horn riff, this version of the Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers classic was also particularly notable for Bruce's adoption of the mock Transylvanian accent for the line "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?" and the priceless lyric change: “when you get to my door / tell them the boss man sent you.”

Just in case someone reads this in many years time I had better explain that the postponement came about because of travel problems in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. She hit land in New Jersey on the evening of 29th October and caused tremendous damage along the Jersey Shore and into New York City.  From the stage before My City Of Ruins Bruce said:-


"We wish you a happy Halloween, but we are a rock 'n' roll band form the Jersey Shore, and tonight we carry a lot of sadness in our hearts. This was originally a song about my adopted hometown struggling to get on its feet — it struggled for 25 years, a quarter century, while we watched for Asbury to come back. And we are very proud to say over the past decade, it has risen up and flourished in a way I wasn’t ever sure I'd see in my lifetime. And it will do so again!"

"We're a band that you can't separate from the Jersey shore — still basically a glorified bar band... at your service! So we're gonna do this tonight from our hometown to your hometown. We'll send this out to all the people working down there: the police officers, the firemen, and also to the Governor, who has done such a hard job this past week."

The full set list is here. A few of my favourites in there.  

	Pittsburgh 27/10/12 Time 8.18 to 11.28	Rochester  31/10/12 Time 8.15 to 11.15
1	Don’t Look Back (2)	A Night With The Jersey Devil (1)
2	Candy’s Room (12)	We Take Care Of Our Own (73)
3	The Ties That Bind (18)	Wrecking Ball (73)
4	Streets Of Fire (3)	Out In The Street (37)
5	Hungry Heart (31)	Death To My Hometown (73)
6	We Take Care Of Our Own (72)	My City Of Ruins (73)
7	Wrecking Ball (72)	Spirit In The Night (43)
8	Death To My Hometown (72)	Monster Mash (1)
9	My City Of Ruins (72)	Something In The Night (6)
10	Spirit In The Night (42)	Atlantic City (12)
11	Pretty Flamingo (1)	Jackson Cage (6)
12	Talk To Me (6)	She’s The One (25)
13	Adam Raised A Cain (5)	Cover Me (4)
14	Because The Night (30)	Downbound Train (9)
15	She’s The One (24)	Shackled And Drawn (57)
16	Working On The Highway (36)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (73)
17	Shackled And Drawn (56)	Drive All Night (4)
18	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (72)	Radio Nowhere (10)
19	The Rising (61)	Badlands (65)
20	Badlands (64)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (49)
21	Land Of Hope And Dreams (48)	Jersey Girl (2)
22	Racing In The Street (36)	Thunder Road (42)
23	Born To Run (72)	Born To Run (73)
24	Glory Days (20)	Detroit Medley (4)
25	Light Of Day (3)	Dancing In The Dark (73)
26	Dancing In The Dark (72)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (72)
27	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (71)
28
29
30
31
32
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)
28
29
30
31
32
33

Hartford 25th October 2012 - show 71

In Hartford, you may not, under any circumstances, cross the street walking on your hands!

Stan Goldstein has this to say:- 

Thursday night, at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., was one of those magical Springsteen shows where I felt as though it was 1980 again and I was listening to "The River" for the first time...

It's nights like this when Bruce Springsteen makes you feel you're 21 again.

His  full review is a good read.  

The Sunny Day incident must have been a great moment, although I'm not sure whether Bruce enjoyed it too much.

Bruce saw a sign ("Can We Sing with You") off to the side of the stage in the seating area and told them he was going to come up over to them. He tried to climb up into the stands, it was a good way up, but some other rambunctious fans who were trying to get pictures were blocking his way despite his best efforts and efforts of his security team. He then gave up. "Sex crazed old ladies" he yelled out. He then find a child to sing along with him

When he got back to the center stage he said "I had a Tom Jones' moment there!"

Obviously the 'old ladies' didn't take any notice when Bruce warned You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) a little earlier in the set list!!

This review ends on a high note:- 

While so much more could be said about this performance, even a stenographic record of each moment could not adequately capture the sheer energy and power that blew into the XL Center during this latest, and hopefully far from last, appearance by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band.

Here's the set list.

	Charlottesville 23/10/12 Time 8.17 to 11.19	Hartford 25/10/12 Time 8.08 to 11.21
1	Shackled And Drawn (54)	Held Up Without A Gun (1)
2	Lonesome Day (23)	Radio Nowhere (9)
3	We Take Care Of Our Own (70)	Jackson Cage (5)
4	Hungry Heart (29)	Hungry Heart (30)
5	Wrecking Ball (70)	We Take Care Of Our Own (71)
6	Death To My Hometown (70)	Wrecking Ball (71)
7	My City Of Ruins (70)	Death To My Hometown (71)
8	Spirit In The Night (40)	My City Of Ruins (71)
9	Seaside Bar Song (4)	Spirit In The Night (41)
10	Give The Girl A Kiss (1)	Pink Cadillac (1)
11	Lost In The Flood (5)	Incident On 57th Street (5)
12	This Depression (5)	Point Blank (4)
13	Murder Inc (12)	Because The Night (29)
14	Johnny 99 (21)	You Can Look ( But You Better Not Touch) (2)
15	Working On The Highway (35)	Out In The Street (35)
16	Darlington County (22)	Shackled And Drawn (55)
17	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (70)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (71)
18	Backstreets (10)	For You (3)
19	Badlands (62)	The Rising (60)
20	Land Of Hope And Dreams (46)	Badlands (63)
21	Jungleland (6)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (47)
22	Born To Run (70)	Kitty’s Back (3)
23	Seven Nights To Rock (18)	Born To Run (71)
24	Dancing In The Dark (70)	Bobby Jean (15)
25	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (69)	Dancing In The Dark (71)
26		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (70)
27
28
29
30
31
32
33