Reborn in the U.S.A.
Maybe they ain't that young anymore, but for Bruce Springsteen and the faithful, there's magic in the night again
By DAVE SCHEIBER
Jul. 25, 1999
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – There is an especially feverish moment here at the hottest concert tour of the year. It happens when Bruce Springsteen, reunited with his E Street Band for their first tour in 11 years, calls out like a holy rock 'n' roller to the delirious sellout crowd of 20,000 during his scorching, set-ending tune Light of Day.
"If your soul has bad credit, it's good here tonight!" he shouts, as the E Streeters punctuate the phrase with a staccato thump, and fans respond with chants of "Bruuuuuce."
"I'm telling you, I'm gonna set you free!" Thump. Springsteen's sermon is now in full swing: "I'm talking about the power and the promise.' Thump. ". . . the majesty, mystery and ministry of rock 'n' roll!"
Thunderous cheers fill the Continental Airlines Arena, transformed for the moment into a gigantic revival tent, as the good reverend Springsteen presents his essential revelation. "I cannot promise you life everlasting," he proclaims, pausing for effect, "but I can promise you – life right now!!”
With that, the decibel level rivals the jet engines at nearby Newark International. Every spectator in sight – most in their 30s and 40s – is pumping hands skyward and trading raucous, call-and-response yells of "Ahhh!!!" with the Boss.
The house lights flash on. The band kicks in. And there is no doubt. Bruce Springsteen – who lit up the rock scene with depth and drama in the '70s, and owned it through much of the '80s – is back.
Back on stage in his native New Jersey. Back with the band and the fans he loves. And at nearly 50, with hair graying at the sides, back from a decade-long artistic journey bearing the same message from his old full-throttle shows:
"It's like he's saying, even if you have all the problems in the world, he can promise you life on one night and help make things better, at least for a few hours," said Joseph Kubon, 28, a consultant for a San Antonio, Texas, CPA firm, after the first show of the U.S. tour July 15.
Linda Cohen, a 49-year-old program analyst from Columbus, Ohio, discovered something else, watching an older Springsteen rock and romp through the three-hour opening concert that featured two encores filled with eight songs. "In a way, I feel like we're growing older together," she said. "I've been feeling not so great about my age, but seeing how good he looks and all that energy he has makes you feel better about yourself."
For New Jersey fans, the tour is renewing old ties with a favorite son. The proof is in the numbers. When tickets went on sale in May, it took only 13 hours for fans to purchase 308,000 tickets to 15 shows at the Continental Airlines Arena (part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex). It is here, again, that Springsteen set the record for most consecutive shows by an artist at one venue, breaking his own mark of 11 straight shows here in 1992.
Tickets are priced between $37.50 and $67.50, though some have fetched more than $1,000 on the Internet. Meanwhile, signs of the lovefest have been everywhere: from the "Bruce Is Back" banner in a restaurant near his old house in Freehold, N.J., to the full-page advertisement in the Newark Star-Ledger from New Jersey Online that read: "We partied to you. We danced in the dark to you. We hit the parkway to you . . . We have a local hero thanks to you. Welcome home."
Spirit in the night, and the music
New Jersey is not alone. Similar fervor has spread to other cities preparing for the Springsteen/E Street Band tour, which currently has no concert dates set in the South, though there is talk of shows in Florida and Georgia in the new year.
In Chicago, 60,000 tickets were scooped up by fans in 50 minutes, and sellouts are fully expected in the other cities on the tour: Detroit, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. There are rumors of a return to the Meadowlands for a New Year's Eve show.
The tour undoubtedly is fueled in part by nostalgia, and the desire to see Bruce and the band rekindle their powerful musical flame. Springsteen's last tour concert with the E Street band took place in 1988 in Argentina. After that, he parted amicably with his longtime mates to pursue other artistic paths – including his Human Touch and Lucky Town albums and a new touring band in 1989, The Ghost of Tom Joad release in 1995 and a solo acoustic tour.
But factors beyond nostalgia have turned the new Springsteen/E Street tour into a juggernaut, and separate it from the many other re-formed rock acts making the rounds these days.
Springsteen's energy is amazing as ever – at the three-month warmup tour in Europe and in New Jersey, his shows have averaged three hours in length, with as many as 27 songs. More important, the tour is less of a reunion than it is, in Springsteen's own words at the show, a "rededication" and "rebirth" of the band.
The concerts certainly offer the classic hits that fans expect – Born To Run, Badlands, Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freezeout and many more. But there are new twists on old tunes – a soulful arrangement of The River with Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons on sax, and a country-tinged take of Factory with Nils Lofgren on pedal steel guitar. There are also riveting performances of little-known songs, like the first-night opener, My Love Will Not Let You Down from 1998's Tracks, and the unrecorded gospel-tinged show-closer Land of Hope and Dreams. (Introducing the latter song at the July 18th show, Springsteen sent the band's "sympathy and prayers to the Kennedy family.")
One hands-down highlight is In Freehold, performed in public only once before the tour, at a 1996 benefit for Springsteen's Catholic grammar school. He paints an engaging, slightly off-color, unabashedly honest portrait of growing up in his hometown. "It's kind of Whitmanesque I guess – Slim Whitman," he jokes, then asks the crowd for quiet while he performs solo on an acoustic guitar.
He sings: "Well I got out really hard and fast in Freehold/Everyone wanted to kick my a– back in Freehold/Well if you were different, black or brown, it was a kind of a redneck town/Back in Freehold." He describes how the City Council recently wanted to build a statue in his honor, but decided it was too costly. "I would like to thank them for saving me from the humiliation and displaying good common sense/Back in Freehold." The audience erupts with laughter and applause.
That warm, personal relationship with the crowd defines Springsteen's underlying appeal. It is a special bond he has forged over the years with his fans, cemented further by the unique chemistry he enjoys with the talented eight-piece E Street Band (Clemons on sax and tambourine, Roy Bittan on piano, Max Weinberg on drums, Danny Federici on organ and accordion, Miami Steve Van Zandt on guitar and harmony, Lofgren on guitar and pedal steel, Garry Tallent on bass, and Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa, on acoustic guitar and harmony).
There is an accessible, down-to-earth quality to Springsteen, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. His lyrics reach deep, often focusing on themes of pain, loss and redemption. In concert, he brings everything vividly to life with passion, dynamics and theatrics.
"There is no one reason that people come from everywhere to see one of his shows, other than Springsteen arguably is the greatest performer in the history of rock 'n' roll," said Robert Santelli, education director at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and editor of Springsteen's 1998 book, Songs.
"Rock 'n' roll, more than anything else, is a performance art. And when you are the best at presenting that art on stage, fans will come from all corners of the globe. Springsteen's music speaks directly to them, and it makes them feel good.
"He's also a great songwriter, and someone who embodies the American experience. When you listen to Springsteen, you're basically taking the pulse of America, common-man America."
In addition, as he has grown older, he has kept his music relevant, writing about couples, commitment, marriage – issues that hit home with the fans who have aged with him.
"Springsteen has matured and his music has matured with his own generation," Santelli said. "Although I think he would like to reach out to younger people, his main mission is to speak to the people who have been with him all these years. He's also saying rock 'n' roll can still matter in your life. That is so important because a 50-year-old who's balding and getting thick around the waist and realizing his youth is gone can go to a Springsteen concert and suddenly can feel very good about reclaiming a sensibility of youth.
"You walk out exhausted, but with a sense of spiritual and emotional rejuvenation."
Another key part of Springsteen's vision is connection to roots.
"Springsteen has always been very concerned with a sense of place," Santelli said. "You may not be from Jersey, but you go to his show, and you feel like you're an honorary citizen. You may not even be from America, but he can still make you feel good about wherever you're from."
Growing up
Just off the main drag in Freehold, an old two-story house towers above South Street. This is where a skinny young teen got his guitar and learned how to make it talk, practicing non-stop in his upstairs bedroom. Where his father, who ran the gas station next door, would bang on the pipes in the kitchen to make the boy turn it down.
Today, a working-class family lives in the large wood-frame home with the inviting front porch. But the spirit of Springsteen lives on.
"People are always stopping by here to look, they come from everywhere because they want to see where Bruce Springsteen grew up," said Ana Rivera, 28, on the porch with her fiance, Feliciano Colon, 25, and her two young daughters. "We don't know him, but we love his music and we love him, too."
One block away, Main Street is filled with quaint brick shops and pleasant sidewalk cafes. Inside one of them, the Cornerstone Caffe, four framed Springsteen tour posters hang on a wall, and conversations often turn to the Boss.
"I felt like after all of those years gone, the show was going to be a lot more low-key and more acoustic," said Joe Mosco, 32, a partner in another cafe in town who attended opening night. "But this was a resurgence of rock 'n' roll. I was blown away."
Springsteen no longer lives in Freehold. He and Scialfa and their three young children have a home nearby in upscale Rumson. Still, he is a frequent visitor on his motorcycle, often stopping to have an omelet next door at Sweet Lew's, which displays a "Congratulations to Bruce!" sign in the window.
Several blocks away stands the old church and school of Springsteen's childhood, St. Rose of Lima. His benefit show there three years ago raised enough money to help convert the nearby YMCA into a parish hall for the town's Hispanic community.
Freehold bears no visible resemblance to the "town full of losers" he sang about in Thunder Road or the place of his youth from his recent ballad. It appears to have come of age, just like the artist.
The same cannot be said of the place Springsteen helped make famous in the early '70s, Asbury Park. A 30-minute drive east of Freehold, the once-thriving Jersey shore town is where Springsteen emerged as a formidable beach-bar rocker and met the musicians who would become the E Street Band.
Today, the town's fabled beachfront – immortalized in Springsteen's 1972 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park – is falling apart. The music scene has all but faded away with the closing last year of the Stone Pony, where Springsteen and others jammed. Beside the boarded-up stage door, there is a graffiti image of a tombstone and musical note and a stark message: "R.I.P., 1974-1998."
Business in the Stone Pony and other clubs began to dwindle in the early '80s when the drinking age was raised to 21. A stalled redevelopment plan further hindered the beachfront's appeal.
The boardwalk Springsteen sang of in Sandy (from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle) is usually empty. Many hotels are shells. Minigolf courses are grown over with weeds. What's left of the old Tunnel of Love in the ghostlike Palace amusement park building is covered with cobwebs. Empty, battered buildings dot the beach landscape. "It looks like Beirut, Lebanon," says Al Aek of Staten Island.
Springsteen has tried to help. The band rehearsed for its tour in March, then staged two concerts at the convention center, with $100,000 going to local charities.
The only place attracting regular business along Ocean Avenue is the old carousel building. But it is no longer a symbol of Springsteen's fabled past. The structure now houses an indoor skateboard park.
"Look out Ricky Martin'
In contrast to the desolation of Asbury Park are the jam-packed parking lots at the Meadowlands.
The opening-night party started out in the lots, with tailgating to rival the Super Bowl. Springsteen added to the festive atmosphere early in the show, shouting, "Look out Ricky Martin . . . I'm filled with the spirit, baby . . . the ghost of Tom Jones."
His whimsical play on Tom Joad was just one of many memorable scenes. He raced around the stage, led enthusiastic sing-alongs with the crowd, jitter-bugged with Clemons, and climbed on Bittan's grand piano during the red-hot rocker Stand On It. Through he talked little between songs, his voice soared with force and emotion during them.
The E Street Band played with its usual high-octane style, raised a notch by the first tour pairing of guitar kings Van Zandt and Lofgren. The Big Man's sax breaks, especially on Born To Run and Jungleland, were immaculate. The unsung hero was Weinberg, taking time off as Conan O'Brien's bandleader. His granite beat seemed strong enough to knock his drums right through the risers.
Many songs stood out, but one seemed particularly directed at the audience. Late in the concert, Springsteen and various band members took turns at a mike, singing the verse from If I Should Fall Behind: "I'll wait for you, should I fall behind, wait for me."
It was like a gentle ode to the fans – perhaps even to themselves – for all the years they had been apart, and for whatever shared journey may lie ahead.
///
The set list
Bruce Springsteen's set list for the opening leg of his U.S. tour at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
1. My Love Will Not Let You Down
2. The Promised Land
3. Two Hearts
4. Darkness on the Edge of Town
5. Darlington County
6. Mansion on the Hill
7. The River
8. Youngstown
9. Murder Inc.
10. Badlands
11. Out in the Street
12. Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
13. Where the Bands Are
14. Working on the Highway
15. The Ghost of Tom Joad
16. Streets of Philadelphia
17. Backstreets
18. Light of Day
First Encore
19. Freehold
20. Stand on It
21. Hungry Heart
22. Born to Run
23. Bobby Jean
Second encore
24. Thunder Road
25. If I Should Fall Behind
26. Land of Hope and Dreams
Maybe they ain't that young anymore, but for Bruce Springsteen and the faithful, there's magic in the night again
By DAVE SCHEIBER
Jul. 25, 1999
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – There is an especially feverish moment here at the hottest concert tour of the year. It happens when Bruce Springsteen, reunited with his E Street Band for their first tour in 11 years, calls out like a holy rock 'n' roller to the delirious sellout crowd of 20,000 during his scorching, set-ending tune Light of Day.
"If your soul has bad credit, it's good here tonight!" he shouts, as the E Streeters punctuate the phrase with a staccato thump, and fans respond with chants of "Bruuuuuce."
"I'm telling you, I'm gonna set you free!" Thump. Springsteen's sermon is now in full swing: "I'm talking about the power and the promise.' Thump. ". . . the majesty, mystery and ministry of rock 'n' roll!"
Thunderous cheers fill the Continental Airlines Arena, transformed for the moment into a gigantic revival tent, as the good reverend Springsteen presents his essential revelation. "I cannot promise you life everlasting," he proclaims, pausing for effect, "but I can promise you – life right now!!”
With that, the decibel level rivals the jet engines at nearby Newark International. Every spectator in sight – most in their 30s and 40s – is pumping hands skyward and trading raucous, call-and-response yells of "Ahhh!!!" with the Boss.
The house lights flash on. The band kicks in. And there is no doubt. Bruce Springsteen – who lit up the rock scene with depth and drama in the '70s, and owned it through much of the '80s – is back.
Back on stage in his native New Jersey. Back with the band and the fans he loves. And at nearly 50, with hair graying at the sides, back from a decade-long artistic journey bearing the same message from his old full-throttle shows:
"It's like he's saying, even if you have all the problems in the world, he can promise you life on one night and help make things better, at least for a few hours," said Joseph Kubon, 28, a consultant for a San Antonio, Texas, CPA firm, after the first show of the U.S. tour July 15.
Linda Cohen, a 49-year-old program analyst from Columbus, Ohio, discovered something else, watching an older Springsteen rock and romp through the three-hour opening concert that featured two encores filled with eight songs. "In a way, I feel like we're growing older together," she said. "I've been feeling not so great about my age, but seeing how good he looks and all that energy he has makes you feel better about yourself."
For New Jersey fans, the tour is renewing old ties with a favorite son. The proof is in the numbers. When tickets went on sale in May, it took only 13 hours for fans to purchase 308,000 tickets to 15 shows at the Continental Airlines Arena (part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex). It is here, again, that Springsteen set the record for most consecutive shows by an artist at one venue, breaking his own mark of 11 straight shows here in 1992.
Tickets are priced between $37.50 and $67.50, though some have fetched more than $1,000 on the Internet. Meanwhile, signs of the lovefest have been everywhere: from the "Bruce Is Back" banner in a restaurant near his old house in Freehold, N.J., to the full-page advertisement in the Newark Star-Ledger from New Jersey Online that read: "We partied to you. We danced in the dark to you. We hit the parkway to you . . . We have a local hero thanks to you. Welcome home."
Spirit in the night, and the music
New Jersey is not alone. Similar fervor has spread to other cities preparing for the Springsteen/E Street Band tour, which currently has no concert dates set in the South, though there is talk of shows in Florida and Georgia in the new year.
In Chicago, 60,000 tickets were scooped up by fans in 50 minutes, and sellouts are fully expected in the other cities on the tour: Detroit, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. There are rumors of a return to the Meadowlands for a New Year's Eve show.
The tour undoubtedly is fueled in part by nostalgia, and the desire to see Bruce and the band rekindle their powerful musical flame. Springsteen's last tour concert with the E Street band took place in 1988 in Argentina. After that, he parted amicably with his longtime mates to pursue other artistic paths – including his Human Touch and Lucky Town albums and a new touring band in 1989, The Ghost of Tom Joad release in 1995 and a solo acoustic tour.
But factors beyond nostalgia have turned the new Springsteen/E Street tour into a juggernaut, and separate it from the many other re-formed rock acts making the rounds these days.
Springsteen's energy is amazing as ever – at the three-month warmup tour in Europe and in New Jersey, his shows have averaged three hours in length, with as many as 27 songs. More important, the tour is less of a reunion than it is, in Springsteen's own words at the show, a "rededication" and "rebirth" of the band.
The concerts certainly offer the classic hits that fans expect – Born To Run, Badlands, Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freezeout and many more. But there are new twists on old tunes – a soulful arrangement of The River with Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons on sax, and a country-tinged take of Factory with Nils Lofgren on pedal steel guitar. There are also riveting performances of little-known songs, like the first-night opener, My Love Will Not Let You Down from 1998's Tracks, and the unrecorded gospel-tinged show-closer Land of Hope and Dreams. (Introducing the latter song at the July 18th show, Springsteen sent the band's "sympathy and prayers to the Kennedy family.")
One hands-down highlight is In Freehold, performed in public only once before the tour, at a 1996 benefit for Springsteen's Catholic grammar school. He paints an engaging, slightly off-color, unabashedly honest portrait of growing up in his hometown. "It's kind of Whitmanesque I guess – Slim Whitman," he jokes, then asks the crowd for quiet while he performs solo on an acoustic guitar.
He sings: "Well I got out really hard and fast in Freehold/Everyone wanted to kick my a– back in Freehold/Well if you were different, black or brown, it was a kind of a redneck town/Back in Freehold." He describes how the City Council recently wanted to build a statue in his honor, but decided it was too costly. "I would like to thank them for saving me from the humiliation and displaying good common sense/Back in Freehold." The audience erupts with laughter and applause.
That warm, personal relationship with the crowd defines Springsteen's underlying appeal. It is a special bond he has forged over the years with his fans, cemented further by the unique chemistry he enjoys with the talented eight-piece E Street Band (Clemons on sax and tambourine, Roy Bittan on piano, Max Weinberg on drums, Danny Federici on organ and accordion, Miami Steve Van Zandt on guitar and harmony, Lofgren on guitar and pedal steel, Garry Tallent on bass, and Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa, on acoustic guitar and harmony).
There is an accessible, down-to-earth quality to Springsteen, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. His lyrics reach deep, often focusing on themes of pain, loss and redemption. In concert, he brings everything vividly to life with passion, dynamics and theatrics.
"There is no one reason that people come from everywhere to see one of his shows, other than Springsteen arguably is the greatest performer in the history of rock 'n' roll," said Robert Santelli, education director at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and editor of Springsteen's 1998 book, Songs.
"Rock 'n' roll, more than anything else, is a performance art. And when you are the best at presenting that art on stage, fans will come from all corners of the globe. Springsteen's music speaks directly to them, and it makes them feel good.
"He's also a great songwriter, and someone who embodies the American experience. When you listen to Springsteen, you're basically taking the pulse of America, common-man America."
In addition, as he has grown older, he has kept his music relevant, writing about couples, commitment, marriage – issues that hit home with the fans who have aged with him.
"Springsteen has matured and his music has matured with his own generation," Santelli said. "Although I think he would like to reach out to younger people, his main mission is to speak to the people who have been with him all these years. He's also saying rock 'n' roll can still matter in your life. That is so important because a 50-year-old who's balding and getting thick around the waist and realizing his youth is gone can go to a Springsteen concert and suddenly can feel very good about reclaiming a sensibility of youth.
"You walk out exhausted, but with a sense of spiritual and emotional rejuvenation."
Another key part of Springsteen's vision is connection to roots.
"Springsteen has always been very concerned with a sense of place," Santelli said. "You may not be from Jersey, but you go to his show, and you feel like you're an honorary citizen. You may not even be from America, but he can still make you feel good about wherever you're from."
Growing up
Just off the main drag in Freehold, an old two-story house towers above South Street. This is where a skinny young teen got his guitar and learned how to make it talk, practicing non-stop in his upstairs bedroom. Where his father, who ran the gas station next door, would bang on the pipes in the kitchen to make the boy turn it down.
Today, a working-class family lives in the large wood-frame home with the inviting front porch. But the spirit of Springsteen lives on.
"People are always stopping by here to look, they come from everywhere because they want to see where Bruce Springsteen grew up," said Ana Rivera, 28, on the porch with her fiance, Feliciano Colon, 25, and her two young daughters. "We don't know him, but we love his music and we love him, too."
One block away, Main Street is filled with quaint brick shops and pleasant sidewalk cafes. Inside one of them, the Cornerstone Caffe, four framed Springsteen tour posters hang on a wall, and conversations often turn to the Boss.
"I felt like after all of those years gone, the show was going to be a lot more low-key and more acoustic," said Joe Mosco, 32, a partner in another cafe in town who attended opening night. "But this was a resurgence of rock 'n' roll. I was blown away."
Springsteen no longer lives in Freehold. He and Scialfa and their three young children have a home nearby in upscale Rumson. Still, he is a frequent visitor on his motorcycle, often stopping to have an omelet next door at Sweet Lew's, which displays a "Congratulations to Bruce!" sign in the window.
Several blocks away stands the old church and school of Springsteen's childhood, St. Rose of Lima. His benefit show there three years ago raised enough money to help convert the nearby YMCA into a parish hall for the town's Hispanic community.
Freehold bears no visible resemblance to the "town full of losers" he sang about in Thunder Road or the place of his youth from his recent ballad. It appears to have come of age, just like the artist.
The same cannot be said of the place Springsteen helped make famous in the early '70s, Asbury Park. A 30-minute drive east of Freehold, the once-thriving Jersey shore town is where Springsteen emerged as a formidable beach-bar rocker and met the musicians who would become the E Street Band.
Today, the town's fabled beachfront – immortalized in Springsteen's 1972 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park – is falling apart. The music scene has all but faded away with the closing last year of the Stone Pony, where Springsteen and others jammed. Beside the boarded-up stage door, there is a graffiti image of a tombstone and musical note and a stark message: "R.I.P., 1974-1998."
Business in the Stone Pony and other clubs began to dwindle in the early '80s when the drinking age was raised to 21. A stalled redevelopment plan further hindered the beachfront's appeal.
The boardwalk Springsteen sang of in Sandy (from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle) is usually empty. Many hotels are shells. Minigolf courses are grown over with weeds. What's left of the old Tunnel of Love in the ghostlike Palace amusement park building is covered with cobwebs. Empty, battered buildings dot the beach landscape. "It looks like Beirut, Lebanon," says Al Aek of Staten Island.
Springsteen has tried to help. The band rehearsed for its tour in March, then staged two concerts at the convention center, with $100,000 going to local charities.
The only place attracting regular business along Ocean Avenue is the old carousel building. But it is no longer a symbol of Springsteen's fabled past. The structure now houses an indoor skateboard park.
"Look out Ricky Martin'
In contrast to the desolation of Asbury Park are the jam-packed parking lots at the Meadowlands.
The opening-night party started out in the lots, with tailgating to rival the Super Bowl. Springsteen added to the festive atmosphere early in the show, shouting, "Look out Ricky Martin . . . I'm filled with the spirit, baby . . . the ghost of Tom Jones."
His whimsical play on Tom Joad was just one of many memorable scenes. He raced around the stage, led enthusiastic sing-alongs with the crowd, jitter-bugged with Clemons, and climbed on Bittan's grand piano during the red-hot rocker Stand On It. Through he talked little between songs, his voice soared with force and emotion during them.
The E Street Band played with its usual high-octane style, raised a notch by the first tour pairing of guitar kings Van Zandt and Lofgren. The Big Man's sax breaks, especially on Born To Run and Jungleland, were immaculate. The unsung hero was Weinberg, taking time off as Conan O'Brien's bandleader. His granite beat seemed strong enough to knock his drums right through the risers.
Many songs stood out, but one seemed particularly directed at the audience. Late in the concert, Springsteen and various band members took turns at a mike, singing the verse from If I Should Fall Behind: "I'll wait for you, should I fall behind, wait for me."
It was like a gentle ode to the fans – perhaps even to themselves – for all the years they had been apart, and for whatever shared journey may lie ahead.
///
The set list
Bruce Springsteen's set list for the opening leg of his U.S. tour at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.
1. My Love Will Not Let You Down
2. The Promised Land
3. Two Hearts
4. Darkness on the Edge of Town
5. Darlington County
6. Mansion on the Hill
7. The River
8. Youngstown
9. Murder Inc.
10. Badlands
11. Out in the Street
12. Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
13. Where the Bands Are
14. Working on the Highway
15. The Ghost of Tom Joad
16. Streets of Philadelphia
17. Backstreets
18. Light of Day
First Encore
19. Freehold
20. Stand on It
21. Hungry Heart
22. Born to Run
23. Bobby Jean
Second encore
24. Thunder Road
25. If I Should Fall Behind
26. Land of Hope and Dreams