News and information about Bruce Springsteen, in constant update.
Friday, July 31
July 30: Benidorm
In the small Estadio de Foietes, in the 'Little Manhattan' by the shore that is Benidorm, Springsteen conquered a new audience with one of this classic stadium shows, full of energy and popular songs. Over 3 hours the 30,000 people in the audience had a great time and were on their feet most of the time, jumping, dancing and clapping. The show opened with Nils on the accordion doing the very popular (and rather corny) song Los Pajaritos.
There were tour debuts of "Girls in their Summer Clothes", "Janey Don't You Lose heart" (slowed down, unrehearsed, not really his best versions) plus a nice full-band "If I Should Fall Behind".
The highlights were the hi-voltage "Seeds", "Youngstown", "Jungleland", a very nice "Be True" and the unexpected and vibrant "I Fought The law".
photo: Benidorm 2009 copyright Miguel Angel Fernández
"Sevilla tiene un color especial" (Seville has a special colour) was the song choosen for Nils to play at the accordion and cheer up the audience at the Estadio de la Cartuja. The southern audience (which filled only 75% of the seats) loved the show, which found Springsteen in great shape. Though not up to the level of the Bilbao performance (that's gonna be real hard to match), Bruce delivered an excellent performance, full of hits (particularly on the encores) and with some great, unexpected rarities.
Gary US Bond's "Quarter to three" was the first sign request, followed by a powerful "The E Street Shuffle", from his magnificent second album The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.
"Seeds" and "Youngstown" were back in the set, while "My Love Will Not Let You Down" went up to the 2nd spot, right after "Badlands", opening fire to great effect. The highlight of the night was an extraordinary "Loose Ends", with Springsteen's voice in full force singing one of his signature masterpieces. This was the first show in Spain with Jay Weinberg on drums, during the encores.
Two more shows in Philly have been added to the schedule: Oct. 19th and 20th. Both shows will go on sale on July 30th at 10am. (tickets).
Meanwhile in Chicago, both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times report that Springsteen will perform the full 'Born to run' album in the middle of the Sept.20th show in Chicago. According to 'a source close to Springsteen', Rolling Stone reports the news are true. Rumours abound now on the internet about Bruce playing different complete albums in the upcoming fall shows.
From time to time there's a night, a show, that shines over the rest. A night in which Bruce Springsteen explodes and offers his absolute best. This show was Bilbao. Like in St. Louis in 2008, Bruce came onstage with a mission, and delivered a show full of magic. His voice was back in great shape (after being a bit hoarse for weeks), the band was incredibly tight and powerful, Bruce's stage performance was exceptional, but best of all, the song selection was fantastic, mixing recent stuff with older vintage classics and some rarities and one-offs, and he sang every line with conviction.
After Nils playing "Desde Santurce a Bilbao" (a classic local song) the band stepped into a tremendous "The Ties That Bind", then into "Badlands" and "Hungry Heart", and it was clear there was something else going on that night. That special extra bit that makes a show not just great but magical. Yeah, one of those nights.
Songs like "Murder Incorporated" sounded better than ever, with explosive guitar work at the end. Nils shined particularly in the long and furious guitar solo on "Because the Night" (ala Magic tour, but longer and more exciting than ever). "Factory" was stunningly beautiful, starting with Bruce singing solo the first verse (with a little guitar) and then the band joining in, similar to the 1978 version. It was followed by a great version of "This Hard Land", that sounded more like the original '82 recording. A great "Raise Your Hand" was played next, while Bruce was taking lots of signs from the audience. The magic was in the air, and Bruce sang "Raise Your Hand" with his most soulful voice, atop the piano, and jumping up and down while the audience was in ecstasy. The song that is usually just background music to pick up signs was now a powerful highlight.
The rarities followed, with a great "Santa Claus is Coming to town" (the sign Bruce showed had a picture of Santa with Bruce when he was a small kid) followed by the best "Thunder Road" heard in ages (finally done at the right tempo, with Bruce really singing the first lines with passion instead of just reciting the words coming on the teleprompter). It sounded fresh and as epic as it should always be. "Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" was next, a tour premiere that pleased the old fans (most of the audience clearly had no clue of what the song was). Not letting the magic vanish, Max inmediately went into the drum beats for "My Love Will Not Let You Down", a fabulous rock song that was one of the highlights of the show. Max kicked ass, Bruce kicked ass, Nils and Steve kicked ass. Electricity filled the air and the whole stadium was burning. It was real hot and we're only hoping a song like this stays in the set for the rest of the tour.
With this level of excitement even more standard performances like "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" and "The Promised land" felt great. Next was a beautiful "The River", with a great falsetto ending (ala Devils tour). The end of the main set was a blast, with a particularly hot "Radio Nowhere".
After "Born to Run", and waving goodbye, Bruce and band didn't even leave the stage and went back to their instruments. He picked up a sing, placed in front of his mic stand and started playing a fun, exciting, hot-rockin' and note-perfect "You Never Can Tell", including a dance with Soozie. The crowd went crazy. The Chuck Berry song was a tour debut, and it was Bruce's first performance with the band since 1974!
The encores continued with a fabulous "Jungleland", where Clarence shined and nailed the solo (it's worth mentioning Clarence nailed every solo on this concert, and he looked great, dressing different from previous shows). Another sign request brought a cheerful and fun "Rosalita", which Bruce introduced in spanish, asking Rosie to please come out tonight. The show ended with a trepid "Twist and Shout" (think of Buenos Aires 88), and after 3 hours and 6 minutes.
All over the night Bruce spoke various times in both basque (the local language) and spanish. Tonight's connection and complicity with the audience was complete. Bruce's performance was enough to get a great response from the fantastic Bilbao audience, and he didn't need to run all over the front of the stage so much. The music spoke in this special night where all the stars shone. It was a time leap that brought back the memories of that show in St.Louis last August. It was that kind of show. After the show, all fans agreed something special had happened, and almost no one could remember a better performance (unless they had seen Bruce pre-Born in the U.S.A.).
In the early evening, at 7 pm, and with half the crowd already in the field, Bruce stepped into the field and went to a bar, where he chatted with fans, until too many people recognized him and he left.
Bruce Springsteen played in Udine last night, the last of 3 shows in Italy, just before coming to Spain for the last 5 shows in Europe. As in Torino, he surprised with a high intensity performance, with plenty of crowd pleasers, rarities and tour debuts. First off there was a special tarantella performed by the 3 accordions onstage (Nils, Charlie & Roy), that gave way to the first song of the night: "Sherry Darling".
Moments later arrived one of the best songs off the Darkness album, "Something in the Night", plus "Murder Incorporated" in the place of the usual "Seeds". After picking up lots of sign requests during "Raise Your Hand", there were three tour debuts in a row: the rockin' "Summertime Blues", followed by "Be True", which was followed by a great and unexpected "Streets of Fire" (another gem off Darkness), and then an intense "My Love Will Not Let You Down".
The encores, full of his greatest hits, started off with another request, the tour debut of the electric, full-band version of "Born in the U.S.A.".
If set list changes and surprises are an exciting factor at any Springsteen concert, last night's gig in Torino was mega exciting. Nine set list changes, six tour premieres and an ecstatic performance. "Loose Ends" was the killer show opener, followed by "Badlands" and "Hungry Heart".
The other tour debuts include "Murder Incorporated" , "My Love Will Not Let You Down", "My Hometown" and "Traveling Band", plus the real jewel of the night, the magnificent "Drive All Night" (in a stadium!) that blew everyone's mind.
Furthermore the show included also "Two Hearts", "American Skin", "Working on the Highway" and "Backstreets", along with most of the tour standards.
While in Italy, Bruce graced the cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair, which includes an interesting interview with Bruce. He says the E Street Band will take a temporary rest after this tour's over. The long-awaited Darkness boxset is on the works: "that's something we're working on", says Bruce. "We take it slow and try to put something together that would be nice for fans". Read more at Backstreets.com
In the land of his mother's ancestors Bruce Springsteen offered a long show last Sunday, with many details about his italian origins. Bruce came onstage while "Once Upon A Time in the West" came thru the speakers, right before "Badlands" opened the show. Later, "My City of Ruins" made its tour debut and was dedicated to the victims of the L'Aquila eartquake. During the encores, both Adele and Edie Zirilli (Bruce's mother and aunt, respectively) came onstage to dance at the sounds of "American Land".
The Rome performance included sign-requests for "Pink Cadillac", "Surprise, Surprise", "Prove it All Night" and "You Can't Sit Down".
Bruce and the E Street Band performed their only show in France this year, at the Festival des Vieilles Charrues, where they offered their standard set list. Sign requests brought "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "I'm Goin' Down" and "Because the Night".
Five songs were broadscast live on Radio France ("Outlaw Pete", "Out in the Street", "Working on a Dream", "Seeds" and "Johnny 99").
Bruce Springsteen will join Paul Simon, CSN&Y, Simon and Garfunkel and Stevie Wonder at the special Hall of Fame Anniversary concerts that will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 29th and 30th 2009, according to showbiz411.com. Bruce is scheduled to play on Oct.29th.
Springsteen's return to Hampden Park in Glasgow brought a 3-hour-plus show with some surprises. Nils opened the show with his accordion, playing The Flower of Scotland while the band was coming onstage.
A big sign convinced Bruce to perform one of his old jewels: "Incident on 57th Street", followed by the tour debut of "Pink Cadillac". The rockabilly tune had last been played at Shea Stadium in 2003.
Sam and Evan Springsteen came onstage to help his father during "American Land".
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE LEGENDARY E STREET BAND 2009 US TOUR DATES
19-Aug Hartford, CT Comcast Theater On Sale Now 22-Aug Mansfield, MA Comcast Center On Sale Now 23-Aug Mansfield, MA Comcast Center On Sale Now 25-Aug Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center On Sale Now 10-Sep Nashville, TN Sommett Center 25-Jul 12-Sep Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre 24-Jul 13-Sep Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center 24-Jul 16-Sep Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center 31-Jul 20-Sep Chicago, IL United Center 1-Aug 30-Sep East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium Sold out 2-Oct East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium Sold out 3-Oct East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium Sold out 8-Oct East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium On Sale Now 9-Oct East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium Sold out 13-Oct Philadelphia, PA Spectrum 27-Jul 14-Oct Philadelphia, PA Spectrum 27-Jul 25-Oct St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center 8-Aug 26-Oct Kansas City, MO Sprint Center 8-Aug 2-Nov Washington, D.C. Verizon Center TBA 3-Nov Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena 28-Aug 7-Nov New York, NY Madison Square Garden TBA 8-Nov New York, NY Madison Square Garden TBA 10-Nov Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena 22-Aug 13-Nov Auburn Hills, MI Palace At Auburn Hills 22-Aug 15-Nov Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center 1-Aug
The second show in Irish soil featured a hi-energy performance from Springsteen and the E Street Band, full of strong rock songs such as "Prove it all Night", "Spirit in the Night", "Proud Mary", "Rosalita" or "Jungleland", plus a fun "Sherry Darling".
Before those, the show started with a rock threesome: opening with "No Surrender", followed by "Badlands" and "Night".
After an intense "Radio Nowhere", "American Skin (41 Shots)" made its tour debut. Six long encores put end to a show that surpassed the 3-hour mark and included 30 songs.
Rainy night in Dublin, and Springsteen has opened the show with the classic "Who'll Stop the Rain?", followed by "Badlands" and "Cover Me".
Sign requests have resulted in the tour premiere of "You Can Look", along with "Seven Nights to Rock", "For You", "Thunder Road" and "Because the Night". The long 7-song encore finished with "Ramrod" and "Twist and Shout", making of this show one of the longest of the tour, with 30 songs performed. Jake Clemons, CC's nephew, joined the band on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" to play some sax, while Evan James Springsteen did play guitar during "American Land".
Nils Lofgren and Steve Van Zandt were interview at TodayFM de Dublin for a great interview with Tony Fenton. Nils sang "If I Should Fall Behind" too. Listen to it at Today FM's website.
At tonight's gig in Herning, Denmark, Springsteen has pleased a lot of fan requests via signs, and thus the dannish have got to hear a very varied set list with "Hungry Heart", "I'm on Fire", "Prove it All Night", "Mony Mony", "Thunder Road", "Rendezvous" or "Surprise, Surprise". "Rosalita" is back in the encores, and the show has ended with "Twist & Shout".
Another spectacular show. After a few weeks with not many set list changes (something unusual for him), Springsteen is now back to crazy-setlist-change-mode night after night. In Vienna, and after Nils' accordion intro (he played the 'Blue Danube waltz'), "Jackson Cage" was a killer kick-off, followed by "Badlands" and "Cover Me".
Later in the set, some interesting additions included "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Darlington County", "Growin' Up", "Rendezvous", "Proud Mary", "Cadillac Ranch" (closing the main set after "Born to Run") and "Twist and Shout" (last song of the night).
And if this wasn't enough, there were three tour premieres: "Sandy", "Into the Fire" and "Jersey Girl", the Tom Waits ballad, performed for the first time in Europe.
photo: Frankfurt 3.7.2009 copyright 2009 René Van Diemen
Sirius Radio did broadcast on July 4th a part of the recent show in Frankfurt. The broadcast (with professional sound) included the following live songs: Outlaw Pete / Seeds / Ramrod / Point Blank / Lonesome Day / Hard Times / Dancing in the Dark.
Best euro show so far? Most probably. Though it's not fair to judge a show just by its set list, yesterday's performance in Frankfurt has already been rated by many fans as the best so far in the current European tour. How can you go wrong with a show that included "Adam Raised a Cain", "The Ties That Bind", "Factory", "Something in the Night", "Trapped", "Because the Night", "Jungleland" and "Point Blank"?
The night came to a close with a long version of "Twist & Shout". The show was taped and part of it will be broadcast today on E Street Radio, at Sirius XM Radio, today, July 4th, at 12.00pm Eastern.
Roy Bittan's 60th birthday was celebrated in Munich with a splendid show, full of set list changes and some special surprises.
To begin, "My Lucky Day" and "Kingdom of Days" return to the set, making the number of WOAD songs in the set up to four. "Atlantic City" stayed in the set, along with "Johnny 99", making it two songs off the Nebraska album.
The biggest surprises arrived thanks to sign-requests. There was "Seven Nights to Rock", "Because the Night", "This Hard Land" and the tour premiere of the wonderful Roy Orbison classic "Oh, Pretty Woman", a first with the E Street Band. Once again the main set had an extra song after "Born to Run", and this time it was "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out".
The encores included a much welcomed "Detroit Medley", and finished with the now classic duo of "Dancing in the Dark" and "Glory Days".
photo: Bergen 2009, copyright Miguel Angel Fernández
Springsteen's show in Bern, Switzerland, brought the surprise factor back to the show. Like in Scandinavia, Nils opened the concert with a traditional Swiss song on the accordion, followed by "Badlands", "No Surrender" and "She's the One", a strong trifecta. Later on the show, "Atlantic City" took the spot of "The Ghost of Tom Joad".
The sign-requests brought a varied mix of fan favourites and rarities, including "Hungry Heart", "I Fought the Law" (by The Bobby Fuller Four, tour debut), "Downbound Train" and "Because the Night". The intense set was closed with the classic John Fogerty song "Rockin' All Over the World".
The last weekend was an absolute triumph for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in the UK. Springsteen is again on top of the game and surprised a lot of young people in the audience at the legendary Glastonbury festival, and the same happened the next night at the Hard Rock Calling festival at Hyde Park in London.
The set list didn't change much and was clearly oriented to a more casual audience. Still, there was a good bunch of rarities both nights. Joe Strummer's "Coma Girl" opened the Glastonbury performance. Then came "Badlands" and a strong "Prove it all Night", with Springsteen performing with rage and spending lots of energy the whole night.
And there was a hot "Because the Night", and "No Surrender", performed with the Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon (a few hours before, Bruce shared the stage with the Gaslight Anthem to sing "59 Sound").
The Glasto performance lasted well past curfew, and about 90 minutes were broadcast on BBC TV (in High Def!) and BBC radio. Two more songs were aired the next day on BBC TV.
In the beautiful Hyde Park and under an unusually hot sun, Springsteen rendered tribute again to Joe Strummer when he opened the show with The Clash's "London Calling" (previously performed in Philadelphia in April), followed by "Badlands" and an audibled "Night". There weren't much surprises at Hyde Park ("Bobby Jean" and "Trapped" were the sign-requests) until the highlight of the night arrived: a beautifully performed "Racing in the Street".
"Rosalita" ended the main set, and the encores included another impressive version of "Jungleland", which Clarence Clemons nailed. As in Glasto, Brian Fallon came on stage to sing on "No Surrender", returning the favour to Bruce, who previously in the afternoon also joined the Gaslight Anthem to sing on "59 Sound".
Max Weinberg is back on the tour and playing as good as ever. Patti is still missing.
