Bruce Springsteen rocked Convention Hall last night, in the first of two public rehearsals with the E Street Band. Three new musicians joined the band for this concert. First there was Cindy Mizelle and Curtis King Jr., both members of the Seeger Sessions band now joining the E Street Band to add some great backing vocals. Then there was Jay Weinberg, Max’s son, who joined the band to perform on seven songs.
The first public show of the tour featured 24 songs, opening with «Outlaw Pete» and closing with «Seven Nights to Rock», and included 7 tracks from the Working on a dream album, two new covers (Woody Guthrie’s «I Ain’t Got No Home» and Stephen Foster’s «Hard Times Come Again No More», a song from 1854 that’s been covered by a multitude of artists, from Dylan to Emmylou Harris to Johnny Cash).
It wasn’t the most intense Bruce Springsteen performance ever (which no one can expect from a first tour performance) but the new songs surprised the audience, and the classics sounded as strong as ever (not strange as the set list is very similar to the Magic tour standard, even the stage looks the same). NJ rocker John Eddie joined Bruce for an encore cover of «Mustang Sally».
See complete set list for the first Asbury Park concert.
Bruce Springsteen performs Lucky Day in Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen performs Outlaw Pete in Asbury Park