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Bruce Springsteen opened his 2009 world tour with a show in San Jose, California, which included only 6 songs off his new album Working on a Dream, along with classics (from the opening «Badlands», to the set closer: «Born to run») and a few covers and surprises.

The set list was nearly identical to the 2nd Asbury rehearsal from March 24th, with only two additions: «Good Rockin’ Tonight» (which was on the handwritten set list) and «Growin’ Up» (fan request). «Kingdom of Days» plus the trio formed by «Seeds», «Johnny 99» and «The Ghost of Tom Joad» (all of them full band electric versions) were amongst the highlights. The overall feeling, though, is that this set lists needs some work, as it is pretty much the same as on the Magic tour with a few new songs added in.

See complete San Jose set list.

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Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will offer today at San Jose’s HP Pavillion the first official show of the Working on a Dream tour. After a month of rehearsals in Asbury Park and two public rehearsal shows, the new show will be revealed today.

If you’re going GA, please read the new pit procedures for this tour.

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Ten new songs added that weren’t played the night before, plus some important changes in the song order gave the feeling of a more real show last night at Convention Hall.

«Badlands» opened the set to great effect, and two hours later Jay Weinberg joined on drums for the last songs on the main set: «Lonesome Day», «Radio Nowhere» and «Born to run». Quite a finale. The 5-song encore included «Dancing in the Dark», «Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out» and «Land of Hope and Dreams».

But most important, the band and the set list was a lot better than the first night, some great songs were added (those electrified versions of «Seeds» and «The Ghost of Tom Joad») and, voilà, «Mary’s Place» was dropped (here’s hoping it’s forever). Still, a rough set with, surprisingly, not too many songs from the new album. Next stop: the tour’s official kick-off on April 1st in San Jose.

See the complete set list from last night.

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