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The Wrecking Ball Tour‘s final leg began last night with a very emotional concert in Santiago, Chile. Springsteen arrived in the city on Monday and had two rehearsals on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Movistar Arena, where he met the press and talked about Chilean singer-songwritter Víctor Jara (murdered by the Pinochet government in 1973), the 1988 shows in Argentina for Amnesty International and the Desaparecidos.

Thursday night the show lasted three and a half hours and included a great selection of songs from all his classic years (1973-1984, from Greetings from Asbury Park NJ to Born in the U.S.A.), along with six songs off his latest album and some of his most recent hits like «The Rising» o «Waitin’ On A Sunny Day».

All the classics were there («Born to Run», «Badlands», «Thunder Road», «The River», «Born in the U.S.A.» or «Dancing in the Dark»), alongside treasures like «Spirit in the Night», «The E Street Shuffle», «Because the Night» and «She’s the One», plus crowd requests as «Atlantic City», «Cadillac Ranch» and «Rosalita» (he also picked up a sign for «Blood Brothers», but didn’t play it).

The encores brought more classics and the enthusiastic «Shout», plus an acoustic «This Hard Land» to close the night. But the most important moment was the encore opening, with Víctor Jara’s «Manifiesto» sung in Spanish from top to end. It was a sublime versions, performed with Nils Lofgren and Curt Ramm. It was a very emotional moment, which Bruce preceeded with a speech also in Spanish:

«In 1988 we played for Amnesty International in Mendoza, Argentina, but Chile was in our hearts. We met many families of Desaparecidos, which had pictures of their loved ones. It was a moment that stays with me forever. A political musician, Victor Jara, remains a great inspiration. It’s a gift to be here and I take it with humbleness«.

As the fans from Chile, Argentina and other countries left the arena, Víctor Jara’s «Te recuerdo Amanda» played on the PA.

See complete set list

The show in Chile in the press:
Lección de vida en tres horas y media (Futuro)
El presente perfecto del rock’n’roll (Clarín)
Bruce Springsteen debuta en Chile con deslumbrante actuación (El Mostrador)
Bruce Springsteen coronó con un emotivo tributo a Víctor Jara su vibrante debut en Chile (Emol)
Bruce Springsteen cantó tema de Víctor Jara (La Nación)
Springsteen recuerda a las víctimas de la dictadura de Pinochet en Chile (El País)

 

MANIFIESTO (Víctor Jara)

I don’t sing for love of singing, 
or because I have a good voice. 
I sing because my guitar 
has both feeling and reason. 
It has a heart of earth 
and the wings of a dove, 
it is like holy water, 
blessing joy and grief.

My song has found a purpose
as Violeta would say. 
Hardworking guitar, 
with a smell of spring.

My guitar is not for the rich no, 
nothing like that. 
My song is of the ladder 
we are building to reach the stars. 
For a song has meaning 
when it beats in the veins 
of a man who will die singing, 
truthfully singing his song.

My song is not for fleeting praise 
nor to gain foreign fame, 
it is for this narrow country 
to the very depths of the earth. 
There, where everything comes to rest 
and where everything begins, 
the song which has been brave 
will be forever new.

Once again Bruce Springsteen will perform at the annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit concert. This year it will be held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, on November 6th. Also on the line-up are Jerry Seinfeld, Roger Waters and Jon Stewart. Tickets are now on sale.