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The last leg of the 2012 Wrecking Ball American tour started with a splendid show in St. Paul. The show’s structure is now similar to the one in the first months of the tour, with the show starting with the new songs, and the comeback of both «Jack of All Trades» and «Rocky Ground». After the now standard «Spirit in the Night» came a strong «It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City«, followed by «Hungry Heart» and the always exciting crowdsurfing.

The very rare «Savin’ Up» debuted on the tour (first time with The E Street Band). An extraordinary version that sounded like they had played it together forever. Bruce wrote the song in 1982 and Clarence Clemons recorded it for his debut album, Rescue. Bruce had previously played it live only 4 times, the last one in October 2011 at a benefit for the Boston College in Asbury Park. Next came «Open all Night», «Darlington County» and «Two Hearts», raising the energy level of the show.

There were still two more surprises in the can: the epic «Long Walk Home», off Magic, and a solo piano version of «If I Should Fall Behind» as first encore.

See complete set list.

As he’s been doing since its first edition, Bruce Springsteen performed at the Stand Up For Heroes benefit show organized by The Bob Woodruff Foundation. Comedians Ricky Gervais and Robin Williams, along with musicians Roger Waters, The Max Weinberg Big Band and John Mayer joined the bill too.

Springsteen’s show this year was an acoustic affair, starting with a great «We Take Care of Our Own» and «Working on the Highway». Then Patti Scialfa joined for a great duet on «Tougher Than The Rest», before ending with «Land of Hope and Dreams». The whole show was streamed live with great quality (see below: show begins with Max Weinberg at 31:40, Bruce is on at 2:03:15).

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«Bruce Springsteen is an American treasure. (…) And I get to fly around with him on the last day that I will ever campaign — so that’s not a bad way to end things.” (Barack Obama)

Bruce Springsteen joined Barack Obama yesterday in his last day of campaign, visiting three cities in three states in just one day, and performing at all three rallies in Madison (Wisconsin), Columbus (Ohio) and Ames (Iowa), three swing states vital in today’s election results.

Bruce sang the same four songs in each city: «No Surrender», «The Promised Land», «Forward» (the new song written specifically for the campaign) and «Land of Hope and Dreams». The last song was always preceeded by a long speech about the state of the country, the importance of voting and the reasons why Bruce is giving his support to Obama (Healthcare, Wall Street regulations, end of wars, women’s rights, etc).

His final words: «President Obama ran last time as a man of hope and change. You hear a lot of talk about how things are different now. Things aren’t any different–they’re just realer. Its crunch time. The President’s job, our job–yours and mine– whether your Republican, Democrat, Independent, rich, poor, black, brown, white, gay, straight, soldier, civilian–is to keep that hope alive, to combat cynicism and apathy, and to believe in our power, to change our lives and the world we live in. So, lets go to work tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that… Lets re-elect President Barack Obama to carry our standard forward towards the America that awaits us.»

Bruce, Patti and their team got to fly with the president on the Air Force One (see photo), and both Springsteen and Obama had a chance to speak about Sandy and even make a surprise phone call to NJ’s governor Chris Christie.

Next for Bruce is the annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit show, to be held in New York City this coming Thursday, and then two shows in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sunday and Monday, to resume the Wrecking Ball tour.