The Official Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Thread.

When the **** will he play Life Itself? It's one of the greatest songs, not only on Working On A Dream, but in his entire catalogue!

I doubt you will even hear the song when he plays it. It's too 'weak' to play in stadiums. Same with memory of bon jovi, allthough that song is crap, the sound gets loss in the noise of the people.
I maybe like 3 songs on WOAD. It is so much less good then Magic.

16 days to go. I'm starting to climb the walls, feels like i haven't been to a gig in ages, my job is working me too hard. A little bit of Bruce is just what the doctor ordered

P.S. I wish Surprise, Surprise would stop popping up in the set so frequently.

1) Integrity, passionate performer, understands what the fans want because he's a "fan" himself of music
2) Too hard to choose; Born To Run/River/Darkness
3) Kitty's Back
4) With honesty, all 15 shows I've seen so far have been the best gig so far at the time. There's only one that doesn't stand out to this day and that's Arnhem 2007. It was still a superb show and performance, it's just that he was ill that day.

Probably the standout shows though are Manchester 1999, Manchester 2003, London O2 2007, Tampere 2009

Yo Tom - nice to see you here again

I just saw 6 shows - 2 in Boston, 2 in Philly and 2 very recently here in Jersey. These are some of the best Bruce shows I've seen - ever - and I've seen a lot of Bruce shows. I have tickets for all 5 of the Giants shows and I've been telling people to see them NOW - this band cannot last much longer and they put on one of the best shows in the business. They are at a peak right now - for whatever reason - and they should not be missed.

I agree... I stayed, almost, clear of the setlists leading up to the Finland show but then back tracked afterwards, and the sheer number of surprises is astonishing. Let alone the fact that whatever he does the band are in sync with and follow. Also surprised by the types of requests he's doing, from the Kinks to The Who, Troggs, old Soul music, let alone his back catalogue... We're going to see both shows in Dublin and also the Hyde Park one in a couple of weeks. My mum and dad are starting to overtake me on the Bruce front also, and they're going to see them in France as well.

Have to say I'm tempted by the Giants shows, coinciding with my birthday in October. Just don't have the holidays and now Mr Big are touring Europe also.

Incidentally Max's son is a refreshing change on drums... I was fearing the worst, thinking that the rare songs wouldn't be played as much, but it's quite the contrary. And on songs like Radio Nowhere he's bringing more of a rock beat to the track and upping the tempo. It was great watching Little Steven and Bruce turning to the drum riser throughout some of the rarer songs in the show to direct Jay.

I have to say that, based on reviews and the setlists the Stockholm shows are going to take some beating! There were more songs played in his mini-European, 2 week tour than in the entire Lost Highway tour for Bon Jovi (correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't be far off!)

Jay was great but....he doesn't know E Street Shuffle! which meant we didn't get it in
Stockholm. Bruce wanted to play it but Jay couldn't so we got Thunder Road instead.

...hmmm twice during the entire tour so far....is that frequent for you??

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...6gjLAD98QA7FG0

Springsteen's set for 'hard times' wows Bonnaroo
By JAKE COYLE – 9 hours ago
MANCHESTER, Tenn. (AP) — Bruce Springsteen astonished the Bonnaroo crowd with a passionate three-hour performance, offering sweat and rock 'n' roll to inspire, he said, in "hard times."
Springsteen was the Saturday night headliner at the Tennessee music festival, where Phish was headlining both Friday and Sunday. It was a rare festival performance for Springsteen, who said it was only the second for him and the E Street Band.
His inexperience didn't show. After all, headlining Bonnaroo is only the third biggest concert Springsteen has played this year after the Super Bowl halftime show and President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Springsteen was running into the crowd — no easy feat on Bonnaroo's massive main stage — before the first song, "Badlands," was through. Throughout the evening, Springsteen would frequently leap into the crowd, whom he asked: "Is there anybody alive at Bonnaroo?"
"We didn't come all the way down to the beautiful Tennessee hills just to rock the house," said Springsteen early in the performance. "We came down here tonight because we want to build a house. That's right. Right here in this field. ... A house of love. A house of hope."
With his full band backing him — including both Max Weinberg and his 18-year-old son, Jay, switching off on drums — Springsteen launched into a performance that he pledged would show "the power of music."
The recession was never far from his mind.
Springsteen's songs of down-and-out characters and blue collar life had particular resonance. With songs like "Jersey Girl," "Johnny 99" and "Youngstown," Springsteen painted the current economic landscape. On "Youngstown" — off his 1995 album "Ghost of Tom Joad" — he sang from the perspective of a coal mine worker: "Once I made you rich/ Rich enough to forget my name."
For the first of several encores, he sang Stephen Foster's Civil War-era "Hard Times Come Again No More," introducing it as a song that has "stayed written" for more than 150 years because of its timelessness.
"You pick up the newspaper and you look out and you seen millions of jobs here in the country lost. Hundreds of thousands of jobs every month," said Springsteen. "If anybody ever told me I'd be part owner of General Motors, I wouldn't believe it.
"But you see things that I never thought I'd see. There's many, many folks struggling out there."
Springsteen brought the show to a climactic finish, playing crowd favorites "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Rosalita (Come out Tonight)" "Glory Days" and "Dancing in the Dark."
Bonnaroo and other mega-festivals today aren't known for political discourse. But Springsteen wasn't the only one with the economy on his mind Saturday.
Jenny Lewis, the singer-songwriter who sometimes fronts the band Rilo Kiley, performed earlier in the day, introduced a new song titled "Big Way," noting that she comes from "a state that's totally bankrupt": California. Lewis sang, "They're gonna get you in a big way."
Lewis was joined on stage for one number ("Carpetbaggers") by Elvis Costello, who also performed solo Saturday.
Other acts Saturday included the Decemberists, Nine Inch Nails, the Mars Volta, Of Montreal, Raphael Saadiq, Booker T, Bon Iver, Robyn Hitchcock and Allen Toussaint. One stage — dubbed "Tennessee Shines" — hosted bluegrass all day with acts such as the David Grisman Quintet and the Del McCoury Band.
After torrential lightning storms Thursday and humidity Friday, Saturday was the sunniest day yet at the eighth annual Bonnaroo, which concludes Sunday night with Phish's second performance.
None got the benefit of the good weather more than Wilco, who played a scintillating sunset performance, running the gamut of their earlier material as well as songs off their upcoming disc, "Wilco (The Album)."
The band played on the main stage before Springsteen, and Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy could already feel the Boss's presence.
"If anybody boos us tonight, we have a built in excuse," said Tweedy. "They're just yelling 'Bruuuuuce.'"


http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/...03984229.story

Bruce Springsteen, Wilco Soar At Bonnaroo
June 14, 2009 11:15 AM ET

Troy Carpenter and Jeff Vrabel, Manchester, Tenn.

Bruce Springsteen on Saturday night found himself in a position he probably can't remember last being in: having to preach to the not necessarily converted.

Springsteen and the E Street Band's headlining slot at Bonnaroo was only the band's second-ever festival date - the first being Pinkpop in Holland just weeks ago - and instead of proving it all night to a sea of older faces comfortable reporting back every syllable of every song, Springsteen arrived to a crowd that needed some background. "The mighty E Street Band is here tonight and we're going to do everything we can to bring down the power of the music on you," he preached during "Working on a Dream," and spent the remainder of his nearly three-hour, 28-song set doing absolutely that.
To be fair, Springsteen's set started with some bumps in the road: new tracks "My Lucky Day" and the eight-minute (Phish-length!) spaghetti Western epic "Outlaw Pete" (the latter finding Bruce in black cowboy hat) didn't quite catch with the sprawling festival crowd.

But it didn't take long for Springsteen to figure out that though his job was different, his well-honed work ethic would suit the occasion just fine. A hard-times trilogy of "Seeds," a revved-up "Johnny 99" and "Youngstown" (which featured the night's killer Nils Lofgren solo) helped Springsteen turn his focus from converting the crowd to emoting about the kind of cold, crisp realities he's been known to occasionally write about.

Not that the darkness lasted long: the now-traditional sign-collecting request portion of the evening yielded none other than "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," probably Bonnaroo's best-ever Christmas-themed 60,000-strong singalong ("It's too f---ing hot for Santa!" laughed Springsteen, just before playing it anyway). Other signs yielded a sweet "Growin' Up" and a gorgeous "Thunder Road." And as has also become customary over the band's past few weeks, Max Weinberg midway through yielded the kit to his 18-year-old son (and heavy metal veteran) Jay, who absolutely killed. Jay sped up "Radio Nowhere" to well past the speed limit, drove the band through "Lonesome Day" and "The Rising," and brought a raging, loose new energy to "Born to Run." Dad should be proud.

Springsteen clearly saw Bonnaroo as a challenge, but once he settled in, the band was an unstoppable train. If Springsteen didn't convert everyone on the festival grounds, he sure as hell wore them down over the course of the three-hour set, best of the fest so far.

Saturday opened with the festival's last addition: Jimmy Buffett, who was initially billed as a guest of his protege Ilo Ferreira and the Coral Reefer All-Stars but who ended up playing about half of his usual summertime setlist. Ferreira, who Buffett discovered two years ago at a bar in Mali, joined the band for three songs of his own, reporting that just 48 hours before he was in customs in Africa, unsure if he'd even be able to make the trip. For his part, Buffett threw a nod to the environment with a cover of "Scarlet Begonias."

In a mid-afternoon That Tent set, Raphael Saadiq impressed with a rootsy R&B set that showcased his classy blend of gospel, blues & vintage soul. Saadiq hit a sensual climax with a string of songs from his 2008 record "The Way I See It," including "Sure Hope You Mean It" and "Let's Take a Walk."

Wilco utilized the full power of its lineup to rock main-stage festivalgoers into the evening – frontman Jeff Tweedy was naturally the star of the show, with stalwart bassist John Stirratt riding copilot up front and fiery drummer Glenn Kotche twirling madly in the back, but it was multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and especially guitarist Nels Cline who propelled Wilco's set to ecstatic heights. Cline's audacious guitar solos were every bit as intricate and ambitious as Phish's complex compositions the night before. Yet, maybe because of Wilco's strong Americana roots, the group's extended instrumental sections were emotional and moving without seeming cloying.

After a two-hour set ranging from the pastoral, Woody Guthrie-penned "California Stars" to the ethereal, jammy "Impossible Germany" to the stark, angular homicide drama "Bull Black Nova."

Earlier, the Drive-By Truckers backed Booker T. Jones on a set of soulful instrumentals from Jones' recent solo record, "Potato Hole," including a buoyant take on "Hey Ya." The Truckers also turned up a few of their own selections, including Patterson Hood's autobiographical "Let There Be Rock" and Mike Cooley's "Zip City."

Sunday at the festival promises sets by Okkervil River, Band of Horses, Andrew Bird, Citizen Cope, Snoop Dogg and a fest-closing second set from Phish, who have three and a half hours booked on the What Stage.

Here is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's setlist:

"Badlands"
"No Surrender"
"My Lucky Day"
"Outlaw Pete"
"Out in the Street"
"Working on a Dream"
"Seeds"
"Johnny 99"
"Youngstown"
"Raise Your Hand" (sign collecting)
"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
"Growin' Up"
"Thunder Road"
"Waitin' On A Sunny Day"
"The Promised Land"
"The River"
"Kingdom of Days"
"Radio Nowhere" (with Jay Weinberg for rest of set)
"Lonesome Day"
"The Rising"
"Born to Run"

Encore:
"Hard Times"
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"Land of Hope and Dreams"
"American Land"
"Rosalita"
"Glory Days" -> "Louie Louie"
"Dancing in the Dark"

I can only say one thing - Bruce never disappoints - ever. Some shows are better than others - but he never disappoints.

It sounds like Bonnaroo was no exception.