LIVE - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Last night I saw my third Bruce Springsteen concert!

While I cannot say that I have seen a bad Springsteen show, the band seemed to start out a little flat for "Wrecking Ball" and "Seeds."  I was confused by the choice of "Wrecking Ball" for the first song in the set.  The band had been playing the song "Wrecking Ball" because they had just done a run of shows at Giants Stadium and the Spetrum in Philadelphia - both venues slated for the scrap heap. However, the Scottrade Center in St. Louis is only 15 years old and not ready for demolition anytime soon.  Maybe Springsteen felt that the venue should be torn down or just felt that he and the band respectively had written and worked on this new song so much that they were going to play it again to see how it played in the Midwest. What's the old saying - "if it plays in Peoria it will play anywhere!"  According to Springsteen's written setlist posted on his website, the first five songs before launching into Born To Run were going to be:

1. Prove It All Night
2. Working On The Highway
3. What Love Can Do
4. Hungry Heart
5. Working On A Dream

"Wrecking Ball" was going to be played as the first song of the encore. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out Springsteen's audible here. Nevertheless, the original setlist opening was recreated and "What Love Can Do" was eschued altogether. By the time the band picked it up for "Prove It All Night", then "Hungry Heart", then "Working On A Dream" it was time to start the Born To Run portion of the night. My point to Mary on the ride home was that the album should be at the beginning or end of the main set and then take a break and move into rest of the set.

The Born To Run portion of the show was a highlight and the version of "Jungleland" was especially good.
However, as my friend Rob pointed out after the show the band played enough material after the album that you almost forgot about this landmark song cycle in the midddle of the set. He was right.

I think there were a couple of reasons for the disappointment:

1. Personal expectations set too high. Put simply - last year's show was amazing! It's hard to top your first E Street Band show and with that setlist. Many were calling the 2008 St. Louis date the show of the tour. I had a hard time comparing that statement until now.
2. Our seats were in the mezzanine aboug half way up on stage left and there was a metal gate/bar running down the length of the row. We sat down for most of the show. We had a good vantage point of the stage, but we could barely see one of the screens and some of the guitar sounds were grating. We were in the lower bowl last year. We had more room, got up and danced more and generally had a much better time.
3. Even though he didn't play a lot of songs from Working On A Dream, I thought that Magic was a better album and mixed better with his older material.

Highlights included hearing "Prove It All Night" and "The Promised Land" as both are favorites from Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Hearing another Chuck Berry cover is always a treat and the only way you could top "Rosalita" as a show closer would be possibly "Thundercrack". Overall this was a good show and I'm glad that we went, but I'm interested to see what's next for Bruce as it seems that the E Street Band is going to take a break. I think I would welcome another solo tour and a chance to see him at a smaller venue again.

Setlist
October 25, 2009 - Scottrade Center - St. Louis, MO

Wrecking Ball
Seeds
Prove It All Night
Hungry Heart
Working On A Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Curt Ramm)
Night
Backstreets
Born To Run
She's The One
Meeting Across The River (with Curt Ramm)
Jungleland
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Working On The Highway
The Promised Land
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
No Surrender

***Encore***
For You (solo piano)
Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry cover)
Surprise, Surprise
Detroit Medley
American Land
Dancing In The Dark
Rosalita (with Curt Ramm)

Compare last night's show to the set from 2008 - even with the highlights and Born To Run - not even close. The songs in bold are different from the songs he played this time around.

Setlist
August 2008 - Scottrade Center - St. Louis, MO
Then She Kissed Me
Radio Nowhere
Out In The Street
Adam Raised A Cain
Spirit In The Night
Rendezvous
For You
Mountain Of Love
Backstreets
Gypsy Biker
Because The Night
Not Fade Away/She's The One
Livin' In The Future
Cover Me
Mary's Place
Drive All Night
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

* * *Encore***
Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Detroit Medley
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land
Thunder Road
Little Queenie
Twist And Shout