bruce springsteen "magic" tour at giants stadium: review, photos and setlist

last night was my third springsteen concert in 28 years - with a slight 24 year gap in between my last bruce show, during the "born in the u.s.a." tour in the summer of 1984! it was also pat's very first springsteen concert! i can certainly report that his glory days aren't anywhere near coming to a close. springsteen came on LATE - i'm not talking about the typical 45 minutes to one hour late he's known for. while tickets stated 7:30 - and most fans know that means an 8:15-8:30 real start time, last night the concert didn't start until 9:30!

that may have been an unavoidable result of the huge traffic nightmare that developed yesterday afternoon when a tanker overturned on the thruway and caused major stretches of the highway (including exit 16w to the stadium) to be shut down for hours. while no official announcement was made about this at giants stadium, it was the topic of conversation as most of the seats remained empty until well after 8. but it seemed that everyone eventually made it in by the time bruce kicked off with "summertime blues!"

springsteen has lost none of his energy - and may even have gained endurance - over all these years. he ran thru hit after hit with unrestrained enthusiasm - i mean this figuratively, and literally (as he repeated ran from one end to the stage to the other). with that high energy level pouring off the stage, the audience couldn't help but get pulled into the excitement. especially so since he followed up "summertime blues" with "tenth avenue freeze-out!" pretty cool, if you'll excuse the pun.

song highlights for me, after "freeze-out," included "spirit in the night" (my all time favorite bruce tune), "candy's room," "blinded by the light," and "she's the one." my favorite song of the night was, unquestionably, "because the night!" while he had written this one for patti smith, and her version of it is definitive, bruce took it back last night and redefined it in my book! truly spectacular performance of a classic!

other notable moments included pulling out and doing "pink flamingos" for his wife, patti. and the tossing water on the crowd when things got really heated during "mary's room." plus, taking requests via fan placards - including reading them out loud and putting them on display via the monitor - cool. the things i could do without: listening to his political laments (which, thankfully, he kept brief) and the row of drunken frat boys that occupied the seats directly behind us! i also wanted to hear "thunder road" (my other favorite bruce tune) - but since he had played it during the two previous shows, i didn't really expect to hear it.

all in all - this was a great bruce show! go SEE him! fwiw, one woman pat talked to as we entered the stadium had just driven 9 hours from virginia to catch this show (her 15th). that certain rises to the level of deadhead commitment - haha.

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check out the rest of the concert photos.

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Springsteen performs Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

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full setlist:

Summertime Blues
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Radio Nowhere

Prove It All Night

Two Hearts

The Promised Land

Spirit In the Night

Light of Day

Brilliant Disguise

Pretty Flamingo

Blinded By the Light

Cadillac Ranch

Candy's Room

Night

Because the Night

She's the One

Livin' In the Future

Mary's Place

Incident on 57th Street

The Rising

Last to Die

Long Walk Home

Badlands

encores:

first:

Jungleland

Born To Run

Bobby Jean

Dancing In the Dark

American Land

second:

Jersey Girl

Rosalita

my second bruce show: 1984

my first bruce show: 1980