Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??
Roy Orbison's "Crying" is included in the set after the many soundcheck appearances. The first of two "New York, New York" performances of the tour ends the show in an instrumental arrangement. Last performance for "Walk Like A Man" until 2005. "Cover Me" includes "Gimme Shelter" in the outro and "Part Man, Part Monkey" includes "Love Is Strange" in the outro. "Born To Run" is solo acoustic. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" is dropped for the first time on the tour.
- On Stage
- Setlist
- Performances
- Appearances
- Cancelled
- Gallery
- Media
- Recording
- Storyteller
- Eyewitness
- News/Memorabilia
incl. Rehearsals.
- 2023-04-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2022-10-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2019-11-04 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-11-05 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-07-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2017-09-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-11-01 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2016-03-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-01-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2015-11-10 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2015-07-31 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2014-11-05 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2013-11-06 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2012-12-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-09 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-06 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2011-12-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-08 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-07 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-30 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-05-03 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2006-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2003-02-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2002-08-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-07-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-20 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1997-02-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1993-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-08-24 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-16 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1987-12-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1983-08-02 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-14 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
incl. Interviews and Recording-sessions.
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© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.
Official concert recording available for purchase in multiple formats, including CD and high definition audio, from Springsteen's official live download site at live.brucespringsteen.net.
- Running Time: 3:18:02
Note: "In Dreams" from the soundcheck is included as a bonus track.
Audience tape ('Unbooted').
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Intro to “Tunnel of Love”
´´Ready for a ride ? (cheers)….´´
Intro to “All That Heaven Will Allow”
´´So is spring on the East Coast here yet ? (cheers) how´s things down in New Jersey, man ? (cheers) I ain´t been there in a little while….still there, right ? south, right ? (cheers) we will never die (chuckles)….oh man, it´s nice to come back when it´s springtime, you know….(?) you know, girls leave their winterclothes home, they all look like they´re dressed for summertime out here…..hey, honey….you look good (chuckles)(?)(chuckles) we get days like today and yesterday, you know, I like to take my jacket off…..(?)….that´s when I like to take a little walk in the park and see if any of my old friends are around….hey, hey, man ! yo ! how you doing ? alright (chuckles) good to see you….oh….what´ve you been doing ? how come don´t you ever call me ?….yeah, yeah…..yeah, oh, that´s nice, that´s nice, what do you got ?….oh-oh, baby pictures of the little Big Man….(chuckles) oh, he looks good, he´s got his own shades, he´s got a little saxophone…..(chuckles) he´s got his own apartment, drives his own car, he´s three years old, he´s as big as me already….yeah, a lot of little babies running around up here now….in about 15 years there´s gonna be a E Street Band Volume Two…. (chuckles) he looks good, he looks good….oh man, I remember I was with you the night you met your wife…..the night Clarence meets his wife, he comes, we´re at this little party and she comes walking in and…..you know, she was real nice and…..Clarence comes running up to me, ´Bruce, Bruce´….everytime he would meet a girl that he liked, he would come to me for advice….I was like his Dr.Ruth or something, I don´t know….so he comes up to me, he says ´Bruce, Bruce´, then he runs into the bathroom and he starts fixing himself up and you had that, uh, that patchuli oil that you used to put on yourself all the time…..(?)(chuckles) then he comes out and I´m like following behind him a little bit and listening and I hear him at the bar talking to her and he has on what I call his love-face…..that means he´s being a whole lot nicer than he really is, you see (chuckles) but it worked, you did good, you know, I was your best man and Jesus, I don´t know….remember like back home when that girl walks into the room or comes walking by that you´re interested in and you want her to have some interest in you, it feels kind of like this, hey Ritchie, come on, man…..from the men´s room of New Jersey (the Miami Horns start singing)(?)….yeah….remember we used to stay out like till 4 or 5 a.m ?….we should do that again, we should do that tonight…..you guys can stay up late, huh ? (cheers) good (chuckles) I´ll see you later, alright, alright, I forgot my coat…..´´
Intro to “Spare Parts”
´´How you doing out there, alright ? (cheers) how are you guys in the backseat ? (cheers) that´s good….oh, there was, uh, this fella and this girl….they, uh, they met in a little shot-and-beer bar down along the coast on the weekend….and he was a house painter, he was kind of young and a little on the wild side, wasn´t saving his money or anything….and she was a little older and she was looking for, looking for somebody to love her….and they met on a Friday, Friday or Saturday night and they started to go out…..there were a lot of things about him that she liked, he was kind of, kind of sweet-tempered guy, you know, real, real gentle, telling, uh, jokes all the time…..and they moved in together, they got a little garage apartment about two blocks in off the beach in the wintertime….and things were going real nice….and
she got pregnant and they were making plans to be married….he saved his money for the first time and he went down and, and got her a ring, brought it home….surprised her….and she went down and picked out a dress…..and then something happened….and I guess he got a little scared, maybe he was a little young or something and he took off on her….but she never really let him go, she kept him in her mind and she kept him in her heart every night and every day….when she got in bed at night, she thought of him and saw his face….and the only problem was that he wasn´t ever coming back….and the world took that dream and broke her heart with every day….because there comes a time when you gotta take that past and you gotta put it away….so this song, this is a song about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own individual existence…..and the value of the life of her child….trying to put down that past, those old dreams that are tying her down and find something new and beautiful and meaningful now….”
Intro to “You Can Look”
´´This is a song dedicated to that great American pastime…..ah, not that one…..that´s the old one….I´m talking about shopping…..you know that, uh, Home Shopping Network you got around here ?….now tell me you don´t see that damn Home Shopping Network ?….the lady with the little damn horn ?….she beeps the thing everytime somebody buys something….it was 69.95, now down to 49.95, down to 19.95, down to 10.95, if you call in the next ten seconds, they´ll send you a free pair of steak knives that you can stab your hubby with…..´´
Intro to “I´m a Coward”
´´Let me get my composure back….is my hair alright ?….still up there ?….do we have anybody alive and living in New York tonight ? (cheers) is there anybody that can feel the spirit in them out there tonight ? (cheers)….that´s good because…..what I want to know is…. do we have any rough, tough, New York City men out there tonight ? (cheers) do we have any macho New Jersey men out there tonight ? (cheers) because I've known men that would swim rivers….that would climb mountains…..that would wrestle with the beasts of the jungle, that´s right….but there was one thing that they was afraid of….do you wanna know what that one thing was ?….huh ?….I´m talking about L-U-V, I'm talking about love…..love scared them to death….when they got next to love…..when they felt love in their hearts, they ran home to their mommies like little babies….am I talking about you ?….now, do we have any brave, courageous, New York City women out there tonight ? (cheers) do we have any sweet, sexy, liberated, New Jersey women out there tonight ? (cheers) because, girls, I´m talking to you too….I´ve known women that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet …. but when they got next to love, when they found that man….that touched them down deep in their hearts…..when they found that object of their desire and emotion….they ran home…. now I´m not just down here pointing a finger tonight….because I´ve got a confession of my own to make…..and what I wanna say is I have sinned !….and I don´t need no Jim Baker, no Pat Robertson, no Jimmy Swaggert to forgive me…..them boys can kiss my ass, baby….and that Jerry Falwell, he can kiss my ass twice…..both cheeks…..´cause I ain´t afraid of man-made things….but what I´ve got to confess to is…..that´s right….I´m a coward…..when it comes to love…..´´
Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´Now, there´s those that believe we descended from Adam and Eve…..and there´s those that, uh…..well, let me explain this to you…..´´
Middle of “Light of Day”
´´On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan….on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa….on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren…..on the bass, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici….back on the horns we´ve got…. (?) the Horns of Love….and last but not least….the man that you´ve been waiting for to replace Mayor Collins….the greatest man in the history of western civilization….and the handsomest man this town´s ever seen, Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone…..´´
Intro to “Born to Run”
´´Thanks…..I was sitting at home before we come out on the road thinking what I wanted to come out and sing about and…..talk to you about…..I knew I wanted to come out and sing a new song…..that´s my job….and then I thought about some other things that I wanted to do that would fit in….with what we were trying to say….and uh, I guess this next song, I´ve been singing for about 15 years…..I wrote it when I was 24 years old….and I guess it surprises me about how much I knew about what I wanted and what I was after because the questions that I asked myself in this song, I´ve been chasing down the answers to ever since…..I don´t know if you ever really find those answers…..but uh, when I wrote it, I thought I was writing about, writing about a guy and a girl who wanted to get in the car, keep on running and never come back…..yeah….that was a nice, uh, nice romantic idea…..I loved it…..but as you get a little older and as I sang this song through the years, I realised that I´d put all these people in all these cars and I was gonna have to figure out someplace for ´em to go….just in order to, uh, find out where I was going…..and I guess I felt that that individual freedom, separated from, from community or other people or your friends ends up feeling pretty empty and meaningless…..so I guess that guy and that girl, they were out there searching, searching for some connection….which I feel basically is what I´m doing here tonight….the money ain´t bad either (chuckles) but you gotta have that other thing (chuckles) so, uh…..this song has kept me pretty good company on my search….in trying to figure out what home is, where it is, how to get to it, how to hold on to it….I hope it´s kept you good company on your search and I´d like to sing it for you tonight….wishing, uh, wishing all of you love, home and happiness….. ”
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
Sorry, no Eyewitness-report available.
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© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.
Springsteen at the Garden |
''There comes a time when you've got to take the past and put it behind you,'' Bruce Springsteen said at Madison Square Garden last night during the opening show of his ''Tunnel of Love Express Tour.'' Mr. Springsteen's reflection was part of a monologue that introduced a powerful, hard-edged new rock song, ''Spare Parts,'' about young love, pregnancy and abandonment, but his words also evoked the transitional position in which America's quintessential rock hero finds himself.
Mr. Springsteen is no longer a romantic rock-and-roll cutup striking rebel poses and evoking a world of youthful fuel-injected passion. Now 38 and married, and having left the New Jersey shore for a home in New York City, he is an adult who maintains a kid's enthusiasm for rock while trying to make grown-up sense out of relationships and the social order.
As the wonderful new songs in the ''Tunnel of Love'' album demonstrate, Mr. Springsteen has entered a new phase. These songs are the first in which he takes a hard look at the reality of personal relationships, sorting through all the ambiguities of love - commitment and fear, security and boredom, sexual selfishness and emotional generosity. He finds the terrain perilous and unpredictable, yet manages to remain affirmative, in much the same way that ''Born in the U.S.A.'' scrutinized ordinary lives caught in the vise of social upheaval, yet managed to sound optimistic. Mr. Springsteen is, as he once wrote, a believer in ''The Promised Land.''
Mr. Springsteen's gift is his ability to translate all of these ambiguities into basic, non-analytical argot that speaks as much to the body and the emotions as to the mind. In concert, he has also figured out how to string songs into extended journeys that take on a cumulative power as the evening proceeds. His ''Tunnel of Love Express Tour,'' which is to play four more Garden shows, all of them sold out, might be described as a serious carnival ride from confusion into jubilation.
Last night's first set, which opened with the new album's title song, tunneled into the heart of darkness and reached depths of anguished frustration in ''Seeds'' and ''Roulette,'' the howling laments of working men victimized by social change. The second set, which included such Springsteen classics as ''I'm On Fire,'' ''Born to Run,'' ''Dancing in the Dark'' and ''Hungry Heart,'' was more upbeat, with Mr. Springsteen poking fun at television evangelists and delivering rollicking renditions of ''Glory Days'' and ''Rosalita'' - raucous, punchy songs with a nostalgic clout.
The locomotive-driven arrangements by Mr. Springsteen and members of the E Street Band, augmented by a roaring five-man horn section, skillfully underscored the songs' deeper themes without ever seeming fussy. The keyboard textures on ''Tunnel of Love'' and other songs walk a perfect tightrope between churchy seriousness and carnival sleaze, and the jackhammer rhythms of ''Roulette'' evoke both patriotic zeal and murderous fantasy.
Drawing just the right shadings was Mr. Springsteen's magnificent performance, almost operatic in its oratorical power and at the same time a ferociously joyful roar of exuberant freedom. While he's onstage, Mr. Springsteen reconciles seemingly unreconcilable concepts: a sober awareness of social and erotic realities and a boundless faith in life.
| By Stephen Holden via The New York Times. |
In Dreams You’re Mine All Of The Time |
The Tunnel of Love tour again? That’s surely a sentiment some are expressing with this month’s release of New York 5/16/88, the outstanding opening night performance from the final, five-show stand on the US leg of the 1988 tour.
On the surface the POV is understandable, as most shows on the Tunnel of Love Express Tour shared the same narrative arc and core songs. However beautifully realized it was, the argument goes, how distinctive is one Tunnel show from another?
It’s curious that 1988 comes in for such carping when one of Bruce’s most-beloved tours, in support of Darkness on the Edge of Town ten years earlier, followed a similar formula, largely sticking to a consistent group of songs for the core set, augmented by select cover versions and rarities that made a particular show extra special.
Both tours showcased a trove of material not found on Springsteen’s studio albums. In 1988, that included originals “Be True,” “Seeds,” “Part Man, Part Monkey,” “Light of Day,” and “I’m a Coward,” the latter a (nearly) complete rewrite of Geno Washington’s “Geno Is a Coward.” Bruce played those five songs across the US tour. But as the Express rolled on, cover songs—most entirely new to Springsteen setlists—began to appear, seemingly out of nowhere. But behind the scenes, their origin was part of the 1988 journey all along.
While the ’88 main set stayed consistent over the tour’s first two months, Bruce and the band operated as a virtual jukebox during their afternoon soundchecks,, test-driving dozens of cover songs. Eventually, some graduated from these private rehearsals to the main set.
These pre-show performances were explorations of the music Bruce and the band—and importantly, the horn section—grew up on or newly admired. Long soundchecks, like those that took place in Atlanta, Tacoma, and New York, were practically mini-concerts played for their own enjoyment.
On opening night at Madison Square Garden, cover songs born in soundchecks ultimately tip the show from good to great. Now released in brilliant, multi-track audio with one very special bonus track, in the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel, MSG Night One “goes to 11.”
John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” is the first cover of the night, newly added to the set two shows prior in Minneapolis. Gritty guitar and horns combine to give “Boom Boom” swagger, and its inclusion feels topical given the subject matter (“take you in my arms, I’m in love with you”). Bruce tosses in a long, bonus “make loooove” to eliminate any ambiguity.
Between “Boom Boom” and the first set’s other cover, Edwin Starr’s depressingly still-appropriate “War ” we are treated to a number of terrific performances. “Adam Raised a Cain,” reborn in 1988, offers a weighty lead vocal, including a fresh exchange with Nils towards the end. Bruce’s guitar work at the top of “Adam” and later in the solo are fiery, and the horns raise the drama to arena level. “Two Faces” is thoughtfully rendered and thematically resonant, as is “Cover Me”: Bruce dips into lyrics from the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” declaring “I need a little shelter now,” “It’s just a kiss away,” and his own revealing improvisation, “I can’t see no sunshine.” Not surprisingly given the circumstances we get an especially earnest “Brilliant Disguise,” too.
The cracking first set ends with another epic “Born in the U.S.A.,” played at a seemingly pacier tempo and loaded with emotive guitar soloing, synthesizer pitch-wheel bending, and a nifty bit of Max Weinberg cymbal pinging between channels as Bruce’s voice rises to sing, “I’ve got a picture of him in her arms.”
The second set keeps pace with the first, and while there are no surprises per se (those are still to come), the band is playing at their 1988 peak. For highlights, first among equals is “Walk Like a Man,” making its second full-band appearance in the Archive series and sounding more vivid and widescreen than the version captured in Detroit in March. The arrangement features what might be the best work by the Horns of Love of the entire tour. While everyone in the band is playing brilliantly, Garry Tallent’s bass gives the song a lush bed on which the other instrumentation flourishes. It’s a stunner.
The encores on the 1988 tour were consistently strong, and the addition of “Have Love, Will Travel” by The Sonics delightfully balances the Memphis soul of “Raise Your Hand” and “Sweet Soul Music” with Northwest garage rock. “Have Love” is another song that graduated from the encore to the main set, and for the night’s most special moment, Bruce played that hand again.
“I’m gonna do a song now that’s a favorite song of mine,” he says. “I don’t sing it as good as the guy that originally sang it, but I like it a lot, and this is my night in the big room. I just love this song.”
What follows is a majestic, reverent, and perfectly arranged rendition of Roy Oribson’s “Crying.” Optimized for his vocal range, the performance features Springsteen singing with stunning control. What Orbison brings the song in soaring, operatic notes, Bruce makes up for with power and conviction. What a treat to add it to the master song list of the Live Archive series.
It’s no surprise that Bruce was feeling triumphant at the end of the night, and his band commemorates the moment in the most Big Apple way possible, playing an instrumental “New York, New York” for his walk-off music.
“New York, New York” was the last song of the 5/16/88 show, but it isn’t the final track on this release. We’re gifted a glimpse into those legendary soundtracks with the inclusion of “In Dreams,” recorded pre-show.
Bruce’s Orbison bonafides were well established even before participating in the television tribute special A Black and White Night, shot in September 1987. He had explored The Big O’s music in soundchecks for weeks leading up to New York City. The only E Street Band performances of “Crying” appeared during this MSG run, but “In Dreams” never even made it to the show.
The Archive has been fortunate to feature two other songs from 1988 soundchecks, “For You Love” from 5/23 and “Reason to Believe” from 3/28. But “In Dreams,” perhaps the most mystical song in the Orbison canon, feels most like we’ve snuck into the venue early and heard something only intended for the musicians on stage. What a treat. When “In Dreams” finishes, Bruce offers a self-review of their performance that I won’t spoil, but you’re sure to smile as I did.
The first night at Madison Square Garden in 1988 is an outstanding Tunnel of Love performance and, better still, a previously unheard and worthy homage to one of the biggest musical influences in Springsteen’s career.
| By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net. |
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