1988-05-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

Premiere of "Vigilante Man" and the last known E Street Band "Crying". "Cover Me" includes "Gimme Shelter" in the outro. Uniquely, "She's The One" includes both "Who Do You Love?" and "Ain't Got You". "Part Man, Part Monkey" includes "Love Is Strange" in the outro. "Born To Run" is solo acoustic. Soundcheck reported to include the filming of the Folkways promo versions of "Vigilante Man" and "I Ain't Got No Home".

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´All That Heaven Will Allow´
´´How´s things in New York ? (cheers) how´s things in New Jersey out there ? (cheers) is that a hometown crowd (?) ? (cheers)….man, all this rain….yeah, it´s been raining since, since we got here….this is the time of year kind of when…..when it finally clears up and you get those days when it´s real cool….and the air´s real clear….there´s no humidity or anything, you know….girls leave all their winter clothes home….that´s when it´s nice to walk in New York, that´s my favorite time in New York…..you know, down….and then in the fall again ….they still selling them big, uh, big fat ice-cream bars on the corner and stuff ?….ooh…. usually when it gets around this time of year, everybody starts coming out of their houses and out of their apartments…..they start, they start to get that….that weather gets in your blood….that´s when I like to take a walk in the park and see if any of my old friends are around…..yo !….hey man !…how you doing ? alright….hey C, oh man, you´re looking good, I like that suit…what you been doing ? yeah….(?) been busy….I don´t get to see you as much as I would like to….what you been up to then ? Oh !….taking care of your kids, huh ?….see, there´s a little Big Man running on the streets out there now….he´s got his own shades and his own suit….he´s got a little saxophone…..he´s got a bunch of girlfriends already….oh, I like that (chuckles) yeah….he´s great, he´s great….I tell you….Clarence, man, Clarence used to….ok, I won´t (chuckles)….let´s go back….me and Clarence, we used to sit on this bench about ten years ago, you know….when we got back home off the road….now, it would take Clarence about three days to unpack….´cause he would be carrying bags everytime he went to his hotelroom….and in about ten minutes, the room would be…..would be metamorphosized into the Big Man Love Crib (chuckles)….(?)…the scarves over the lamps and everything (chuckles)….oh, now I´m losing my tie….it´s like….but we used to sit here and watch the girls, they had this building down on the corner….so they used to have to walk right down this street….they used to get off right about this time….let´s check ´em….here they come….check this one in the, in the white outfit….here she comes (?)….alright, ok….I remember I was with you the night you met your wife…..Clarence would always be knocking on my room, telling me how he met the girl he was in love with or the girl that he was gonna marry, year after year this went on…..then one night we´re finally at this party and this girl comes in, he runs in the bathroom, makes sure he´s looking good…..he comes out and he´s standing at the bar….he´s talking to her, he has on his love-face….which means he´s being a whole lot nicer than he really is….you gotta do it, you can´t show your real self till later, you know (chuckles) it´s uh….and…..then you got hitched up and I was your best man…. anyway….anyway, when that girl comes walking into the room and.you get that feeling inside when you see ´em….down in Jersey, it feels kind of like this (The Miami Horns start singing)….man, we used to stay out…..used to stay out after the show till like four or five a.m ….we don´t do that no more ….what about, what about tonight, what you doing ? (?)….let´s do it tonight, alright ? (?) you ready to do it tonight ? (cheers)…..”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´Spare Parts´
´´Well, there was, uh….this fella and this girl, they came from, they came from the same area….I guess he was, uh, he was a little younger than she was….and they met in this shot-and-beer bar down along, along the coast on the weekend, a weekend night….and uh…..he was a, I think he was a house painter…..and like I said he was a little on the young side (?) looking for fun….and she was a little bit older, she was, uh, she was looking for somebody to love her, somebody to be with….and they met in this little bar and they danced and it was nice, you know….they had the same band they´d go to see all the time….and uh…..and finally they, well, they fell in love and they moved into this little garage apartment about two blocks in off the coast….and things were real nice, it had a few rooms and had a little porch on it, it was in the wintertime….and she, uh, she liked him a lot, he was always, he was the kind of a guy who was sort of sweet-tempered and gentle and, you know, telling stupid jokes all the time….anyway, they, she got pregnant and they made plans to be married, he saved his money for the first time and he went….went downtown and bought her a ring and surprised her with it….and she went and she picked out a dress….and uh….then something happened, I guess….I guess he was a little on the young side, he got scared and he took off….but she never really let him go, she kept him in her mind and she kept him in her heart and she kept his things and she thought about him in the daytime when she was working and she thought about him at night when she got in bed, she saw his face….and it was like a memory of some old dream that the world takes and just breaks your heart with over and over again every single day because there comes a time when you gotta take that past…..and you gotta realise that it´s dead and you gotta put it away….so this is a song about a, this is a song about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own independent existence…..and the value of the life of her child….it´s about putting down, putting down the past, putting down the old dreams to find something new and beautiful and meaningful right now….”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´You Can Look´
´´Alright, let me see now…..first time I can remember, I was a little bitty baby….crawling on my knees across the floor….heading over towards the TV-set….and my mother saying ´Now, wait a minute….don´t touch that thing´….then I was a young boy….downtown in a department store (?) said ´Son, don´t touch that thing´….and then I was a young lad….out on a date with my girlfriend….and all I remember her saying was ´Please, put that thing away´…. and of course ´Don´t touch that thing….that looks dangerous….well, you can´t do that thing ….don´t mess with that thing now….what the hell is that thing ?´….anyway, it was all you can look but you better not touch….”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´I´m a Coward´
´´Let me regain my composure….is there anybody that needs a little redemption out there tonight ? (cheers) is there anybody that needs a little bit of the living spirit down in their souls ? (cheers)….that´s good…..because I´ve got a message that I´d like to deliver….but first I have a question….do we have any rough, tough, badass New York men out there tonight ? (cheers) do we have any of them macho North Jersey boys out there tonight ? (cheers) ´cause I've known men that could swim rivers, they could climb mountains, that could wrestle with the beasts of the jungle….but there was something they was afraid of….there was something that they was afraid of….and do you wanna know what that one thing was ?….what scared these brave men to death…..I´m gonna tell you right now, I´m talking about L-U-V, I'm talking about love…..love, love scared them to death….when they got next to love, they ran home to their mommies…..now, do we have any brave, courageous, heroic New York City women out there tonight ? (cheers) do we have any sweet, tough, liberated, (?), sexy New Jersey girls out there ? (cheers) because, girls, what I´m saying goes for you too….because I have known women…..women when they got next to love, when they started to feel love in their hearts….they ran back home….they ran home just like (?), that´s right, that´s right….now I´m not down here tonight just pointing my finger….because I´m down here because I have a confession to make…..and I am not ashamed about it….I need a little redemption tonight, I need a little real salvation down in my soul because I have sinned !….and I ain´t talking about the kind of sin that old Pat Robertson or Jim Baker or Jimmy Swaggert´s talking about…. them boys can kiss my ass, baby….and that Jerry Falwell, two times, right here (?)….because what I´ve got to confess here tonight….is that I´m a brave man….I am a courageous man but …..but I´m just a coward when it comes to love…."

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´Part Man Part Monkey´
´´Now, there´s those who believe we descended from Adam and Eve….the Garden of Eden ….and there´s those that, uh, we´ve all heard about that trial, you see, uh…..”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´Thank you, thanks a lot….oh….this is a song I wrote, oh, a long time ago now, it seems…. about 15 years ago I guess….and it´s funny because your songs, they always seem to know more about you than you know about yourself (?) I go back now and look at my old music and I see things there, little clues to myself that, that I didn´t learn for a long time…..and when I wrote this song, it was, I guess I was writing one of those songs ´cause in it I asked myself the questions that I´ve been chasing down the answers to for 15 years….and uh….I took this guy and this girl, I put ´em in this car….and uh….I guess I thought that they wanted to run and keep on running, you know….that was a nice romantic idea (chuckles) I loved it then….and I guess what I didn´t realise is that somehow I got in with ´em….and as I got older, if I didn´t find someplace for them to go, I wasn´t gonna find someplace for myself to go….you put all those people in all those cars, you gotta, you gotta find someplace for ´em ….as I sang this song through the years, it kind of opened up for me and shed a little light on the question and I realised that that individual freedom, in and of itself, is not enough without connection to friends or family or, or some sort of a community (?)….and that home is not, is not waiting over the hill and it´s not necessarily down on the corner or it´s not necessarily the house you lived in but that it´s waiting and buried down deep inside of each of us…..and that if we can find our way to being the best men and the best women that we can be, I think you get a little closer to that home…..so I´d like to sing this song for you tonight, this song´s kept me, uh, pretty good company on my search, I hope it´s kept you good company on yours….I wanna sing it for you tonight wishing you all love, home and happiness….. ”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´Have Love Will Travel´
´´Man, I don´t have to tell you why I´m down here tonight….is there anybody out there that needs a little love in their hearts ? (cheers) do you need a little, uh, personal attention ? (cheerrs) do you need a little, uh, uh, uh, do you need a little (?)….(?) to tell you….that I, I am here….because my motto is….Have Love Will Travel….”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, intro to ´Raise Your Hand´
´´(?) hey Danny, come on out here….you see, he hurt his neck, like, when he got up this morning, he hurt his back and now it´s getting to his head (?)….I don´t think he can walk, I think we might have to go home now….I can´t do it to this man, this man´s been my friend for 15 years, I can´t make him go on like this !….you ready, Dan ?….you think you can make it ?….(?) do you think he can make it ? I don´t know….let´s give it a try, let´s give it a try…. (?)…well, do you need a religious liberation out here ? do you need a little spiritual affirmation ?…are you ready for some sexual consummation ?….then just raise your hand one time….”

19.05.88 New York City, NY, middle of ´Light of Day´
´´On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan….on the drums, the Mighty, Mighty Max Weinberg…. on the guitar and vocals, the lovely Miss Patti Scialfa….on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren …..on the bass, Mr.Garry W.Tallent…..on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici…..and back on the horns, we got Eddie ´Kingfish´ Manion, Richie ´The Sexiest Man in New Jersey´ Rosenberg, Mark ´The Love Man´, Mike and Mario Cruz, the Horns of Love ….and last but not least…..that´s right…..the man you´ve all been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen…..a man that can only be described as the greatest human being in the history of Western civilization ….and the handsomest man New York City has ever seen….Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone….´´

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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