1992-07-23 Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

First night of an eleven night stand. "With Every Wish" gets its U.S. debut - and its last known performance. "Souls Of The Departed" also has it's first ever performance in the U.S. Patti Scialfa joins on "Brilliant Disguise". "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played as a lead-in to "Born In The U.S.A.".

Patti Scialfa (Guest)

Intro to "Local Hero"
”There I was….back in New Jersey (cheers)…..”

Intro to "Lucky Town"
”Hello out there (cheers)…..(?)….long time, no see (chuckles)(cheers)…..”

Intro to "Dancing in the Dark"
”Thanks so much…..did you ever….did you ever wake up one morning and wanna change your whole life ?….”

Intro to "Darkness on the Edge of Town"
”Thanks….yeah….I wrote this when I was , uh…..28 , felt like I had nothing left to lose (chuckles)(cheers)…..let’s try it….”

Intro to "If I Should Fall Behind"
”Thank you so much, nice to be home, thank you (cheers)…..this next song…..it took me a long time to write this next song….back when I was….when I was starting out, I wrote a lot of songs that were kinda….about imagining life…..imagining a life without limitations…..and it was a (?) that you could only imagine, I guess…..’cause when you start to live it, you come crashing….hard (chuckles)…..to your own….your own frailties…..and your own limits….I guess this is a song about learning to live with those things….and uh……and uh, joining the….miracles that we give to each other (chuckles) (cheers)….this is uh…..everybody needs a little help….”

Intro to "My Hometown"
”Thank you….kids….yeah….oh man…..a lot’s happened since I seen you last (cheers)… got a beautiful little girl (cheers)(chuckles)…..a beautiful little boy…..married a Jersey girl (cheers)….took me twice….but I got it (chuckles)…..and uh….this song I wrote about ten years ago….I was uh…..I was living out in California in ‘82 and uh…..I had uh (some boos)…..get the hostility out now, go ahead, I can take it (boos)…..you can do better than that (cheers and boos)….alright, where was I ? (chuckles)….kids….alright, uh, that’s something that uh….said that nothing you ever do for children is wasted….and I wrote this song…..and I was thinking back…..you see, sometimes some small things that you do……will stay, you know, stays in your mind forever and ever, I always remember my dad took me on the frontseat of the car…..and (?) to drive….. and kids are good because they take you, they take you out…..they take you from outside of your…..outside of yourself, you know…..they want you to come out all the time, come out, play out in the real world…..so …. anyway this song is, I guess, about the legacy that we leave to….our children, what kinda world we leave ‘em…..what kinda… spirits we try (?)…..so I wannd do this tonight, uh…..that’s why I sound like a presidential candidate , I wanna (cheers) (chuckles)…..I wanna do this tonight from my children to your children….we got any moms and pops out there ? (cheers)…..alright…”

Intro to "Leap of Faith"
”Oh yeah (laughs)….oh yeah…..before I go into this next song, I gotta stop for a minute because uh…..we got a sponsor tonight (boos)….that’s right….we got a sponsor tonight (boos)…that’s right but I wanna tell you one thing now….our sponsor tonight , I’m not out here tonight to try and sell you no beer and I’m not gonna try and sell you no sneakers (cheers)….and I’m not gonna try and sell you no soda pop (cheers)…..because our sponsor tonight is….love ! (cheers)….that’s right, that’s right, our sponsor tonight is love, this next section of this show is for lovers only and what I want you to know is anybody out there familiar with love ? (cheers)…..has anybody out there been stomped into the ground, had mud thrown into their face, been kicked in their heart (cheers) , been torn to shreds by love ? (cheers)….if you have, let me hear you (cheers)….that’s right, that´s right….. that’s right but….you keep coming back, you keep coming back and you keep coming back and you meet somebody new and that takes…..faith, that’s right (giggles)….it takes a little bit of faith and it takes some hope….now, this next song is a song about love, it’s a song about faith, it’s a song about hope, it’s a song about bizarre ritualistic sexual practises (cheers) ….oh yes it is….and it’s completely one hundred percent autobiographical (cheers)…..”

Intro to "With Every Wish"
”Got a bedtime story for you…..yeah…so….when you have those kids, you kinda…. reacquaint with all those fairytales….and I remembered my….grandmother (?) told me when I was a kid…..at night before my kids go to bed , I got this book…..you know it´s a Mother Goose book….and I…..read….I go through all the fairytales, you know, it starts out, uh…..first one is uh…..you know ‘Hey diddle diddle….cat and a fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon’ (chuckles)….that’s good…..and you go through the book and I think there’s ‘Mary had a little lamb’ and…..then it gets to, uh……’Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a big fall…..all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again’ (cheers)….thank you…..that’s kinda tragic….that for like, my little boy’s two years old….that seems….that’s too sad already…and you go on and you get to….you know ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down….broke his crown and Jill came (?)’….that’s tragic too….but now….I read all the way through…..now if I skip over the ones that…..that are sad….he knows and he goes back and opens the book…..makes me read it because uh…..’cause those sad stories are in the book…..anyway this is my…..this is my fairytale….let’s try it…..”

Intro to "Glory Days"
”Is the band ready ?….are the New Jerseyans ready ? (cheers)….
(….) Keep on rocking now….I wanna see if you still got it out there…..I gotta see if you still got it…..you’re looking a little older out there…..you’re looking a little older out there…….(music comes down)…..alright….come down where the party is….. everybody……are you alright back there ? (cheers)….(Bruce introduces the band) ….that’s right…. that’s right…..oh yeah…..we ain’t done, uh….let me see….last time we were in the States we did that radio broadcast, right ?…..and I think, didn’t I predict that like my records were gonna go zooming back to the top of the charts ? (cheers)…..that’s right….we´ve been away for a while, let’s…..let’s see how my prediction, uh…..went…. has anybody got a Billboard Magazine out there ?….thank you, Sir…..alright, let me check out that Top 10…..(?)….alright….here’s the Top 10, there’s uh…..Garth Brooks is still up there, Isee…..and Def Leppard , they’re hanging in there , they’re hanging in there, oh shit……(?) I must be in the Top 20, they must…..they must’ve got the Top 20 somewhere….there’s Elton John, he’s older, older than me…..where’s Weird Al Jankovich , where’s he ?….shit, he’s at 57, where am I ?….Jesus Christ, where am I ?….I must be on the other goddamn page (chuckles)….alright, wait (?)….what ? Gee…. 73 !…..wait a minute , ‘Lucky Town’ at hundred and fucking five ! (laughter)….I’m in the Top 100 ?….(?)….but anyway…..we’re…..we’re here for….we’re here for bigger reasons than those damn records’sales (cheers)…..we’re here….we’re here for bigger reasons than just to chase those big bucks all around…..can anybody tell me what those big reason are ? …..weeellll, aaah……let’s rock !……(the song goes and when it seems that it’ll end:) I know what you’re thinking…you’re thinking uh….you’re thinking that I can’t continue….alright….I know what you’re thinking….you’re thinking (?) ‘Oh, that’s lazy’….and I can’t continue, is that right ?….I’m here to testify, I’m here to give witness (?)….but I need a little help (cheers)…..”

Intro to "Thunder Road"
”I just wanna take a second and uh….(?)(chuckles)….I wanna take a second and thank everybody for coming down to the show (cheers) , thank you very much……and uh…. I know….I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just….want you to know that I….. appreciate your enduring support, thank you (cheers)….anyway….this is for uh….. this for all my old fans out there (cheers)…..”

Intro to "Born to Run"
”We’ve come along way back around to this one, so…..let’s do it…..”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

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Springsteen, 42, Leans Toward Family Values

"Have we got any moms and pops out there?" Bruce Springsteen asked the audience that packed the Brendan Byrne Arena on Thursday night. It was an unusual question for a rock concert, but Mr. Springsteen is proud to be a grown-up. "You're looking a little older out there," he said to the crowd. Aging gracefully may be the hardest feat in rock, but Mr. Springsteen stands a chance of doing just that.

In his first tour since 1988, introducing a new band and playing predominantly new songs, Mr. Springsteen has changed his role once again. The voice of hot-wired romance and disillusion in the 1970's and the voice of working folks' struggles in the 1980's has returned as a 42-year-old family man, singing about the healing power and everyday complications of love.

At the arena, he talked soberly about "the legacy we leave to our children," and brought out his wife, Patty Scialfa, to sing an affectionate duet during "Brilliant Disguise." At one point, he recited Mother Goose rhymes. But while Mr. Springsteen is now married with children, he is still ready to create a rocking good time.

By starting his tour in New Jersey, where he is playing 11 concerts through Aug. 10, Mr. Springsteen jovially defies any resentment some fans might feel about his leaving his home state for Hollywood. When he mentioned living in California, the crowd booed. "Get the hostility out," Mr. Springsteen urged, "I can take it." Later, the trim, muscular singer joked about notions that he "got all fat and lazy" on the West Coast; his concert stretched to more than three hours of music.

In his time off, Mr. Springsteen has been revitalized. Songs that can sound overly earnest on albums, like the Roy Orbison-style "A Man's Job," become gleeful on stage. Mr. Springsteen remains one of rock's most appealing performers, filling songs with the physicality of both his husky voice and his hard-working body language, mixing what looks like sincerity with exuberant shtick.

He pulled band members, and a fan or two, into the spotlight with hearty camaraderie. Orating like a televangelist, he described "Leap of Faith," a love song, as a song about faith, love, and "bizarre ritualistic sex practices," adding, "And it's completely 100 percent autobiographical." At the end of the song, he leaped into the audience, then swam back to the stage atop the crowd's arms.

The only holdover from Mr. Springsteen's long-running E Street Band is Roy Bittan, on keyboards. The new group also includes Shane Fontayne on guitar; Tommy Sims on bass; Zachary Alford on drums, and Crystal Taliefero on guitar, percussion and, at one crucial moment, saxophone. Ms. Taliefero also sings along with five backup vocalists: Bobby King, Gia Ciambotti, Carol Dennis, Cleo Kennedy and Angel Rogers.

Although the band can re-create the bustling, tootling E Street sound in older songs, most of the time it is leaner and guitar-driven. Mr. Fontayne, formerly of the California country-rock band Lone Justice, provides sustained, rolling rhythm guitar; Mr. Springsteen plays raw, stinging, blues and rock-tinged leads. Some older songs, like "Thunder Road" and "Dancing in the Dark," have been recast as introspective solos or duets; others charge along in familiar arrangements.

The band can sound smooth in ballads, with the backup singers harmonizing on ooh's and woo's. Mr. King brings a gospel falsetto to songs with a touch of 1960's soul music, while Ms. Taliefero is a sassy female foil. But Mr. Springsteen's new band opens up for fierce, primal rock, as it did in "Cover Me" — with a searing guitar solo by Mr. Springsteen — and "Souls of the Departed," about the horrors of the world outside the nuclear family. In "57 Channels," a new arrangement also invoked some 1990's effects, with taped sound bites and a danceable beat, as close to trendy as Mr. Springsteen approached.

Mr. Springsteen has left behind his commercial peak of the mid-1980's, when he sold more than 10 million copies of "Born in the U.S.A." During the concert, he made a show of searching Billboard's chart for his two 1992 albums, "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town," grumbling about the higher showing of Garth Brooks, Def Leppard and "Elton John — he's even older than me." When it comes to rocking a concert audience, though, Mr. Springsteen thrives without any gimmick beyond songs, voice and charisma. He riveted attention; there wasn't even a video screen to enlarge his image.

With noise and fragmentation all over popular music, Mr. Springsteen remains an old-fashioned craftsman, writing terse four-minute songs that invoke the directness of country, rhythm-and-blues and early rock. "Light of Day" celebrated the momentum of three chords and a basic riff as if they had just been invented.

Mr. Springsteen has come the long way around to rediscover one of rock's bedrock messages: that secular love can offer transcendence. He opened the concert with "Better Days," a song about being saved from despair by love. Mr. Springsteen describes hopelessness in more detail (and with better aphorisms) than early rockers did, and he warns that romance can have its ups and downs. Yet as he turns inward, celebrating the sanctuary of wife and family, Mr. Springsteen still can't find anything better than love.

^{By Jon Pareles via The New York Times.}

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Springsteen, 42, Leans Toward Family Values ^{(NewYorkTimes)}

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Springsteen, 42, Leans Toward Family Values