2002-08-07 Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time 20:15 / End Time 22:40

Info & Setlist | Venue

The Rising Tour kicks off with no real surprises given the rehearsal shows. Not the greatest show to open the tour, with technical and pacing problems. "Waitin' On A Sunny Day" is dedicated to Brendan O'Brien. "Mary's Place" includes "Baby, I've Been Missing You".

07.08.02 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´Empty Sky´
´´Thank you….thanks….thanks for coming out to our tour opener….and uh, it´s always great to be opening here in the Garden State….woa….alright, I hope you have a good time tonight, this is uh….gonna need some real quiet, real quiet for this next song and the one that follows, please, thank you….I know you can do it….I mean I´m excited too…..I took that, that nice last calming piss right before I came out and I feel great…..always brings the old, puts the thing right in context…..”

07.08.02 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´Waitin´on a Sunny Day´
´´(?) and fiddle players….my darling, please…..alright, this is the only place I get to call the shots so I´m gonna (chuckles) I´m gonna make the most of it, baby…..wanna send this one out to Brendan O´Brien tonight….it´s his song, alright….”

07.08.02 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´Mary´s Place´
"Are you ready for a house party ?….Jersey beach style…. summer house party….I was…I was about my oldest son´s age, I was about 12 and….I had these older cousins, two older cousins, 15 and 16 and they used to win all the dance contests…along the Shore…they were like these fabulous… fabulous dancers….and one night my mother took me to the beach, they had a house by the beach…and I watched and they rolled up the rug and….they put all the furniture outside….and they had one of those little Vox 45 record players….and I sat there…. looking at the girls….they were like three or four years older than you were and you were like 12 and they were like 16 but….they all looked like ´Oh…my….God!…When will I get there ???´….and uh….I just…. it was just a great night, it always stuck in my head because it seemed so mysterious, you know ….those four years seemed so fucking mysterious….and uh ….house parties, uh….give me a little hit, boys….not so much….don´t need much more than that to get started….
(….) But now, you can´t have a house party without a house band….and we´ve got tonight the greatest little house band in the land…..on the piano….the illegimate son of Jerry Lee Lewis and Liberace, Professor Roy Bittan….on the violin and vocals, Sister Soozie Tyrell….from New York City…on the guitar, we´ve got the coolest little deejay in the U.S.A…..Up from the Underground, Silvio, Silvio, where art thou, Little Steven on the guitar….on the bass we´ve got the man that bring the thunder from down under, the Tennesee Terror, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the drums, the man that brings the power hour after hour…the result of a menage a trois between Keith Moon, Buddy Rich and Ed McMahon…..star of Late Night Television, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the guitar, we´ve got the great Nils Lofgren…. Brother man….on the organ, from way out west, western New Jersey that is, Brother Dan Federici from Flemington….on guitar and vocals, the First Lady of love, Miss Patti Scialfa…. you´re looking good, baby….(?) Viagra (?) put it away….natural Viagra, ladies and gentlemen (chuckles)….and last but not least, Minister of soul….Secretary of the brotherhood ….do I have to say his name ?….you wish you could be like him but you can´t….Clarence Big Man Clemons….”

07.08.02 East Rutherford, NJ, middle of ´Glory Days´
´´Come on, Steve (Steve : ´Yeah, baby´) we gotta keep rocking, baby (Steve : ´I´m with you, baby´) we got a long road in front of us (?) huh ?….no, there´s more shows after this…. alright, we gotta go to Washington, New York City….Detroit….Cleveland….a whole bunch of other places….(?) come back to New Jersey….”

07.08.02 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´My City of Ruins´
´´Thanks….thank you….oh….one, two….I could use some more of my voice….testing one…. one, two, three….little bit more than that, yeah….I think a little more piano too….oh….I wanna thank everybody for coming out and joining us while we´re…..it´s our opening night ….we´re, uh….we´re shaking the (?) little bit here and uh, I also wanna thank, send this one out to the folks that were with us down in Asbury for our rehearsal shows….had a lot of fun there….had us a good time….so, uh….this is a little prayer from my adopted hometown…. down there, you guys oughta come down, check the place out, a lot of, lot of stuff going on in Asbury Park now, a lot of new businesses and….people really struggling get the….the town back up, it´s uh….and also tonight we´re here with our, our old friends from the Community Foodbank of New Jersey and uh….Kathleen (?), she´s been on the frontlines down there for a long time working very hard….New Jersey, uh, Interfaced Partnership for Disaster Recovery is with us and foodbank of (?) and Ocean counties, if you see those folks out there, give ´em a hand…..thank you….. ”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

^{© All credits to the original photographer.}

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Opening Night for ‘The Rising’ Tour

When Bruce Springsteen took the stage for the opening date of his yearlong world tour, he looked like a man who was ready to go to work. Unsmiling, he strode to the microphone, offered a terse “Good evening,” and then the E Street Band — bolstered by violinist Soozie Tyrell — lit into “The Rising,” the title track of his new album. Springsteen slashed at his guitar and sang with an intimidating intensity. He was dressed in black, as was most of the band, and the stage was somberly lighted; the group’s playing was forceful and resolute, if a bit inhibited.

The whole thing felt important but wasn’t very much fun. The vagaries of opening night were part of the problem. Half of the show’s twenty-two songs were from The Rising, and the band isn’t yet comfortable with all that new material. Equipment problems also cropped up; the tech crew were onstage so often you could have mistaken them for band members. The more vexing issue, however, was the nature of the new songs themselves. Many address the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, and the complex intimacy demanded by the likes of “Empty Sky,” “You’re Missing” and “Into the Fire” proved elusive in an arena. Consequently, the shallowest songs on The Rising worked best. “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” sparked a sing-along of such enthusiasm that even Springsteen seemed surprised; less successfully, “Mary’s Place” provided the occasion for the ritual introduction of the E Street Band.

For the encore, Springsteen pulled out “Born to Run,” “Glory Days” and “Thunder Road,” to rapturous response. And finally, in the show’s last two songs — a fevered “Born in the U.S.A.,” a soaring “Land of Hope and Dreams” — Springsteen found the balance he’d been searching for: a vision of a ravaged America redeemed by the generosity of its best intentions.

^{By Anthony DeCurtis via Rolling Stone.}

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Opening Night for ‘The Rising’ Tour