2002-09-22 Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time 20:10 / End Time 22:50

Info & Setlist | Venue

Four tour premieres after a three week break. "The Ties That Bind", "Candy's Room", "Racing In The Street", and "I'm A Rocker", the last of which has not been seen since 1985. "Two Hearts" returns for the first time since opening night. "Mary's Place" includes "Turn On Your Love Light" and "Baby I've Been Missing You". "Prove It All Night" and "Thunder Road" are each dropped for the first time on the tour.

Intro to “Empty Sky”
´´Thank you….good evening….alright, it´s good to be back in Denver….alright….huh ?….it´s way (?) past your bedtime (?)…it´s a school night too, right, a school night !…I don´t believe it….anyway, could use a little quiet for these next couple of songs, please, thank you….´´

Intro to “I´m a Rocker”
´´One time for Denver….from 1983….´´

Middle of “Ramrod”
´´Hey Steve (Steve : ´Yeah, baby ?´) is it, is it quitting time ? (Steve : ´No way´) I think it´s beddy-time, baby (Steve : ´No, no way, no no´) is it we-got-to-go-time ? (Steve : ´No, no´) well, then, well, then, what time is it ?….(Steve : ´It´s Boss-time´)….´´

Intro to “My City of Ruins”
´´Thank you….thank you….just a….I wanna say we´re glad to be here in Denver, we´ve had such longtime loyal fans here….(?) we appreciate it…..we´ve got some friends with us here in the, uh, auditorium tonight, the Foodbank of the Rockies, we´ve got in the hall….this year they´ve collected and distributed over 11 million pounds of food, they can use your support and your help so if you can, check ´em on the way out, also we´ve got some folks from Rock-And-Wrap-It-Up, they come here, they collect all the….they once again, they traveled around and pick up extra food, they get ´em to hunger relief programs in Metropolitan Denver area, northern Colorado….they´re uh….we wanna thank them for the work they do, they´re the folks that are out there on….the frontliness….they´re doing some of the things I´m singing about, so….wanna dedicate this to them tonight….´´

Intro to “Born in the U.S.A”
´´Thank you….thanks for coming out tonight, once again….this is uh….just a couple of last public service announcements : once again, the Foodbank of the Rockies on your way out, please check them out, they can use your support and your help….also, we´re, uh, just a little heads up, right now we´re in the midst of a rollback in civil rights and uh….civil rights are a reaffirmation of our strength as a nation of laws….due process, we don´t usually think about it until it comes knocking on our own door, till it´s too late….that´s something to really keep your eye on, a lot of war talk in the air (?) it´s time you need to be very vigilant…that vigilance, responsibility comes with the turf….when you´re born in the U.S.A….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Mike Row	This was to be my E-Street day come true, and it was all coming together perfectly. It started 2 years ago when I interviewed a band member for my little Public radio show deep in the mountains. It was a great moment that you file away in your "memory palace" and then assume is gone. Well, about 2 months ago, I received a email offering me tickets to the show (I couldn't believe he remembered, but that's what makes these guys great). Anyway, here's a secret about the Pepsi Center. If you eat at the restaurant before the show and need to use the bathroom, you will find out that you can end up about 50 feet behind the stage and listen to the soundcheck! (Killer versions of Ties and Stand On It)! When I get to "will call", it turns out that not only are the seats 15 feet from the stage, 4 rows up!, they come with backstage passes! We chatted with Nils for a bit before the show, which was a real thrill. As for the show itself, it blew me away. The Rising and Lonesome Day blew the roof off right from the beginning. The song selection was amazing, with some great rarities worked in- Ties, Candy's Room, Racing in the Street, and I'm a Rocker in the encores. But the heart and soul of this show are the songs from The Rising. Everyone in the crowd new the words and sometimes were so loud it was hard to hear Bruce! The show stopper was the sequence of Empty sky. Your Missing (with an incredible solo by Danny) and then Waiting On a Sunny Day. Absolutely stunning to go from total sorrow to total elation in 10 minutes, but that's Bruce. As for the encores, the more rocky version of Dancing beats the 1984 rendition. Bruce is finally getting to have fun with it, as opposed to playing it because it's a hit. He was bouncing all over the stage! Then he talked briefly about needing to pay attention to what's happening with our civil rights, the upcoming war with Iraq and how these things relate to being Born In The USA. The show ended with another classic, revved up Ramrod, and LOHD. By then, the crowd was bouncing off the rafters! Really, I can't say enough about the show or the truly special way I was treated. If you read this(….), thanks so much for the tickets and a memory for a lifetime!!!!!!
Roger	I wasn't really sure what to expect on this show, other than the Boss would somehow take us through the Rising. But how much old stuff would we get? How much could he work in and still keep the show true to the new album? Well, I can only say he did a great job. He took us through sorrow, hope and promise. After opening with the Rising and Lonesome Day he brought everyone back together with the Ties that Bind. Then the Fuse followed by a very emotional rendition of Candy's Room. Next came the heartbreaking tunes of Empty Sky and Missing, but then we were brought back up with Waiting for a Sunny Day and Promised Land. A real surprise for me was hearing Worlds Apart, a great song but one that I thought might be left out because of production issues with the chants. From there we were brought to our feet several times, and at other times we had to reflect. For me the biggest moment of the night was Mary's Place, where Bruce seemed truly emotional when he sang of a friend lost. The Band was tight and the violin a welcome addition. Big Man as always is the heart of this Band with Bruce being the soul. Only problem I had with the show was some early sound quality problems that seemed to disappear after the second song as the techies did their job.
Nancy	Best concert experience of my life. Waited in line for the pit, spent all afternoon talking to people from all over the world. Awesome show, awesome people, danced and shouted thru the whole dang thing and remember it like yesterday. Bruce was There, right there, he looked at all in the pit and knew what we had been thru to get in and up close. The whole thing came together right before my birthday and the crowd had birthday signs for Bruce. We fed off his energy and he fed off ours. Awesome, once in a lifetime.

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation