2002-11-04 Compaq Center, Houston, TX

Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time 20:20 / End Time 23:00

Info & Setlist | Venue

"Mary's Place" includes "The Monkey Time" and "Baby I've Been Missing You". "For You" is the piano version with backing vocals.

Intro to “Empty Sky”
´´Good evening….nice to be in Houston, Houston, Houston…..the theme song of Houston sung by an Italian man from Pennsylvania *….I don´t know what that says about the whole Texas thing (?)(chuckles)….anyway, it´s good to see you, thanks for coming out…..could use, uh, could use a little bit of quiet for these next two songs, thank you….after which you´ll be, uh, encouraged to piss your pants (chuckles)….´´
^{[* Dean Martin had a song called ´´Houston, ´´ which was played on the tape before the show.]}

Intro to “Waitin´ on a Sunny Day”
´´(?(chuckles)….let´s pee (chuckles) come on, Steve….´´

Middle of “Mary´s Place”
´´….are you ready for a house party now? (cheers) well, if you´re gonna have a house party, the music has got to be righteous…..so I wanna introduce the greatest little houseband in all the land….on the piano, ten fingers with no mercy, Professor Roy Bittan.…on the fiddle and vocals, Sister Soozie Tyrell….on the guitar, Little Steven….on the bass, Mr.Garry W.Tallent …..on the drums, the Mighty, Mighty, Mighty Max Weinberg….on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren….on the organ, out of Flemington, New Jersey, Brother Dan Federici….he´s just divorced, girls, and he hates to be alone….room 917 at the Holiday Inn….on the far left of the stage, we got the lovely First Lady of love, Miss Patti Scialfa on guitar and vocals….and last but not least….goddammit, a man that´s bigger than Texas, I´ve got to tell you….Big Man Clarence Clemons on the saxophone….New Jersey too….´´

Intro to “For You”
´´Thank you….alright….this is for our longtime fans out there….´´

Middle of “Ramrod”
´´Stevie….(Steve: ´Yeah?´) I do believe it´s quitting time….(Steve: ´I don´t think so´) I do believe it is time to go home to beddybye….(Steve: ´I don´t think so´) I´m pretty sure that it´s time to go home and watch pornographic films on the hotel cable station….(Steve: ´No, it ain´t´) well, Stevie, then what I wanna know is just, just, just what time is it?….(Steve: ´B-B-B-B-B-B-Bosstime´)….´´

Intro to “My City of Ruins”
´´(?) we appreciate your longtime support here in Houston and….want to, uh….got some friends tonight in the building from the Houston Foodbank, they´ll be out there in the lobby on your way out, there´s, uh, the Houston Foodbank, they, uh, they help feed people here in the Houston area, they seek food donations (?) local grassroots´ programs in care for the needy, they´ve been operating since 1982….they´re here to help Houston residents in need so on your, on your way out, if you get a chance, please stop and check out the Houston Foodbank, they could use your time and support, thank you, this is for them….´´

Intro to “Born in the U.S.A”
´´Thank you….wrote this song quite a while back about the Vietnam War, wanna play it tonight as a prayer for peace….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Drew Conrad	Once again, Bruce does the job. Highlights were "For You" piano solo, "No Surrender", and "Born to Run" with all the lights in the place on. Weird at first, but it was actually kind of cool. Also, they did a little Cajun rendition of "Working on the Highway" at the end with a washboard and Bruce wearing a John Popperesque hat. This show had much more excitement than the last Houston show a couple years ago. The general admission floor helped out a lot. The last show was all assigned seating. Sadly, there were no new tour songs played, but hopefully I'll get a surprise in Austin tomorrow night. Ran into a couple ladies wearing "greasylake.org" t-shirts. I immediately chatted them up about past and upcoming shows.
Mike Nepveux	Great show - guy has boundless energy on stage. Seemed like he was going through the motions on Dancing in the Dark though. Working on the Highway was great, and a fitting way to end the show as we all trudged back home to get ready for work the next morning. Notable in their absence were Thunder Road, Promised Land, Prove It All Night, Spirit in the Night, Because the Night. Nothing off of Lucky Town. No idea why No Surrender was included. Darkness is my favorite album, and I don't think we heard more than Badlands from it. Would have preferred Candy's Room to She's The One, for the infatuation song. Fabulous vocal duet with Boss and Patti to open Empty Sky. Ties That Bind was hard rockin'. Ramrod was fun, despite the repetitive chord progression. Bruce seemed deeply moved on Empty Sky and You're Missing. Waitin' on a Sunny Day was a great way to gently ease us out of the grief of those prior two songs. Gary Tallent was WAY TOO LOUD the whole show. Don't know how the sound folks missed this. During parts of nearly every tune, he covered up the entire band. The crowd was so calm after Into The Fire that it seemed a strange point to end the main body of the show.
Kevin G.	It was my first time seeing Bruce. Everyone told me how awesome it was going to be, but the real thing just blew away any of the hype. Springsteen has that once-in-a-generation ability to just put on a live show that blows people's minds. I'm only sorry that I was born in the 80's and missed most of Springsteen's original work. The poetry of the songs and the passion with which he plays and the talent with which he surrounds himself with all climaxes into two and a half hours of the best live music anyone could ever see, anywhere. Choosing his best song of the night is a near impossible feat. "Lonesome Day" was great but "Into the Fire" was even better. "For You" was really special and so was "Land of Hope and Dreams". However, I think the way he did his closing song, "Working on the Highway", made it the night's best. What a performance, what a band, what a musician.

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