2003-03-07 Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

For the band's first ever show in Atlantic City, they arrive onstage to "There She Is, Miss America", the theme song to the annual pageant hosted in town, before opening with the appropriate "Atlantic City". Show includes a one off-cover of the Beatles' "Tell Me Why", as well as a rare "Roll Of The Dice" and a stunning solo piano "Jersey Girl". "Mary's Place" includes "The Monkey Time", "Land Of 1,000 Dances", and "Baby I've Been Missing You". Bruce takes a moment after "Empty Sky" to explain the song's "an eye for an eye" lyric. See our Storyteller tab for more.

Intro to “Empty Sky”
´´Good evening New Jersey….great to be here….out on the boardwalk in Atlantic City…it´s real old school tonight this building, very old school….that´s good….so there´s, uh….a lot, lot of great music been in this building, I think the Beatles played here and the Stones played here….back in the day (chuckles)….thanks, oh….need a little bit of quiet for these next few songs, please, thank you….”

Intro to “You´re Missing”
´´Thank you….I wrote that song….need a little light….I wrote that song, that was the last song I wrote, I think, for ´The Rising´….I was looking for a cover and…..a fella that was coming up with some ideas sent me over a….just a picture of an empty sky…and uh, thought it was an important metaphor but there´s, uh….there´s one thing that always bothers me a little bit, occasionally when I play that song, I hear some applause for, for a line, uh….´I want an eye for an eye´….and uh, as a songwriter, you always write to be understood….and I wrote that phrase as an expression of the….character´s anger and, and confusion and grief and it was never written to be a….call for blind revenge or bloodlust (cheers)….so, I just thought given, given the times we live in, you can´t be too clear about these kinds of things these days and uh….and I realise that it could´ve been a well-meaning few or perhaps borderline…some borderline psychotics out there who may have misunderstood…..but uh….living in a time when there´s real lives on the line and there´s enough destructive posing going on out there as it is, I wanted to make sure that that line was clearly understood so, thanks for listening….”

Middle of “Mary´s Place”
´´Are you ready for a house party, New Jersey style ?….alright….well, if you´re gonna have a house party….Jersey style….where all the women are beautiful….and all the men are potential mafia recruits….well, if you´re gonna have a house party, Jersey style, the music has got to be raucous….well, I wanna introduce to you the greatest little houseband in all the land….the (?) piano pounder, ´Professor´ Roy Bittan….out of New York City, ´Sister´ Soozie Tyrell on the violin and vocals….ladies and gentlemen, on the guitar, Silvio, Silvio, wherefore art thou Silvio, the coolest little d.j in the U.S.A, Little Steven….on the bass guitar, Mr.Garry W. Tallent….on the drums, from South Orange, New Jersey….the man that bring the power hour after hour after hour night after night after night, ladies and gentlemen, the minister of rhythm, the king of the big beat and star of late night (crowd : ´Television !´), ´Mighty´ Max Weinberg….on the guitar, the great, great Nils Lofgren….on the organ, out of Flemington, New Jersey, ´Brother´ Dan Federici….and ladies and gentlemen, on the far side of the stage, the First Lady of Love, on guitar and vocals, Jersey girl, Miss Patti Scialfa….and last but not least….do I have to say his name ?….do I have to say his name ?….don´t make me say it….. I´m talking about the minister of soul….emperor of the Garden State…ladies and gentlemen, you wish you could be like him but you can´t because there´s only one Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons….that´s right….”

Intro to “Jersey Girl”
´´Thank you….oh yeah, need some of this in my monitor….I need some voice in my monitor ….one, two, there it is….alright, gonna send this one out to…..you know who…..”

Intro to “Tell Me Why”
´´Gonna, uh….wanna send that ´Into the Fire´ out there to our friends here in the Atlantic City Fire Department, they´re here tonight, that´s for you guys….first time I….came down to Atlantic City, my mother brought me down, and my mom´s here tonight so I´m gonna send this one out to her….mamma, mamma….mamma mia….and uh (chuckles) and uh, she brought me down here one afternoon, me and my sister, I saw my first….rock show ever, I saw Chubby Checker…he was really good….and uh, we saw him on the Steel Pier and they had like a, an afternoon teenage dance thing and Chubby Checker came out and sang and there was some other folks too, but, then the main thing I remember is that she took us that night to see Anita Bryant (chuckles)….so I had a kind of a mixed experience a little bit but uh…. but it was enjoyable so, uh….there´s been a lot of, uh, great bands that played here on this stage behind us in this building, it´s nice to see these old buildings that are refurbished and brought back to life because, uh….there´s a soulfulness in ´em that you can´t quite, uh…..you know, they always remain a little on the funky side and that´s, that´s hard to come by these days (chuckles) but uh….anyway, we´re glad to be here in Atlantic City Convention Hall and we´re gonna, uh, dedicate this next song to all the bands that played in this room that inspired us….hope we do alright with this….”

Middle of “Glory Days”
´´Come on, Steve…..(Steve : ´Yeah´)….we gotta keep rocking, baby…. (Steve : ´But the tables are waiting´) What ? (Steve : ´Tables are waiting´)…yeah ?…Steve wants to make it to that crabtable…. (Steve : ´Yeah´)…and I got me a big suite….I got a jacuzzi in my livingroom ….and uh, hosts of adult erotica on the television….(?)….we have been playing a long time…. I think there´s a curfew too….I think I got a cheeseburger waiting….I think I do….good night, everybody….”

Intro to “My City of Ruins”
´´Gonna do this tonight for some friends of ours that are in the house : Community Foodbank of New Jersey…they´re uh….there´s nearly one million people in the state of Jersey that are struggling out there and with the help of volunteers, the Community Foodbank distributes millions of pounds of food to the needy every year, they are folks that are out there on the frontline doing good work….doing….lot of the things we´re singing about….they can use your assistance, your support, if you see them on the way out, please, uh….support the Community Foodbank of New Jersey, this is….this is for those folks, thank you….”

Intro to “Born in the U.S.A”
´´Wrote this song in the early, early 1980´, wrote it as an….anti-war song, hope I don´t have to write it again, this is something I wanna send out tonight….a prayer for peace, a prayer for the safety of our sons and daughters, safety of innocent Iraqi civilians….”

Intro to “Dancing in the Dark”
´´One more for this man I clubbed with the guitar (chuckles)….sorry about that (chuckles)….”

Intro to “Roll of the Dice”
´´One more for you high-rollers out there…..”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

John W. Brenner	I was in the pit as a guest of Bruce's Bodyguards along with 19 other AC Firefighters and their families. I went down before the show along with the AC Fire Chief, Ben Brenner, and BC Chief Vince Granese of NJ Task Force 1 Urban Search And Rescue. BC Granese spent 10 days at Ground Zero with his NJ Team searching for survivors at the WTC site. We gave Bruce a plaque thanking him for The Rising and what it has meant to FF's everywhere, We also had shirts, jackets, patches, pins, etc. depicting the Atlantic City Fire Dept. for his band, bodyguard's, and children. Bruce dedicated Into The Fire to 'His Friend's Of The Atlantic City Fire Dept" We were very moved by this! A fantastic show right in our backyard. We've heard he will be back early fall. We are looking forward to another great show on the AC Boardwalk. Put your makeup on and fix your hair up pretty, meet me tonight in Atlantic City. Thank You, Capt. John Brenner III , Atlantic City Fire. Dept.
Michael Lomas	It's been over a month now but I still know that I will never forget that night. My girlfriend and I actually arrived the day before to stake out a spot in the pit. After several Springsteen shows with seats, it was our first time on the floor so we figured we'd go for broke and see if we could get up front. We ended up in the middle of the pit for one of the all time great Springsteen concerts. No doubt that it was in part due to the unique setting of boardwalk hall but that incredible set list had alot to do with it as well. "Jersey Girl", "Does This Bus Stop….?", "Hard to Be a Saint", "Glory Days", "Roll of the Dice", and a great cover of the Beatles' "Tell Me Why" as Springsteen said "it was old school that night and the band seemed to be loving it". The "Miss America" theme song led the band on stage and Little Steven strutted up as if he were on the cat walk in front of the judges. The entire band looked extremely excited to be doing their first show in Atlantic City. You couldn't ask for a better beginning with "Atlantic City" to start. So much energy in the crowd and on stage. One of the many highlights for me was the "Jersey Girl" solo on the piano by Bruce. The entire crowd joined along and Springsteen had a wide smile on his face as we all sang that line about "Dropping your brat off at your Mom's". I had been saying all week that in addition to "Atlantic City", "Roll of the Dice" would be perfect with the band, and to the best of my knowledge Bruce had never done it live with The E Street Band before. When Bruce said "This is for all you high rollers out there" right away I was the idiot jumping up and down in the pit. I guess I just love that song. Prior to that "Dancing in the Dark" featured a "Little Courtney Cox Wannabe", the little girl, maybe 4 or 5 came up on stage and danced around with the Boss. He gave her a high five after wards and you knew her parents must have been on the high of a lifetime. The whole experience was incredible. From waiting on the freezing cold boardwalk for the pit check in times Thursday night and Friday to the confused line up procedure as we entered the arena Friday night. Even the quirks seemed to make it special. So many Bruce fans lined up on the boards talking Bruce, singing Bruce, it was so awesome. I can remember Friday in the early afternoon, in the hall, as we lined up for pit position, a girl, she must have be 3 years old singing the words to "Mary's Place". She seemed to know the song by heart, Good Parenting!!! It can't be said enough, What a great night. We stayed the weekend in A,C., gathering up newspapers highlighting the E Street Band. There was something special down the shore that night!!
Tom Cantillon	Very impressive and full of surprises! Although not fully unexpected, Bruce did open with a very powerful rendition of Atlantic City and passionate The Rising. One of the many highlights was actually when Springsteen took a moment to discuss the line "I want an eye for an eye" from Empty Sky. He stated that it was in no way a call for revenge or war-like violence because the world is already plagued with enough violence and too little peace. Amen to that. The Rising collection in no way advocates war—and that very brief, intimate moment in which Bruce directed his thoughts to the audience really just added to the entire experience and is indicative of what Mr. Springsteen and his music have always been about. Other highlights were a manic, intensely-played Saint in the City, where Bruce kept urging Roy to extend that end jam — amazing to have witnessed. For me, Worlds Apart is always a highlight — just love that song and its lyrics. Jersey Girl on the piano was beautiful and The Beatle's Tell me Why was a pleasant, sing-along surprise. Wish he'd bring back Ramrod, She's the One and Backstreets, but even without those, the show was, as always, no less than what one would come to expect of Springsteen and the E street Band — amazing!
Bill Noke	Bruce was as loose as he's been at his Holiday Shows in Asbury. Actually expected a louder sing-a-long from the crowd at the end of "Jersey Girl" — Bruce turned the mike to the audience, looking for the crowd to carry it. The band entering to a Bert Parks overdub of "There she is, Miss America!" was hysterical! Clarence milked it, acting like he strolling down the runway! This show had it all — the topical power of "Empty Sky", the nostalgia of "Saint In The City", the beauty of "Jersey Girl", and the fun of "Roll Of The Dice". In Bruce's words: "We're gonna have a Jersey Houseparty tonight!" Awesome.

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