2003-06-28 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan, Italy

Scheduled: 20:30 Local Start Time 20:15 / End Time 23:20

Info & Setlist | Venue

Remarkable show played in remarkable weather. The rain begins to pours down during the full band "The River" and continues for several songs, punctuated with incredible thunder and lightning. A tour one-off "Follow That Dream" appears. Many other highlights - an Italian story in "Growin' Up", the rain sheeting down in "Waitin' On A Sunny Day", "The River" and an impromptu "Who'll Stop The Rain". "Out In The Street" includes a snippet of "(Walking) In The Rain". "Mary's Place" includes "The Monkey Time" and "Baby I've Been Missing You". Jon Landau plays guitar on "Dancing In The Dark". For the first known time, the band arrives onstage to Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon A Time In The West". First ever performance in Italy of "Follow That Dream". "Born In The U.S.A." from the soundcheck is solo acoustic.

Jon Landau (Guest)

Intro to “Empty Sky”
´´(speaks Italian)….it´s good to see you again, yes….very exciting to be here, very, very exciting for us, thank you….this was the, uh, beginning of our love affair here (chuckles)…. (asks for silence in Italian)….´´

Middle of “Mary´s Place”
´´Are you ready?….are you ready?….are you ready?….are you ready?….are you ready for a house party? (cheers) are you ready for a house party? (cheers) what do you think, C ?…is everybody ready? (Clarence: ´´Everybody´s ready´´) a lot of people are ready? (Clarence: ´´A lot of people ready´´) oh, not everybody?….not everybody?…oh, let´s go see, come on….to be ready for a house party, three conditions….three conditions must be met, one, the music has got to be (Clarence: ´Raucous´) raucous!….two, the music has got to be (Clarence: ´Raucous´) ooh, raucous!….and three, you gotta have your (Clarence: ´Ass´) ass out of your seats!….I think all the asses are out of their seats (?) are they ready? they´re ready, because, ladies and gentlemen, I wanna introduce to you the greatest little house band in all the land ….on the piano, Il Professore, Roy Bittan….on the violin and vocals, out of New York City, Sister Soozie Tyrell….on the guitar, the keeper of all that is righteous on E Street, Little Steven Van Zandt….on the bass guitar, the Tennesee Terror, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the drums, the man that brings the power hour after hour night after night, Minister of the big beat, the Secretary of syncopation and the star of ´´Late Night (crowd : ´Television´) Mighty Max Weinberg….on the guitar, Secretary of the heart, Minister of the spirit, one of the greatest guitarists in rock and roll, Mr.Nils Lofgren….on the organ, keeper of the secrets on E Street, on the organ and accordion, Brother Dan Federici…..on the far side of the stage, the First Lady of love, on guitar and vocals, my sweetie baby honey child, mi amore, Patti Scialfa….che bella, che bella…..and last but not least….the man himself….uomo grande….the
Big Man, Clarence Clemons….(?)….that´s right, that´s right….ladies and gentlemen, that´s the heartstopping, houserocking, pants-dropping, earth-shaking, booty-quaking, Viagra-taking, lovemaking, kings de amore, the legendary E Street Band….´´

Intro to “Dancing in the Dark”
´´We want to take a minute and, uh, wait a minute (?)(chuckles) we want to take a moment and thank our crew who´s been with us all through the European tour here (?) staged this wonderful show for you every night, please, a round of applause (claps his hands) soundmen, lightmen, stagebuilders, carpenters (?) thank you all, and now….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Sam Vaughan	I can say without hesitation that the Milan fans are something quite special!! The stadium middle tier stand I was privileged to part of was 'ROCKING' and i mean that literally. The chanting, the singing, the dancing was as good as I could of hoped for. A truly wonderful experience!! The show itself was memorable although I wouldn't say it was the best of the tour so far (Bruce appeared tired). Magical moments - The lights during Darkness, the crowd's reaction on hearing the opening of "The River". Bruce trying to find the 'G' for "Who'll Stop the Rain", the whole of "Growin' Up" and although I don't speak a word of Italian, clearly the locals found Bruce's mid song story very funny :-) I can only assume it was something special for them… "Follow that Dream" - what can you say!?!? I heard it during the soundcheck and goosebumps appeared, during the show it was beautiful and again done especially for the Milanese people. Finally "Rosalita" Oh my gosh!! I went ballistic when I heard the opening few notes, not sure the Milan crowd really understood how important this song was as the reaction from them was not as incredible as the say BITUSA songs. Lots will be said of the rain. It was torrential at times and the natural light show courtesy of the storm only added to the hot atmosphere within the San Siro. All in all a wonderful night of music, an experience that has to be seen to be believed, I kid you not the San Siro faithful are fantastic, really passionate about Bruce and the Band. Should you ever get another chance to catch Bruce in Milan, re-mortgage the house, sell the wife or indeed do whatever, just be there!!
DB	I went all the way from Scotland to Milan and it was really worth the trip. Brilliant atmosphere, crazy fans who whooped and hollered all night long, hats of to the best! Great start to the set, introduced to the strains of Once Upon a Time In the West and straight into the Promised Land. Darkness was brilliant, Waiting on a Sunny Day in a downpour and Bruce in a big cowboy hat. A fantastic Rosalita (first time for me since 4th July 1985 at Wembley Stadium). The rain nearly stopped but the lightning never gave up and the stadium was really something to behold. Simply memorable, even if the band looked every so slightly tired they just never know when to give up!
Marco Lunari	Bruce was not as brilliant as he was in Florence or in Bologna: probably he was tired. Furthermore the acoustic was quite bad. Despite this, the concert was simply great: San Siro Stadium was nearly full (60.000 people) and the people was very hot. Also because it was an anniversary: 20 years ago (21 June 1983) Bruce played in Milano and for the first time in Italy and it was one of his best show ever. I think that he remembered that night and, also because was the last European date, he wanted to make a great concert. And of course he did. I suppose that was for this reason that he played some rarities like Rosie and Follow that dream and a lots of hits like Thunder road , Growin' up and Darkness. The biggest problem (at least for all the guys in the middle of the stadium: the terraces were covered) was the rain: while Buce was singing Empty sky the sky was full of clouds and the first drops of rain begun to fall. During the river it started to rain and while Bruce was singing the first lines of waitin' on a sunny day ( It's raining but there ain't a cloud in the sky ) the rain fall harder. Bruce played Who ll stop the rain : I ever wished to hear that song but I could not enjoy it because the rain was so hard that I could hardly take my eyes open. After that thanks to God the rain stopped but we were all drenched to the bones. Well, what else? A really great version of My city of ruins : when Bruce came to the first refrain all the stadium sung with him come on, rise up but the crowd begun singing come on very softly like a whisper and ended with a rise up that sounded like a roar, and every time It grew louder and stronger but always really in tune. I've seen Bruce s expression: he seemed to be stroked and this gave him the hint for a very emotionally performance. Last but non least the "ciliegina sulla torta": ROSALITA!!! I didn't believe it! After all this time I was hearing again Bruce singing this masterpiece! FANTASTICO! Sam Vaughan is right when he says that many people didn't realize how important is this song. But it was because there were many young gals (19-25 years) that don t know the first Bruce's songs. (in Florence beside me there was a man that had never heard Kitty s back !): believe me, a lot of us knows what Rosie means. P.S.: in Florence Bruce played Tougher than the rest because it was his wedding anniversary. Of course he dedicated the song to Patti.
Gabriele Lanfranco	The show began at 8.15 sharp. It was scheduled to begin at 8.30, but in Milan for the summer outdoor concerts there is a curfew of 11 pm. I think Bruce would have started even sooner (at 7.50 everything was ready on stage) but there were a lot of people still entering the place. show ran for 3 exact hours (will Bruce pay a fine for playing over the curfew?). It was evident that Bruce wanted to play more after Rosalita, but basically they forced him off stage. He was still thanking the crowd and already there was the "miracle" acoustic video playing on the screens. The show began with the pre-recorded intro of Ennio Morricone "Once Upon a Time in the West", as the band were walking on stage one by one. Bruce just said 1.2.3. > and we were off to the Promised land. One of the cooler concert beginnings I ever saw. Rain began during empty sky. during the river it had turned into a real thunderstorm. Bruce put on a white cowboy hat before sunny day (he took it from the audience, I think to cover the radio mike) and sang the whole song running on the swings, under the storm. When Bruce sang "it's raining but there ain't a cloud in the sky", he looked to the sky and then winked to the audience. The audience, who were beginning to run away from the lawn to seek shelter from the storm, got mad and returned en-masse to the field. Singing and dancing in the rain!!!! Lighter rain went on for the whole show. The sound was awful for the first 2-3 songs. They got it right during "darkness", but then the storm (complete with thunders and lightning, and heavy wind) ruined it. It took a lot of time to re-adjust it. They re-got it right during "worlds apart". I think the water and humidity ruined the radio mikes. For example: Clarence had problems all night, even Bruce mike was fucking up big time. Anyway, from badlands onwards the sound was ok. Bruce speech before "empty sky" (in Italian): "it's great to be back in San Siro after all these years, for the first time since 1985. I hope they've been good years for you". Bruce speech during "growing up" (in Italian): "so here I am in 1985, playing for the first time in Italy, and I see in front of me thousands of crazy Italians screaming Bruce-Bruce-Bruce. And I just can't believe it. That was the beginning of our love affair. We've really grown up together. it's good to be back, it's like coming back home." People around me were crying. I have goose bumps writing this. Follow that dream: "a song for Milano". Bobby jean: people crying, incredible arm-waving in the field. like in the BTR 1985 video. Bruce before city of ruins: we'll be back soon. Bruce before dancing in the dark: he thanks the crew of the euro tour, and spells all their names at incredible speed.

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