2005-05-02 Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, CA

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Four tour premieres including piano "Incident On 57th Street". First "Cautious Man" of the tour, and only the second performance of the song, last played in 1988, is dedicated to Sean Penn. Bruce refers to his 1990 performances of "Real World", and dedicates the song to Jackson Browne. Also in the crowd is Roy Bittan. Piano songs are "Incident On 57th Street", "If I Should Fall Behind", "Real World", "My Hometown", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" and "Johnny 99" are with the bullet mic. "For You" and "My Best Was Never Good Enough" are each dropped for the first time on the tour.

Bruce Springsteen

Intro to “Reason to Believe”
´´Thanks…just got a few requests, uh….first and foremost, if you have any of them cellphones, turn ´em off so I don´t have to make a sweep through the audience with my chainsaw….and, uh, don´t clap along, my sense of rhythm is tenuous at best and, uh, enjoy yourselves….´´

Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Thank you….wrote a lot of songs on, good evening, good evening!….I wrote a lot of songs about, uh….kind of kids and their parents on this record, particularly lot about sons and mothers but first I do this one, this is, uh….this is a song (?) go through three stages with your kids, the first one´s they´re little, you know, and they think you´re perfect and….and the second one is, uh…..I forget what that one is….the third one´s they think you´re an idiot, I know that one (chuckles)…oh yeah, the second one´s you´re a tolerable idiot, third one´s you´re just an idiot (chuckles) it always, uh, you know, you´re always looking back at your folks and you´re saying ´Man, I´m not gonna make those mistakes….you screwed me, you screwed me up, you screwed me up bad´ but, uh, then you go to try and sort of…you know, it´s like I say, it´s bad enough when I see my kids kind of acting like me, it´s when I see them acting like my dad, you know, it´s….one slipped through there, oops!….that was my, that was my watch, I was supposed to sort that one out….but they do give you a lot of second chances, a lot of second chances and uh….that´s kind of what this song is about….this is, uh, a song set in the West where I….experienced quite a bit of re-birth myself so here´s looking at you, here´s ´Long Time Comin´´….´´

Intro to “Black Cowboys”
´´Thanks….this is a, uh…I think the scariest thing when you´re a kid is the whole thought of being, being abandoned, uh….my mom used to tell me she used to leave me in a carriage outside of Newberry´s when she went into shop (chuckles) said everybody was doing it (chuckles) but uh….this is a song about a boy and his mom in the innercity and uh….he´s all she´s got, she´s all he´s got….and we´ve kind of got to a place where we, we triage our citizens and it has become ok, it´s just become kind of expected as the price of doing business, somebody´s dreams have gotta die….uh….this is called ´Black Cowboys´….´´

Intro to “Silver Palomino”
´´Thanks, this is a, uh….we had a….close friend of my wife´….passed away at a very young age and….left two boys behind, I think that´s every parent´s nightmare…..two young boys and, uh….I wanted to write something for ´em so I came up with this song that´s, uh…..uh ….a boy loses his mom, then he kind of infuses her spirit into this horse that comes out of the mountains at night, this is called ´Silver Palomino´….´´

Intro to “Incident on 57th Street”
´´Thanks…I didn´t, uh, write a lot of love songs when I was, when I was first starting out….I guess I just wasn´t feeling a lot of love but, uh (chuckles) what I´d do when I did write ´em, I kind of hid ´em, I hid ´em in other songs, you know (?) and, uh, uh, it could´ve been like, I always, I always remember my mother had the radio, my mother´s kind of real romantic and she´d have a great station tuned in in the morning, every morning when I came down for breakfast and those days the radio was filled with love songs, it was nothing but love songs, you´re finding love, you´re losing love, you´re chasing love, it was all the beautiful ´50s doowop singers, you know, that had such beautiful ecstasy, ecstasies in their voice, every song was (?) ecstasies of love, she was standing there in the morning and she always said ´Oh, that´s love, I love that song´ and my dad would be sitting there at the kitchen table and I always remember he, his, his (?) ´Bruce, love songs are a government conspiracy´….I want you to remember this (chuckles) their only purpose is to get you married so you´ll have to pay your taxes´….so, uh, took me about 40 years to get through that but, uh (chuckles) I sorted that out (?)(chuckles) so I hid my songs, I hid my love songs, I hid ´em, I hid ´em (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´Evolution….President says that the jury is still out on evolution….that´s right, the jury´s still out…now personally…I think the President believes in evolution but he can´t say so…. because let´s face it (people applaud) no…let´s face it - the monkey-vote didn´t get the man into office….but he´s been around the block long enough to believe in evolution….but I think he´s just sort of doing what he has to do so he can do what he wants to do….a lot of us do that….uh, Karl Rove….I don´t know if he believes in evolution or not….I think he does….but I know he believes in Satan (people applaud) no, no applause, please, ´cause then I feel like I´m preaching to the converted, which I hate to do….I got a lot of nasty letters during the election and liked ´em….it just goes to show you´re striking a chord…..my favorite was a couple of boxes of smashed records and a dead chicken….I thought that was a pretty nice touch….but where´d they find those records?….now, ´Inherit the Wind,´ a Spencer Tracy-movie - that would be picketed if it was in theaters today….and Spencer Tracy would be attacked as the Devil´s tool….no, they´d probably just test the movie in front of some evangelical groups and change the ending (chuckles)….´Quest for Fire´ - that´d never get made….we´ve come a long way, baby, and we´re going back….
(….) Now Bubbles, where are you when we need you?….´´

Intro to “Maria´s Bed”
´´(?) it´s got a full band on this song, it´s about the fabulous ecstasies of love (some woman yells) here we go, alright, darling, we have someone in ecstasy out there….I like, I like it….I like it….makes me feel like I´m doing my job….woo! uh! I´ll take this one myself, here we go, ready, go….´´

Intro to “Cautious Man”
´´Thank you….I´m a one-man rocking machine….if I so choose (chuckles)….wrote a lot of songs about brinksmanship….alright, because I felt like I´m on the brink….for a long time (chuckles) and, uh….those were the kinds of characters that interested me….on the brink of learning something (chuckles) not sure exactly what….seemed important….this is, uh….I´m gonna do this for my friend, Sean, another, another brinksman (chuckles)(?) the brinks….´´

Intro to “All I´m Thinkin´ About”
´´Thanks….be right with you….I feel spontaneity about to occur (crowd cheers) hasn´t occured yet, it´s about to occur (chuckles)….(someone yells: ´The new album rocks!´´) control yourself, sir….´´

Intro to “Reno”
´´A brinksman, brinksman, this is, uh….another song, uh….it´s a love song about not being able to handle the real thing so, uh, you´ll try something else…..that doesn´t work out so good either (chuckles) here´s ´Reno´….´´

Intro to “Real World”
´´Here´s a song I first played here in Los Angeles….with my good friend, Jackson Browne…. let´s see what we got here….oh yeah, oh, I got this sucker, alright….ah….I´ll do this for you tonight, Jackson….´´

Intro to “Further on up the Road”
´´Thank you, sweetie (chuckles) giving me the heebie-jeebies (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´Thank you, this was, uh….a song I wrote on this record, wrote a song about a mother and a son, uh….I´ve been watching, you know, watch ´em pick the new Pope a week or two ago and, uh, I grew up in a Catholic school and that was always a big deal, you know, when that happened so….I wasn´t paying too close attention, it´s kind of like watching a big deal going on for a team you don´t quite play, play for any more, you know….you´re still kind of like interested in where they are in the standings, you know, you don´t watch a game every day so, uh….I thought I was sort of from underneath all that stuff but then I looked back and realised ´Well….not in this life´ (chuckles) this is a song I wrote about, uh, Mary, Mary and I was….the idea of looking at Jesus as, uh, somebody´s son, as an earthly son and the idea of ….the, the humaness of His sacrifices, that´s what, that´s what makes ´em mean something, the things you give up, that´s what make your choices mean something, the things that you give up when you choose….and, uh, this is kind of a story about a mother who´d like to protect her son, uh….I´ll play some (?)….
(….) at His mother´s feet….when you´re a parent, the first thing….that strikes you is how there isn´t anything you wouldn´t do to protect your kids….and it´s shocking (chuckles) shocking in its suddenness of….the world centering around somebody other than yourself (chuckles)….
(….) to remove the cup of death from His lips….now I always figured….He´d have to be thinking….´Well, the weather is awful nice in Galilee this time of year….and there´s a little bar down there, I could manage the place, Mary Magdalene could tend bar….we could have some kids….feels good down there….´´

Intro to “Leah”
´´This is a song, uh, we all carry the seeds of our destruction, along with the seeds of our creative power….it is a tight race from time to time (chuckles) uh…..this is a song about a guy who just sort of figures out how to come down on the right side of that equation so….this is called ´Leah´….which I actually stole from a Roy Orbison song ´Leah,´ it´s about a guy diving for pearls, it´s a beautiful song, then a friend of mine told me that there´s a Leah in the Bible, ends up being quite a, quite a hot gal so (chuckles) cuts two ways….´´

Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you, this is a song, uh, sort of the flipside of that, I guess, this is, uh….somebody that doesn´t make all those connections so….uh….I like to write songs about people whose souls are at risk….as I´ve been saying, for some reason it puts my own soul at ease (chuckles) uh ….this is sort of a flipside about that, about a young guy who leaves, gets in trouble, leaves home, goes to New Orleans, becomes a fighter, becomes quite a champion and, uh, shorts himself and the whole song is a conversation that he has with his mother through a locked door towards the end of his life….this is, uh, ´The Hitter´….´´

Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´I used to end the, uh, Tom Joad-tour with this song called ´Across the Border´ and this was a song that I wrote as a sequel to that song, uh…..kind of similar circumstances, a man making a journey and is fuelled by the same hopes and love for his partner, his family and his children, in search of something a little bit better, uh….there´s so many people that die just trying to get into the United States each year, they die in the deserts, as we know here in California, in the mountains, they die trying to cross the rivers, we´re, uh, badly in need of a humane immigration policy….this is a, uh, there´s a book out called ´Dying to Cross,´ which is worth your time if you get a chance….I wrote this song backwards, uh….I start with the body at the bottom of the river, follow the man´s journey across the desert to the banks of Matamoros, which is a town across from Brownsville, Texas, this is called ´Matamoros Banks´….´´

Intro to “This Hard Land”
´´(?)….I´m gonna do this without a damn mike….ah, shit, (?) I got no mike, I don´t need a damn mike, alright (chuckles) I´m gonna do this tonight for our friends from the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, Foodbank….they´ve been here in L.A for a long time, they mobilise the resources in the community to fight hunger, the causes of hunger and the problems related to hunger, it´s a crime and a shame that there´s hunger left in the United States….please help the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank on your way out, they deserve your support….´´

Intro to “Waitin´ on a Sunny Day”
´´I´m gonna kill you, I´m gonna kill you on this one, I´ll kill you….I wanna say it´s nice to be back in Los Angeles, thanks for (?)….I enjoyed myself, I hope you did too….(chuckles) alright….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation