2005-05-17 Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Philadelphia, PA

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Live premiere for Darkness On The Edge Of Town outtake "Iceman", in its only tour performance. "Ramrod" is also a tour premiere and "Real World" returns to the set. Piano songs are "Iceman", "Incident On 57th Street", "Real World", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" is with the bullet mic. "My Beautiful Reward" and "Dream Baby Dream" are on pump organ. "Wreck On The Highway" is on electric piano.

Bruce Springsteen

Intro to “Black Cowboys”
´´Thank you….thanks and good evening again….how´re we doing here, huh, Philly? (cheers) yeah….I feel like I grew up in that alley back there, it was a serious dejavu, it was kind of scary (chuckles) but uh….anyway, wrote a lot of, uh….playing a lot of stuff from Devils & Dust tonight, which, uh (people clap) thank you, will be available very soon in your local Dunkin´ Donuts and Krispy Kreme shops….I got a hell of a deal worked out with those guys (chuckles) and wrote a lot of songs about mothers and sons on this record, which I hadn´t done that much before but, uh…..and what happens when that bond gets severed….this is a song, uh….I guess, uh, we kind of triage our citizens so we decide whose dreams are worth a shot at living and whose can die and that´s the price of doing business, this is, uh, there´s a great book about kids in the intercity by Jonathan Kozol called Amazing Grace (?) and, uh, this is ´Black Cowboys´….´´

Intro to “The Iceman”
´´In honor of….the fabulous Tower Theater I´m gonna do….something here that´s, uh….this is a song I cut for Darkness on the Edge of Town….but, uh, it didn´t, didn´t make it on the record and I´ve never played it so I´m gonna give it a shot (cheers) might be one of the stinkers we left off, you know (?)(chuckles) wait till the end (chuckles) alright, let´s see….´´

After “Incident on 57th Street”
´´Sit down and take it easy….I had it, I had it right up to these last few notes (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´Evolution (people clap) let´s hear it for evolution (cheers) I´ve got some bad news for you ….the President says the jury´s out on evolution….that´s right….very, very iffy, evolution….I was kind of counting on it myself….can´t be done any more…now, right now in Kansas, 80 years after the Scopes´ Monkey Trial, they´re rethinking the whole evolution thing as far as it goes with the school….and uh….does Dover, Pennsylvania mean anything to you? (not much response) it´s happening right here in your backyard, folks (chuckles)….now in New Jersey we believe in evolution….it´s our only hope…..and personally I think that the President believes in evolution too but he can´t say he does because the monkey-vote didn´t put him in the office (people clap)(?) no applause, please, it makes me feel like I´m preaching to the converted (chuckles)….now….Inherit the Wind, the old Spencer Tracy movie about the Scopes´ Monkey Trial (one person claps) you´re dating yourself….it´s just me and you, everybody else is going….yeah, Inherit the Wind, I don´t know….they couldn´t make that today, they can´t make the Flintstones today….it´s the whole neanderthal setting…..it´s too controversial….not to mention the whole Barney-Fred-relationship, you know….so…..
(….) We´ve come a long way, baby, and we´re going back….´´

Intro to “Maria´s Bed”
´´This is a song now about the, uh, the (?), the pleasures, the fabulous….who was that man without the guitar? (cheers) uh….the ecstasies of love…..´´

Intro to “Silver Palomino”
´´Thanks….wrote this, uh….about a, uh, close friend of mine….passed away and left two sons, that´s every parent´s nightmare and, uh…..this is a song I wrote for them, was, uh, about a kid who loses his mom and views her spirit in this horse that comes out of the mountains at night, this is called ´Silver Palomino´….´´

Intro to “Reno”
´´This is a song about, uh….love and not being able to handle the real thing…..and, uh, not being able to handle the wrong things so well either….this is called ´Reno´….´´

Intro to “Wreck on the Highway”
´´Yeah, I will now, uh, bring out the magic piano (?) need a little ´Man at work´-sign for this, we like to, uh, you know, what can I say? I don´t have any jokes but, uh, this is, uh….it´s not, uh, oh, there it is (chuckles)….yeah, we didn´t figure this out in the rehearsal….it´s ready, it´s ready….(?)….´´

Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´Thank you, this is….I was brought up Catholic so, uh….Jesus is my homeboy….and uh…. that´s about the size of it, you know….I left Catholic school in the 8th grade and my mother made me go to Catechism class for the first year of my freshman….Catechism class was alright, you know, it was kind of Monday night after school (?) fooling around and, uh….and after that that was kind of it but…..I still kind of keep tabs on how the old team is doing, you know….I, uh….it´s like a ballclub, you know, it´s like….they make those big highend trades, you know, where the new Pope comes in and you´re hoping for a better season and the whole thing but, uh….(?) you just watch, you just, you know, I´m kind of, because my relatives were solid, you know, churchgoers, you know, they would still, they´d kind of drag me down, like the Al Pacino-style, they keep dragging me back, you know, and, uh….so I ended up going to the, back to the convent where I was tortured as a child and uh (chuckles) (?) now they give me, now I get free beer if I go there…..I get free beer and they let me watch the ballgame, you know, and, uh, uh, it´s kind of a respite, you know, your mind goes, it´s either that or the strip club, you know what I mean (?) but uh….at any rate, uh, I wrote this song, my, my music is really, it´s pretty filled with a lot of religious imagery and, uh….. it´s the way it´s gonna go (chuckles) that ain´t gonna change (chuckles) because, uh….you know, that was, uh, it worked (chuckles) all that brainwashing but, uh, uh (chuckles) uh, this was a song, I was interested in, in the relationship between Jesus and Mary as a mother and a son, on the three or four songs I wrote on this record ´bout mothers and sons, one of the biggest images is, is the pieta, which is Jesus in Mary´s arms after He´s come down from the cross, a sense of a mother as a constant caretaker and….in life and, and even in death, uh….. and how your desire to protect your children is so, is so intense and so great….and uh….so I was sort of imagining Jesus as somebody´s boy, this is called ´Jesus Was an Only Son´….
(….) As he lay reading the psalms of David at his mother´s feet….I say your desire to protect your children is the first thing that….deeply shocks you (chuckles) when the kids come along ….how bottomless that feeling is…..A mother prays ´Sleep tight, my child, sleep well, for I´ll be at your side. That no shadow, no darkness, no tolling bell shall pierce your dreams this night´….I always figured….our choices are kind of….they gain their value by the things that we sacrifice, you choose something and you give up other things….that´s what gives our choices value and meaning but, so I figured He had to be thinking….´That Galilee is pretty nice this time of year…and that there´s probably a little bar down there that I could manage ….Mary Magdalene could tend the bar….and, uh, we could have some kids….and watch the sun fall on them….you feel the breath in your lungs´….In the garden at Gethsemane….´´

Intro to “Leah”
´´Well, we all cart along with us, uh, the seeds of our destruction, it´s kind of the merry part of the human package, you know (chuckles) along with the seeds that allow us to, uh….if we´re fortunate and thoughtful, build things but, uh, that´s kind of a tug-of-war that can go on for a long time (chuckles) this is a song about a guy that just figures out how to come down on the right side of that equation…just barely….this song´s called ´Leah,´ I took the title from a Roy Orbison song….Roy Orbison´s song was about a pearl diver, I´ve been telling the folks that Roy was one of those guys….could write about, could sing about anything, he just had a voice that made everything sound believable, he had this song about the pearl diver, the pearl diver dives into the ocean to get the pearl for a girl (?) a pretty hokey bit of business but he made it so beautiful….and I got to meet him and I got to know him a little bit before he died and I went to his house one afternoon and, uh….(?) ´I got this new song about windsurfing´ ….´Windsurfing, oh´….I didn´t say that but that´s what I was thinking….and, uh, I was thinking ´You can sing about a lot of things, you could certainly sing about surfing….but windsurfing, that´s, that´s, that´s the no-go area, that´s….it can´t be done, that´s all there is to it, I don´t care who you are…..and, uh….you know, and so on his next record came out this, this beautiful song called ´Windsurfer´….and uh, I remember, it, it almost made me wanna windsurf (chuckles) but, uh….you gotta have faith….that´s what this is about too (chuckles) …´´

Intro to “The Hitter”
´´This is, uh….kind of the flipside of that story, I guess, you can, uh….you can lose it as, as easy as you can find it, if you can find it at all in the first place….uh….a song about a….about a young kid that gets in trouble and leaves home and, uh….becomes this champion, comes back home towards the end of his life and has this conversation with his mother through a locked door…uh….Freud, wherever you are, you should be smiling….but uh (chuckles) but uh, in my house we, as a child I felt both the, sort of the crushing hand of fate as well as fortune and, uh, they don´t quite cancel each other out….so, uh, this is called ´The Hitter´….´´

Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you, this is a song, uh, I wrote this next song as a sequel to ´Across the Border,´ it was a song I used to end the Tom Joad tour qith and, uh (strums his guitar) there it is, and it, uh….kind of charged the same journey, a man, uh, comes across the desert and across the border looking for, uh, something a little bit better for his, his family and his kids, every year there´s, uh, hundreds of people that die trying to get into the United States, they die, they drown in the rivers and they die in the mountains and they die in the deserts and in the backs of vans and, uh, trailers, they come into the country to work at the toughest jobs that we have here and, uh, rather than vigilantes down along the border, what we need is, uh….the President to have the guts to have a humane immigration policy….so this was, uh….song, I wrote this song backwards from a body at the bottom of a river to a journey across the desert to standing on the banks of Matamoros, which is a town across from Brownsville, Texas, this is called ´Matamoros Banks´….´´

Intro to “Land of Hope and Dreams”
´´Yeeha!….shut up, please (chuckles) I wanna send this one out to friends from Philabundance, they´re working here to end hunger in the Delaware Valley…they (?) surplus food and they distribute it to the organizations serving the folks that are struggling out there, Philabundance, if you see ´em on the way out, please, uh, see what you can do for ´em, give ´em a hand, they´re here, uh….in the Philadelphia area doing God´s work so please help….´´

Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thank you, I wanna say thanks for coming out to the show tonight….thanks a lot….it´s always nice to be back here at the old Tower and, uh….I also wanna thank youse, you´ve been a lovely and gracious audience, thank you very much…..and uh…..I appreciate having the room to play like this, I, I enjoy it tremendously and uh….couldn´t do it without you so (chuckles) thanks a lot….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Mike C.	Once again Philadelphia is the site where all future shows are judged against. When Bruce proclaimed "here is a song which didn't make it on the Darkness album" and everyone clapped, he responded, "hold on this may be a stinker". No chance of that, World Premiere, The Iceman on piano followed by another haunting performance of Incident. Those two songs would have made this the best stop thus far on the tour but a few songs later he returns to the piano and breaks into one of the most underrated songs on the River, Wreck on the Highway. Overall a terrific night and as usual the rest of the cities have a tough job ahead of them topping Philadelphia.
Tom Cantillon	Truly amazing from start to finish. Bruce has put together a very rare show that allows for his fans to really focus on and hear and appreciate the lyrics to some of his finest songs. Touring with the band is always a special event, but this solo approach really provides for some reflective moments as Bruce's lyrics come to thye forefront when he's playing guitar or piano. Highlights: Beautiful Reward, absolutely love the bluesy, Muddy Waters, Howlinwolf Reason to Believe, Incident on piano is simply breathtaking and beautiful. The imagery throughout Black Cowboys is both heartbreaking and optimistic. Maria's Bed, Part Man/Monkey and Further are equally great moments. I know fans are used to the fist-pumping rock events Bruce and Band usually perform, but this tour, a chance to really listen to the lyrics and Bruce speak about his music is a rare treat not to be missed. Looking forward to the tour continuing in the fall. Great show!
Joey Roberts	My lasting impression of that show was Dream, Baby, Dream. Very powerful ending song… I had no idea what it was… Could have done without rising, LOHAD, and maybe add my fathers house, to go along with the mother/son-theme. Nice story's like the jesus is an only child preamble… overall, 4 stars out of 5.
Lionel	40th plus concert I've seen with Bruce. Solid 8 out of 10. Listening to Bruce explain the songs on the new album helped me grow to like them more. Dark rendition of The Promised Land. I would have enjoyed a little more upbeat ending but another, had to be there, experience. Also, hearing Iceman made my night. Great song that Bruce mentioned and didn't make the cut on Darkness.
Pat W.	U have to be kidding me. Just because he plays the tunes differently doesn't mean it's good. Reason to believe was crap, Ramrod was crap, Promise land was crap and Dream, Baby, Dream was beyond crap [still can't believe he ended with that]. New album sounded good, as did Iceman and 57th st. Unfortunately, there are people out there who would cheer if Bruce farted his way through Born to Run and that blind loyalty just strokes his ego. I was 6 rows from the stage and 2 people in front of me left when promise land started because, and I quote "it's Bruce so you just thought it was going to get better but it hasn't". FYI - I saw the Tom Joad tour and liked it so I've seen him perform away from a band before.

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I’ve Never Played It, So I’m Going To Give It a Shot

There was a time when we pondered whether Springsteen would ever undertake a solo tour.

The release of Nebraska in 1982 spurred the initial idea, as fans understandably wondered if Bruce would perform the album live. Next came the Bridge School concert in 1986 (available in the Live Archive series), his first full acoustic set post 1973, some of it solo, the rest backed by only Nils Lofgren and Danny Federici. That special gig triggered another round of talk about solo shows, in part because things had gotten so big following the stadium concerts in 1985. Wouldn’t it be interesting to boil the whole thing back down to its essence?

The two Christic Institute performances in 1990 (also available in the Live Archive series) proved the power of Springsteen alone on stage, and eventually they also proved to be the precursors to his first solo tour later that decade. Springsteen’s one-man world tour in support of The Ghost of Tom Joad stretched from late 1995 to the spring of 1997. The Joad shows saw Bruce in troubadour mode, performing exclusively on acoustic guitar and harmonica with occasional off-stage keyboard support from longtime tech Kevin Buell. The stripped-down tour hit venues the size of which Springsteen hadn’t played since the 1970s. Some, like the Tower Theater outside Philadelphia, were the very same buildings.

Appealing as those antecedents were, the 2005 Devils & Dust tour is Springsteen’s most fully realized solo expression. He expanded his instrumentation, adding new colors via pump organ, electric and acoustic pianos, and, on occasion, autoharp, dobro, banjo, and ukulele. He expanded his setlists, too, working up thrilling new arrangements of deep cuts from the catalog, some played only a time or two. Intimate performances aren’t effective simply due to venue size. They require a performer to take risks and play in the moment, which Bruce did night after night in 2005.

This Tower Theater concert is from the opening weeks of the D&D tour. Bruce’s personal history with the venue — going all the way back to 1974 — portended something special, and the payoff came early. “My Beautiful Reward,” performed on pump organ, closed most shows in 1992 and ’93; here it is reborn as a reflective opener, and Springsteen’s vocals flow warmly right out of the gate, sliding across notes with confidence. A sweet harmonica coda formally commences the evening.

D&D tour setlists progress in a chapter-like form, often tied to the instrument Springsteen is playing. Bruce moves through tour staples “Reason to Believe” and “Devils & Dust,” then sharp readings of “Youngstown,” “Empty Sky,” and “Black Cowboys” (featuring Alan Fitzgerald on backstage keyboards at the end). Those three had limited runs in 2005, but nothing like the next selection, as Bruce moves to piano for a true WTF moment on a tour filled with surprises.

“In honor of the fabulous Tower Theater I’m gonna do something here,” Bruce says. “This is a song I cut for Darkness on the Edge of Town, but it didn’t make the record, and I’ve never played it. So I’m gonna give it a shot.”

The crowd reacts with enthusiasm, only to be reminded not to get ahead of themselves: “[It’s] probably one of the stinkers we left off. I wouldn’t get over-excited.” Funny. When the first chords play, it sounds like fewer than a dozen people recognize “Iceman,” recorded in 1977 and released on Tracks in 1998.

The intriguing tune is representative of a cluster of early material cut for Darkness including the still-unreleased and kindred “Preacher’s Daughter,” which was recorded around the same time and first surfaced publicly as a snippet in some 1978 performances of “She’s the One.” “Iceman” also shares a key line with “Badlands”: “I want to go out tonight, I want to find out what I got.” Given our familiarity with those words from “Badlands,” it is fascinating to hear Springsteen give them entirely different diction here.

“Iceman” may not approach the lost-masterpiece levels of “The Promise” or “Drop on Down and Cover Me,” but his committed vocal performance (faintly reminiscent of his 1972 demos) and excellent piano playing bring out the best in the somber song. Also intriguing is the shift Bruce makes at 2:41, appending “Iceman” with an unexpected piano coda.

That new piece also turned out to serve as a bridge, allowing Springsteen to go from “Iceman” without warning into “Incident on 57th Street.” It’s an impressive rendition, with strong, dialed-in vocals and fine piano. If you bet the “Iceman”/”Incident” exacta at Joad Downs, your ponies came in, friend.

Upper Darby’s next chapter is on guitar. First up, “Part Man, Part Monkey,” preceded by Springsteen’s timely intro about local governments rethinking “the whole evolution thing.” How quaint that mild questioning of scientific fact seems today. A trio from Devils & Dust follows: “Maria’s Bed,” “Silver Palomino,” and Bruce’s sodomy & sin soliloquy, “Reno.”

Springsteen shifts to electric piano for a moment of musical beauty with “Wreck on the Highway.” The underplayed River closer draws quiet power from the steady, sober telling of the tale. But where Roy Bittan’s piano on the album and full-band versions is widescreen, the electric piano comes across more intimately, as the instrument’s tones ring with sweetness and darkness. It’s a disquieting, captivating performance.

Another unlikely transition, as “Wreck” drops into “Real World,” played as it should be on solo piano. Again Springsteen’s full-bodied vocals and stirring work on the keys combine to create one of the best renditions of “Real World” post-Christic. It’s also, notably, the first to be released in the Live Archive series from the Devils & Dust tour.

He’s on a roll now, fueling excellent interpretations of a refreshed “The Rising,” a convincing “Further On (Up the Road),” and four from Devils & Dust to finish the set. The quartet includes “The Hitter,” which ends with Bruce’s lovely falsetto, and “Matamoros Banks,” which Bruce calls the sequel to Joad’s “Across the Border,” reminding us of the deep connective tissue between the two albums and supporting shows.

The encore opens with an enchanting, Mariachified take on “Ramrod” for the first time on the tour. Quirky but fun. Next, the eternally optimistic “Land of Home and Dreams,” and finally the mesmeric pairing of “The Promised Land” and “Dream Baby Dream,” one of the true highlights of the 2005 tour.

The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust both feature Springsteen inhabiting characters. His troubadour persona on the Joad tour afforded a bit of distance from the audience, a stance only punctured at times by tour-debuted originals like “Sell It and They Will Come”” and “I’m Turning Into Elvis,” which felt more personal in nature. The Devils & Dust songs are still character studies, but on the 2005 tour, Springsteen invited the audience on an intimate journey, revealing parts of himself in those new songs and even more through the thrilling exploration of his vast catalog.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

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I’ve Never Played It, So I’m Going To Give It a Shot