2005-07-20 Arena At Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, CT

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Longest set of the tour so far, at 27 songs. Tour premieres for "All That Heaven Will Allow" and "Nothing Man". "The Promise" is dedicated to attendee Jesse Malin, while "Dream Baby Dream" is dedicated to its writer, Alan Vega, also in attendance. Seven piano songs, including both premieres. Sound problems before "Racing In The Street", but no repeat of the Meadowlands incident. Piano songs are "The Promise", "The River", "Racing In The Street", "Lost In The Flood", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" is with the bullet mic. "Into The Fire" and "Dream Baby Dream" are on pump organ. "All That Heaven Will Allow" and "Nothing Man" are on electric piano. "State Trooper" is with the falsetto vocal.

Bruce Springsteen

Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Good evening, everybody….alright, good to see you, alright, yes, yes, yes….yes, it´s fabulous to be in the state of Connecticut….I said that to myself today as I was driving in…. alright, this is for the moms and pops, uh, out there, oh, uh, during the songs, I appreciate whistling and hooting as valid forms of self-expression but not in the middle of a fucking song, please….Outside of that (chuckles) enjoy your fabulous selves (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Highway 29”
´´Thank you….yeah, I had, uh, I had my, I had my son with me the other night at a show and he explained to me that the actual lyrics to that last verse should have went ´I´m not gonna fuck it up too bad this time´….felt the song wasn´t completely, I was hedging on that ´I´m not gonna fuck it up too bad´ (?) gotta remember that next time I sing it….anyway, speaking of fucking up….´´

Intro to “The Promise”
´´Thanks, gonna do this song tonight for a friend of mine, this is for Mr. Jesse Malin (some people applaud) oh, the man has fans in Connecticut, we´re glad to hear that (chuckles) there you go, Don* (chuckles) oh, he´s got a couple of great records out, one´s called (?) one´s called ´The Fine Art of Self-Destruction,´ Mr. Jesse Malin, this is for you, Jess´….yeah, a little more piano, maybe….´´
(* possibly addressing Sony CEO Don Ienner, who was also in the audience)

Intro to “All That Heaven Will Allow”
´´Alright….here you go, Don, this is for you, kid….´´

Intro to “Nebraska”
´´(someone yelling ´Bruce!´)….Oh, shut up….´´

Intro to “Maria´s Bed”
´´Thank you, thank you…..(?)(chuckles)….alright, this is for….the lady, the lady that asked for it (chuckles)…(tunes his guitar)….don´t know it, might be nice (chuckles) just tuning (chuckles) here you go….´´

Intro to “Nothing Man”
´´Thank you, thank you, thank you, alright, this….(plays the piano) if I can remember it (chuckles)(plays and sings to himself) alright, I haven´t played this one yet so (chuckles)(?) alright….´´

Intro to “Racing In The Street”
´´Oh yeah? Alright, this is a, uh, this is a song I, I tell, I always tell folks every night that, that, uh….I had (someone yells) don´t make me come out and slap you around there….I´ll do it, I will, I´ll take joy in it….I´ll get the folks around you to do it for me (chuckles)….alright, this is a song, uh, when I was, uh, I´ve been telling the folks every night, when I was growing up, my father told me that all love songs were government propaganda….and that their main purpose was to get you married and to, uh, uh, have a lot of kids and pay taxes and that´s what makes the machine go around (chuckles) and, uh….so I didn´t write love songs for about, uh, let me see, 25 years (chuckles) but I wrote some hidden ones ´cause, I guess, my mother, she was the other side, she was, uh, my father generally believed in, uh, suffering (chuckles) my mother believed in suffering and maybe a little transcendence so, uh, this is one of the hidden ones….´´

Intro to “Lost In The Flood”
´´Alright….somebody told me there´s a little crack on the piano on the other side (some people in the crowd: ´Yes´) yes, I, I wanna get that straightened, we were in New Jersey and, and, and the P.A went off, I started cursing the hell out of the audience who were trying to tell me that the thing was broke (chuckles) and, uh, so (?) the cursing out my neighbors for, uh, uh, uh, it was simply a misunderstanding so (chuckles) so if that´s what, if that´s what the yelling was about, I apologise, uh….and, uh, if not, uh, uh, then go fuck yourself (chuckles) I´m sure that´s what it was about, I´m sure, I´m sure, alright, for the old-timers out there….´´

Intro to “Jesus Was An Only Son”
´´Thank you, I was, uh, I was brought up Catholic and, uh, and that sort of means Jesus, Jesus is your homeboy for the rest of your life there - I think I lost my monitors, hello, there, they´re back - and, uh, but I haven´t taken part very much in the thing since I was about thirteen and I made a deal with my mom that if I didn´t have to go to Catholic high school, I´d go to Catechism class on Monday night so, uh, everybody was just pretty much fooling around in it at that point anyway and, uh, and I kind of, I went, I left the whole thing and, you know, the big fuss about naming the new Pope and everything a few months ago, I couldn´t get that into it, it was, uh, kind of like watching a high-end trade for a team you don´t play for any more, you know, and uh….but then, but it just goes to show you, then, then you turn around and now, now the Catholics are involved in, in ´Who came first, the man or the monkey?´ you know, I´m ahead of you, I guess, on that (chuckles) but uh, anyway, if you think you´re gonna get out of it and, uh, pretty much I always felt like I did, I mean I still go to church every once in a while for, sort of ritualistically, you know, my relatives get me down there, it´s sort of like that Al Pacino-thing in that, that terrible ´Godfather III´ where he, uh, uh, I wish they´d only made two of them (chuckles) but, uh, but, uh….hey, I´m sure people say that about my own damn records, right, so (chuckles) ´Man, I wish he´d only made two, that would´ve been great,´ you know, but, uh, uh, but anyway, you know, it´s like (?) you wanna get out and you can´t, you know, you´re trying to get out but they keep pulling me back, them, them being my aunts and cousins and that sort of stuff, they get me into church and, uh, every time Communion-time comes around, they want me to go get Communion and, and first I tell ´em, you know, you gotta make your Act of Contrition, which I haven´t made, I´m no longer contrite, which (chuckles) I´ve lost my contriteness over the years, you know, and that, and that wasn´t easy, you know, but, and then they keep tugging at me to get up and go and, and then I, then I try the argument that goes like ´Well, I´m divorced and I´ve been excommunicated´ so I´m just not a part of the club at any, at any rate, you know, I´m an, I´m an observer, you know, but they just want me to go up and eat the wafer no matter what (chuckles) so, hey, sometimes I do, you know, but, uh (chuckles) but anyway, there´s a long story to it so here I come around and I write this song that´s sort of like a hymn, I guess, I wrote a lot about parents and children and, uh, I wondered what it was like for, uh (?) imagining Jesus just as someone´s son, just as, as someone´s child and, and, and what that had might have been like and, uh, uh, so I wrote this, this is called, uh, ´Jesus Was An Only Son´….He actually had a lot of earthly brothers and sisters, there was a whole bunch of ´em, I understand, uh, but not on this particular day ….
(….) at His mother´s feet….now the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is that there is no train you would not stand in front of to make sure that they´re safe from harm and, uh, that´s pretty much….that´s a life sentence, you know….
(….) will pierce your dreams this night….I always figured if the, what gives our choices meaning, the things that we sacrifice for ´em, the things that we give up….I always figured Jesus had to be thinking that there´s this sweet little bar down in Galilee and He could probably manage the place….Mary Magdalene could tend bar….and, uh, they could have a bunch of kids and got to see the sun fall on their faces….see the air fill their lungs when they´re sleeping….and got to see the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….´´

Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you….alright….(some people are yelling) uh….uh….save professions of love (chuckles)….what can I say? It´s good you don´t know me (chuckles) I´d still be loved, I´m sure, but a little less (chuckles)…..´´

Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you, this is a song, uh, I wrote as a sequel to ´Across The Border´ and uh….uh….it kind of tells a similar story, every year hundreds of people die trying to cross our southern border, they die of dehydration in the deserts and they drown trying to cross the rivers, uh, or suffocated in the backs of vans, and there was a story in the papers today, there´s a, there´s a small group of folks that are (?) I don´t know if they have more than one plane but they, uh, ride across the southern desert and they drop water to people that are trying to, trying to make it into the country to get a little better life and uh, it´s, uh, these are the folks that are, if you eat peaches or if you eat strawberries, if you eat fruit, if you like your lawns mowed, (?) dying to get into the country to mow our lawns and be our housekeepers, this is, uh….what we need instead of vigilantes down along the border is a humane immigration policy…so…. it just, it just doesn´t make sense, people dying for so much and so little so, uh, this is a song called ´Matamoros Banks,´ it starts, uh, with, uh, tells the story backwards from the body at the end, at the bottom of the river, the man walking across the desert, standing on the Matamoros banks, looking across the Rio Bravo to Brownsville, Texas, and America….´´

Intro to “Ramrod”
´´Alright…yes, the quietest stagerushing in rock´n´roll history….yeah, I played ´Matamoros Banks´ and then the audience fucking rushed the stage (chuckles) it´s incredible (?)….´´

Intro to “Land Of Hope And Dreams”
´´Thank you….gonna do this one tonight for the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, those are some folks that are here in the hall with us tonight….they, uh, the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, they´re, uh….they´re out here in Connecticut working among the hungry and homeless and, uh, they can use your support…..they´re, uh, Christian organization, they further the work of Christ´s Church among local people (?) food, shelter and addiction, they´re here to help the struggling citizens of Connecticut so please, on your way out, check out Bridgeport Rescue Mission (?)….alright, yeah, this is for them…..´´

Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thank you….thanks, I wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight, you´ve been a lovely audience, thank you very much….I had a lot of fun….I knew coming to Connecticut was a good idea - no (chuckles) a little of, a little bit of a, yeah, extra bass, this is, uh, the organization I was talking about (?) they, they, they do, they operate on a very shoestring budget and yet the story on ´em was on the first page of the national section in the New York Times so if you get a chance, check them out ´cause it sounded like they could use support, uh, anyway, this is, uh, this is for them and this is for you, thanks for, uh, thanks for a lovely night, thank you very much….´´

Intro to “Dream Baby Dream”
´´Thank you….I´ve got one more for you….(?) a special song I´ve been ending the set with, a song called ´Dream´ and the man that wrote the song is here as, as a guest tonight, somebody that I admire tremendously, Mr. Alan Vega is here and he´s had a band called Suicide from the late-´70s, who have been and remain a way, way ahead of their time and, uh, it´s just a beautiful song and I wanna do it for him tonight, Alan, this is for you….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Kevin	Packed house ! Very vocal - not always a good match on this tour. After some warnings everybody settled down. Good mix in the set list highlighted by LITF. His voice got shakey towards the end. Acknowledged his mistake in NJ on 5/19. Did anybody count the F-bombs ? !!
John M.	Drove up from Long Island and was not disappointed.There is need to reiterate that Bruce is the greatest figure in poular music of his generation, although now that it is printed the NY Times, I have my doubts. Fascinating twist on several old songs. The new rendition of Reason to Believe was a throwback to Robert Johnson/Muddy Waters-replete with the pounding refrain and static mike. Hopefully this will be released someday, or at least available as a bootleg. Promised Land was reworked and Ramrod was played with a Mexicali beat. Loved Bruce's story about his father, who is a very interesting presence in his music- and is very much like many men of that post WWII generation who grew up with a cynisicm toward the world that clashed with idealism of their Baby Boomer offspring. Coming from the same type of background as Bruce I saw that cynisicm in my father and uncles all of whom would concur with Douglas Springsteen that Love songs were a government plot to get you married and make babies to feed the machine.. You know,in retrospect, they were right. Into the Fire, Spare Parts among others were rivetting. Only weak song(to me) was the last one Dream - which left many scratching their heads - although there were many who seemed mesmerized. I'm with Douglas Springsteen on this one.. Dream was a plot sending us subliminal messages to buy T-shirts and crap at the concession stands. I know that it got me to buy t-shirts for my wife and kids, which I had no intention of doing prior to the start of the song. Best line: In response to an "We love you Bruce!!": "Good thing you don't know me. If you did, you'd probably love me… but not as much.
Ed	Great show. Better and more focused than Albany and the crowd was much more respectful than in Albany on 7/16. Great set-list featuring Racing In The Street and a great Lost in the Flood. Other highlights State Trooper/Nebraska and a very intense The Hitter. As far as Bruce admonishing the crowd, whoever they were that kept talking in one (or some) of the suites deserved it. If you want to get drunk and see a "Motley Crue" type show this isn't the tour for you. Overall, I'd say the best of four I've seen on D&D so far.
The Big Mook	Fantastic show! Bruce got a little testy with interuptions, but he's that way at the e-street band concerts. Venue was surprisingly good! The best sound quality of any Bruce show I've seen in a while. Certainly better than Continental Arena. Bruce also apologized for an incident which occurrred at the CA when the sound system failed. Highlights: The Promise, Into The Fire, Spare Parts, Matamoras Banks, Racing in the Street with Intro, Jesus was an only son and intro. Weak spots: No real weakspots. Dream was not well like in my section. Idiots who were making noise and leaving early.
Lisa	Great show! Audience definitely older! Sat infront of a little bitch who was yapping on the cellphone! Bruce still has it. Loved If I fall behind, All that Heaven will allow and The Promise. The show had great lighting! I didn't realize the second song was Reason to Believe until I saw it posted here!
NYFD	Bruce opened with a spectacular version of Into The Fire - which I can not listen to without crying. We lost a lot of brothers that day going up those stairs and into the fire. Bruce is the only one who truly has catured and appreciated the bravery of those who went into the fire. The rest of the show was fantastic, and I'm waiting for the full band tour!
Tom Cantillon	Great show. One of the best of the 8 I've seen of this tour. Solid setlist. Intro the Fire was an interesting opening. Loved State Trooper, Nebraska and Spare Parts. Other highlights: All that Heaven, Racing and Lost on piano. Bruce should toss in a piano song for the encores. Be nice to hear Price you Pay a few times on the tour or even Human Touch. Solid show from start to finish. Bruce was very relaxed and chatty with the crowd. Perfect sound. Hoping to catch a few more before the tour winds down.
Noel	Stronger show than albany the week before. Either that or I am correlating closeness to the stage to impact of the artist. It seemed more intimate in the 19th row and Bruce appeared to interact more with crowd. Glad my friends finally got a taste of Maria's Bed. Can't understand why it is not an automatic on this tour. Must be a stress on his voice, but tonight was great. A very strong encore, glad to see Land of Hopes and Dreams back in the spotlight. My section was awestruck by the whole performance, hanging right to the end.

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