2005-07-26 Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Show features another "Valentine's Day" and "If I Should Fall Behind", its final tour appearance played for the first time on the pump organ - previously it has been played on guitar and piano. "All That Heaven Will Allow" is dedicated to the Raspberries, and the second tour appearance of "Galveston Bay" is dedicated to 'People of Faith Against the Death Penalty'. Tour premiere of "Two Hearts". Piano songs are "Tougher Than The Rest", "Valentine's Day", "The River", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" is with the bullet mic. "If I Should Fall Behind" and "Dream Baby Dream" are on pump organ. "All That Heaven Will Allow" is on electric piano.

Bruce Springsteen

Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Thank you, thanks a lot….good evening….yes….[apparently Bruce managed to, once again, stomp the lamp off the table onstage during ´Reason To Believe´] I hope that thing ain´t broke, man, I took it from the house….Patti´d kill me….´You can take it, just don´t break it! Make sure you don´t break that thing! You can take it but if you break it….´ (chuckles) I need the entire technical team on this, there it is, it´s alright, here we go (chuckles)….the first, uh, first teenage party last night, a big one, oh shit, and uh (chuckles) you know, you gotta stay hidden, hidden, concealed, you know, you can´t, can´t, can´t be there, there´s, uh, three stages of….the way your kids look at you as they grow up, you know, the first is the benevolent hand of God, you know, then you´re a tolerable idiot, you know, then you´re just a fucking idiot after that….I seem to bounce between those last two with my oldest son now (chuckles) anyway, uh, yes, I, I mean I just come out here to, uh, to continue to be loved, that´s why I´m here (chuckles)(crowd cheers) it´s all, it´s all just naked, naked seeking of attention….anyway, here´s for mamas and papas, ´Long Time Comin´….´´

Intro to “All That Heaven Will Allow”
´´Thank you….oh (chuckles) yeah, I´m switching a few things around, this is, uh, oh, I always say, I say this every night just because I try to keep the things….the actual words to the last verse should´ve been ´I, I ain´t gonna fuck it up too bad this time´….uh, just in interest of full disclosure, ´I´m not gonna fuck it up too bad´ but uh….but those, those, all the words wouldn´t fit and it lost some of its punch when I tried seeing ´em there like that so (chuckles) but, uh, alright, this is a song, uh (?) this was a, I guess, I imagined I´m riding down to the bar and, uh, you know, you got a girl that you´re waiting to see and around the late-´70s I used to keep Raspberries´ Greatest Hits-cassette in my, uh (people applaud)(?) they, they, yeah, they are, they, they are, uh, they haven´t gotten the respect they deserved, in my opinion, (?) all the power of pop music, I think, about Raspberries, Raspberries had great stuff and they had a great record called ´Overnight Sensation,´ one of the, one of the greatest little pop poppers that anybody ever made so, so, anyway, I´m gonna send this tonight to the Raspberries but uh….alright, here we go….´´

Intro to “Tougher Than The Rest”
´´Oh yeah….this was, uh, I´ve been telling the folks whole time that my father had this theory that love songs, all love songs, uh, since the beginning of time, were government propaganda ….and that their main purpose was to get you married and have babies and pay taxes and, you know, be a part of the machine, man, you know, it´s like (chuckles) so, uh, uh, uh, that was how I was brought up first (chuckles) 15 years, so I didn´t write ´em for about, I wrote, I didn´t really write ´em directly for about, oh, till I was around 37 or so (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´I was just over in Europe….and I was trying to explain to them that in the United States we have this big debate over whether the man come first or the monkey come first….that we thought it was settled a long time ago, but it´s not….and then I tried to explain to them that the monkey does not vote….they think that the monkey came first and not only that but they think they know where the monkey is….a big anniversary of the Scopes´ Trial the other day, it was in the New York Times this morning….and I didn´t know that William Jennings Bryan keeled over before the end of the trial….but under the current circumstances things like ´Inherit The Wind´ couldn´t get made today, things like ´The Flintstones´….the whole Fred-Barney-relationship is very suspect and uh….I don´t think that could get on the television if they made that today….so there´s no place like home….
(….) We´ve come a long way, baby, and we´re going back….´´

Intro to “All I´m Thinkin´ About”
´´Uh, once again, in full disclosure, this is a song that, uh, is set in Carolina, though (crowd cheers) I have to confess it when I wrote the thing I had certainly no idea what the fuck I was talking about, uh, it just happens to rhyme with ´wine,´ rhymes with ´wine,´ ´Carolina´´s very good, you know, it´s a good rhyme….that´s how, that´s how all the words are chosen - don´t let anybody tell you differently….what rhymes, whatever rhymes, that´s the song (chuckles) all the big theories and hypotheses but, no - that´s just a rhyme, just rhymed well….alright…´´

Intro to “Galveston Bay”
´´Thanks a lot….thank you, my friends….got some friends with us tonight in the hall, one, a couple of different organizations, one´s the, uh, People Of Faith Against The Death Penalty and uh…(?) very active here in Carolina and, uh, however you stand on that particular issue, they´re out there, you can get some information about it, uh, they got a petition you can sign and they could use your support, they got a bunch of different organizing efforts going on and, uh, they´re here, they work with everybody that, everybody whose lives are touched by this particular issue, victims, offenders, the whole community, so when you go out, you can check them out, People Of Faith Against The Death Penalty….´´

Intro to “Valentine´s Day”
´´This is, uh, a song that I, I played once the first time the other night, I think, I´m gonna give it another shot, this is, uh….alright….´´

Intro to “Jesus Was An Only Son”
´´Thank you, thanks, I was….I was brought up Catholic so, uh…uh, so Jesus is my per facto homeboy….and uh….it´s kind of like that, you know, I stopped going to Catholic school in the eighth grade and my mother had me go to Catechism class, it was on Monday nights, where everybody was just kind of fooling around….but, you know, it´s kind of like that Al Pacino-thing in that, that ´Godfather III,´ where, you know he goes ´I keep trying to get out but they keep pulling me back´….I could´ve done that part: ´They keep pulling me back´ and uh (chuckles) and uh, uh, you know, so I have all the Italian relatives and, and, they´re, you know, I have these pagan babies at home, which drives them insane and uh….my mother is sure, you know, that it´s, it´s a hell-bound train, me and Robert Johnson (chuckles) says ´Get those babies baptized´ but it´s like (chuckles) but, uh, hell-bound train, uh, it´s, uh, so every (?) there´s these ritual occasions every once in a while and, uh, conformations, uh, and weddings and so you go back, you know, everytime I go back, they keep trying to get me to take the Communion, you know, which, uh, you´re not supposed to take unless you´ve said an act of contrition and, and made a confession, so I´ve kind of done my confessions and I´m no longer feeling very contrite at this (?) so, uh, that and also if that doesn´t work, I tell ´em that I´ve been excommunicated because I´m divorced, you know, it´s….the divorce-theory, if I, I think that rule´s that you´re excommunicated but, uh, but, uh, I think, or maybe like one of the perks of celebrity is you can be divorced but they let you back in anyway (chuckles) ´cause it´s good promo, good promo for the whole thing (chuckles) but, uh, at any rate, uh, once in a while, uh, the Communion comes around and I, just for the hell of it, I do go up and take it (chuckles) anyway, I was, uh, thinking about, uh, what, uh, I was writing a lot of songs about parents and children and, and that relationship and what happens when it´s severed and, and, and, uh, your kids, you know, they have their own destiny and you´re along for the ride, the whole ride (chuckles) and, uh, so I was imagining, I was thinking about what Jesus would´ve been like just as someone´s son and as, uh, this is a song called ´Jesus Was An Only Son´….
(….) at His mother´s feet….now the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is that suddenly in your stomach you realise there´s this feeling that says there´s nothing, nothing you wouldn´t do to keep them safe….and that that´s a life sentence….
(….) will pierce your dreams this night….now if you figure that the choices we make are giving their weight and their meaning by the things that we give up….you choose something and you sacrifice something else….I always figured that Jesus had to be thinking about the things He was gonna lose….I figure He had to be thinking that there´s this sweet little bar down in Galilee….He could probably manage the place….Mary Magdalene could tend bar….they could have a bunch of kids and got to see the sun fall on their faces….and see the air fill their lungs….and see the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….and the next day….next day….´´

Intro to “Leah”
´´Alright….same story, different words (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you….thank you very much….that´s a, uh, I guess that´s (?) you know, with one hand we build, we carry the seeds of our creation and the seeds of our destruction and, uh, that´s kind of God´s joke or, uh, or free will or, uh, uh, we´re long ways east of Eden, I guess, and that´s the lay of the land (chuckles) so, uh….this is ´The Hitter´….´´

Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you….thanks, this is a song that I wrote as a sequel to ´Across the Border,´ I, uh, I lived out west for a while, it was, uh, particularly in the early-´90s it was an interesting time in California, California was changing in a way, I think, that the rest of the country has begun to change since, just a lot of different kinds of people from all over and, uh, there was a lot of border reporting and, and, uh, I wrote a series of songs set in California, the Central Valley and down along the southern border and this is a song that´s kind of….out of that bunch, I guess, and it´s kind of a sequel that I wrote to ´Across the Border,´ uh, every year hundreds, hundreds of people die trying to come across our southern borders and they die, they drown in the rivers and they die of dehydration in the deserts and in the backs of vans, all to come here and do the toughest jobs that we have, uh, what we need instead of vigilantes along the border is a humane immigration policy and uh….so, uh, this is a, uh, song I wrote backwards, it starts with the body at the bottom of the river, the man walking across the desert, to, uh, till he stands on the banks of Rio Bravo, across from Brownsville, Texas, this is ´Matamoros Banks´….´´

Intro to “Wild Billy´s Circus Story”
´´Oh, wonderful….that´s good singing….my God….alright, let me figure this one out…. alright, this is for the old folks, here we go….´´

Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thank you, I wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight, thank you, Greensboro….thanks a lot, want to, uh….also send, give a shout-out to some friends of ours in the hall tonight, the Greensboro Urban Ministry, they´re (?) supported by 200 multi-faith congregations, they provide interventions and emergency service (?) food, shelter and clothing, they´re here helping the struggling citizens of Greensboro, they can use your time and support, the Greensboro Urban Ministry´s on the way out, if you see ´em, please give ´em…give ´em a hand….I´ll do this for them, I´ll do this for you, I wanna once again say thanks, you were a lovely audience and uh (crowd cheers)(?)(chuckles) I appreciate that (crowd yells ´Bruce´) yes….thank you….I know, my mother loves me also….´´

Intro to “Dream Baby Dream”
´´Thank you, Greensboro!….gonna do this one for the folks from Greasy Lake, one more for Greensboro….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}