2005-08-06 Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Tour premieres for Born In The U.S.A. outtake "County Fair" (in its only tour performance) and a stunning piano "Backstreets" - performed solo for the first time. "Backstreets" is the first song from Born To Run to be played this tour. "Back In Your Arms" opens, this time on the electric "eBay" piano. Piano songs are "The River", "Backstreets", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" is with the bullet mic. "Dream Baby Dream" is on pump organ. "Back In Your Arms", "County Fair", and "Nothing Man" are on electric piano.

Bruce Springsteen

Intro to “Black Cowboys”
´´Thank you….thanks a lot….thanks….wrote a lot about, uh, parents and children and mothers and sons, what happens when that bond gets severed and, uh, was a beautiful book out quite a while ago now, I guess, a book called ´Amazing Grace´ by Jonothon Kozol….and it, uh…. it documented the life of young kids in the middle of a city and uh….so this is a song, uh…. it´s a little bit inspired by that book, I guess, and uh….about how we triage our citizens and the youngest and weakest of ´em, this is called ´Black Cowboys´….´´

Intro to “Long Time Comin´”
´´Thank you, Kev´, alright, this is a, uh….song, of course, uh, I´ve been telling the folks, you know, we had our first teenage party the other night and uh….it wasn´t too bad….once I put the drugs away, it was alright….they were mine - no (chuckles) no, no, I´ve actually never taken drugs but I, I plan to start taking them soon, that´s my….sort of, uh, you know, what´ve I got to lose now? but uh (chuckles) but it kind of went alright, it went alright, there´s the, uh, I´ve told folks, the three stages of parenthood, you know, when they´re little, you´re the benevolent hand of God, uh, you know, they get a little older and you´re kind of a tolerable idiot but you´ve got the money so that´s where the tolerable-part comes in, I guess, and then a little older than that, unfortunately you become the fucking idiot, you know, and uh….but, you know, the fucking idiot with the money so they gotta….leaves open that little thin, thin line of communication that´s always there….anyway, here´s ´Long, Long Time Comin´….´´

Intro to “County Fair”
´´Thanks, yeah….yeah, that, uh, that last verse worries me a little bit, I´m, I´m sounding a little smug there, it should´ve, it should´ve, it should´ve been either ´I ain´t gonna fuck it up too bad this time´ or perhaps ´I hope I´m not gonna fuck it up this time´….so, uh, those, that´s probably, would have been perhaps more accurate, more accurate interpretation of my predicament but uh (chuckles) but uh, alright, I´m, I´m pulling out some obscure things out of the hat so uh….(?) a good summer song so….alright…..(gets to ´Soldier´s Field´ and realises he´s singing wrong) no, fucked that up there….I got the wrong verse….(sings to himself)….I may have to skip over that line (chuckles) getting ready for the county fair….´´

Intro to “The River”
´´That´s a weird song….´´

Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´I just came back from Europe, alright….(?)….where I tried to explain to them that there was a big debate going on in the United States right now over, uh, who came first - the man or the monkey….uh….I also tried to explain to them that the monkey doesn´t vote so….uh, they believe the monkey came first and they also are pretty sure about where the monkey is….so (crowd cheers) no applause, please, it makes me feel like I´m preaching to the converted (chuckles)….now….you know, the Scopes Monkey Trial and all that stuff, uh, I´ve kind of been talking about this for a big piece of the tour, for quite a while Iwas feeling rather smugly superior to my evangelical brothers and sisters….but then the Catholics threw their hat into the ring….why? why? after all these years, why now?….so I´m in the shit with everybody else (chuckles) but uh, I also tried to explain to them in Europe that under the current conditions some of their favorite American, uh, imports just couldn´t, wouldn´t exist, like the Flintstones….there´s an enormous audience for that in, in, uh, on the continent in Europe and I tried to explain to them that the ambiguous relationship between Fred and Barney….couldn´t get that made today…without even bringing Dino into the question….so…. it´s great to be back home (chuckles)….
(….) Now, we´ve come a long way, baby….and we´re going back…..´´

Intro to “All the Way Home”
´´(?) a request, somebody asked for this out back….´´

Intro to “Backstreets”
´´Thanks….alright….I´m gonna take a swing at this one, I never played this one by myself, I´m never gonna play it again so, uh, I´m gonna screw it up while I´m going through it so, uh, any bad notes you hear, those are intentional….alright? I´ll do this for Bobby, you out there? (some people yell) nah, he´s a kid….a kid with a banjo….did you get in?….he is? his old man (?)? no? he ran away from home already (?)(chuckles) alright, I´m gonna give this one a shot, uh….alright, ok, hold on, wait, wait, let me prepare myself, mmmmm, alright (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´Uh…yike, I brought, uh (chuckles) I was brought up Catholic, I lived on a little - excuse me (chuckles) that´s disgusting (chuckles)(?) a little L-shaped lot where we had like, uh, oh, it was like this, it was, uh, we had my grandmother´s house, I lived in there with my grandma, my parents and there was a field and there was, uh, the nuns´ convent, then the priest´s rectory and the Catholic church on the corner and right across the street from the Catholic church was my aunt´s house with my cousins in it, next to her was my other aunt´s house, my uncle and cousins in it, and up the street about two more houses was my greatgrandmother´s house and that was all on my father´s side and then across the street was my mother´s family, it was her, uh, her aunt and her mama and my uncle and, and a cousin so we kind of had this whole little area of the block sewed up, you know, and that was how I grew up, uh, but I saw about every wedding and every funeral for the first ten years of my, of my life in the church, all the life was, all the life was situated around the church, if there was a wedding, everybody ran up the street, if there was a funeral, everybody ran up the street (chuckles) I´d see more guys carried away in a black Cadillac before I was ten than, uh (chuckles) but I don´t know, you know, I kind of left the whole thing when I got out of grammar school and you always think you get away from it but har-har, you know, that´s the joke, I guess, it´s like that Al Pacino-line: ´I keep trying to get out, they keep pulling me back´ so I looked through my music and it´s filled with kind of religious imagery and, and I look back on it now and rather than the pure bitter hatred I had for the first 50 years of my life (chuckles) I now have mellowed, I´ve mellowed about that and uh (chuckles) and there was a lot of power and, and beauty and poetry and terror and, and ecstasies and mystery, oh, man, deep, deep mystery in, in, I mean it was, it was a very, it was a, I look back and it was a childhood filled with mysticism and, and unknown things, uh….so as I was writing about parents and children, I said ´Oh yeah,´ you know, what´s, what would it been like for Jesus just as someone´s son, once you have your own kids, you know, everybody´s somebody´s baby, you know (chuckles) and uh, so I wrote this song, this was, you know, your kids have got their own destiny, which you fear for because you know not only are they gonna make up their own minds but you´re along for the whole damn ride and uh (chuckles) so, uh, anyway, this is ´Jesus Was an Only Son´….
(….) at His mother´s feet….and the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is how suddenly there´s this feeling that there´s nothing you wouldn´t do to keep them safe…. and that that´s a life sentence….
(….) will pierce your dreams this night….and if you figure that the choices that we make get their weight and their meaning from the things that we give up, you choose one part of life…. and you let go of something else….I always figured Jesus had to be thinking about what He was gonna lose…..that there was….that it was beautiful this time of year down in Galilee and there´s this great little bar near the beach….and He could manage the place….and Mary Magdalene could tend bar and they could have a bunch of kids….and get to see the sun fall on their faces and get to watch their lungs fill with air at night when they´re asleep and get to see the next day….and the day after that….the next day….and the next day….and the next day….´´

Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you, thanks a lot….yeah….alright (?)….this is, uh, a song, we carry the seeds of, of creation with us (?) an ability to build good things and, and….throw love around and, uh, we also carry the seeds of destruction and, uh, that´s kind of the human package, I guess, that was, I don´t know if that was God´s joke, that was supposed to be His punishment, I suppose, you know, uh, but….I always figured….it was all gonna happen anyway, I don´t buy the part that says, you know, we screwed up and got tossed, you know, I, I (chuckles) I always think He set the whole thing up, alright, there´s this garden….here´s a tree….if it´s all the other trees you get to touch (?)(chuckles) He made us so He knows who He´s talking to… how many walks around the garden can you take, you know? we all come back around to the appletree (chuckles) and, uh, those urges never go away so, uh….so we are here long ways east of Eden and, uh….this is called ´The Hitter´….´´

Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´(towards the end of ´The Hitter´ someone yells ´Thank you´)….Thank you, thanks….yes, you´re, uh, you´re very welcome, thanks….this was song, I lived in California for three or four years and I wrote a series of songs set in - get the feedback out of that, Lou….wrote a series of songs set in the Central Valley and along….along the border, this was kind of song that´s part of that series or a sequel to those songs, every year hundreds of people die just trying to get across our southern borders to get into the United States to do the dirtiest and the hardest jobs that we have, they, uh, die of dehydration in the desert and they die crossing the rivers and in the backs of vans, this is a song I wrote backwards, it goes from the body, the point of view of the body at the bottom of the river to the man walking across the desert to, uh, he´s standing on the banks of the Rio Grande across from Brownsville, Texas….what we really need is, uh, uh, instead of vigilantes along the border, we need a humane immigration policy….here´s ´Matamoros Banks´….´´

Intro to “Wild Billy´s Circus Story”
´´Alright, this was a request from somebody out there….´´

Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thank you….I wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight….I don´t think I´ve been in this theater since ´96, it´s just a beautiful, beautiful place to play, you´re so fortunate to have this here in your town, just a lovely, lovely theater…and, uh, I wanna do this, it´s a shout-out for friends of ours from the St.Louis Area Foodbank, they´ll be out there in the lobby, if you can, on the way out, please check them out and give them some support, they´re here in the St.Louis area, they help by distributing food to a lot of member agencies and they educate the public on the nature and the solution to the problems of hunger, those are good folks out there on the frontline doing God´s work so, if you can, on your way out, check out St.Louis Foodbank here with us tonight, this is for them and for you, nice to be back….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Sharon

An evening with Bruce was awesome! It was an intimate venue and the night was all Bruce. He shared his inner feelings and thoughts through his music. He was also very personable as he talked to the audience about their "first teenage party". He sang "Backstreets" for the "guy with the banjo". If you were expecting Bruce rockin' like he does with the E-Street Band, you weren't paying attention to "Devils and Dust".

Mark Stitt

Amidst much cheering, Bruce walked onstage about 8:15. The Fox theater was sold out, all 4,000 seats filled. Easily the most ornate theater I had ever been in, just a beautiful setting, every square inch decorated. I was maybe 15 feet from the microphone, prime seating to be sure. The stage was framed in plush red velvet drapes, 2 chandeliers overhead. Dressed in blue jeans, a black shirt rolled up above his elbows and boots, Bruce looked fit and happy. Despite the grind of being on the road for months at a time, it appeared that performing live agreed with him. He sat at the keyboard and opened with a rarity 'Back in Your Arms', then took out his harmonica and played 'Reason to Believe' in a funky, smoky delta blues style, keeping time with his boot pounding the stage. As he finished that, he strapped on his acoustic guitar and went right into 'Devils and Dust', the title track from his latest release. It was about this time that I felt the sides of my face hurting, and I realized it was from grinning non-stop! Bruce continued to entertain us for the next two and a half hours, featuring songs from his new album and a mix of some of his older classics. He played piano, electric piano, harmonica, acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars and for a memorable performance of 'Part Man, Part Monkey' plugged in an electric guitar. He was in a good mood, chatting with the crowd, sharing stories of his growing up, being raised Catholic, the trials and tribulations of being a parent of a teenager. Early on he played 'County Fair', a perfect song for late summer. However, he botched one of the lines, stopped, went back to play it again and messed it up again. He laughed and said "Okay, how about I just skip that line"! He played 'The River' on piano, then brought the house to its feet with a standing ovation for the first ever solo performance of 'Backstreets'! As the crowd stood and cheered at the conclusion, Bruce stood up from the piano, put on his guitar, strode to the microphone while a floor level flood light came on behind him, framing him in the brightness. He then sang the opening lines "Can't see nothin' in front of me, can't see nothin' comin up behind" from 'The Rising'. Lots of emotion in that song, played superbly. The whole night was like that, just one amazing song after another with nary a break. He finished up, waved to the crowd and walked offstage to deafening applause and cheers. A few minutes later he walked back out for a 5 song encore while the entire crowd stood. One of the songs was the classic 'The Promised Land', but played in an entirely different style. Bruce strummed the chords, then used his thumb and fingers to keep a percussive beat going against the body of the acoustic guitar, hard to describe but done in a great way. He finished off the night with a cover of the song 'Dream Baby Dream', played on pump organ. He got the organ to play on a loop, stood up and walked to the front of the stage and sang while the organ played behind him. Holding a microphone in one hand, waving the other hand back and forth in a mesmerizing rhythm, he swayed back and forth as he sang. He finished the song and walked offstage as the organ continued to play, a very satisfying finish. When the house lights came up and the fans gave one final round of thunderous applause before heading out, I thought the night could not have been any better. We stood and talked while waiting for the crowd to thin out, the aisles were jammed. I turned and looked back into the wings of the stage and saw Bruce standing by himself, arms folded. I waved at him and he waved back, the perfect ending to a perfect night!

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