2006-11-09 NEC Arena, Birmingham, England

Scheduled: 19:45 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

"Blinded By The Light" opens the show once again. Nils Lofgren, himself on tour in the U.K., guests on "Pay Me My Money Down", ultimately even performing solo acoustic after the band all leave the stage. First ever performances in England of "This Little Light Of Mine", "American Land", and "Froggie Went A Courtin'". Patti Scialfa is not present. Horn section is Baron-Manion-Ramm-Gayton.

Nils Lofgren (Guest)

Intro to “Bobby Jean”
´´Sam Barfeld on the fiddle….alright….thank you, my friend….ah….ah….yes, nicely done, very, very nicely done….alright, here we go….´´

Intro to “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”
´´Thank you, thank you very much, good evening….oh yes….(tunes his guitar) yes, close enough for folk music (chuckles)….but still a little loud for rock´n´roll (chuckles)….can´t do it
(chuckles)….´´

Intro to “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?”
´´This is for the mothercity of American music, New Orleans….´´

Intro to “Jacob´s Ladder”
´´Alright….it´s time for the English ass to rise from the English seat….´´

Intro to “Long Time Comin”
´´Oh, thank you, alright, I´ll, uh, send this one out to Patti….she´s, uh, we have high school kids now and, uh, they can´t be left alone in the house so (chuckles) we have a division of duties (chuckles) I was just home for a week and, uh, nice to be back relaxing, that´s all I can say (chuckles) woo! feels good….yes, I go from bandleader to chauffeur and short-order cook very, very quickly, I´ve learned to do that very fast…..here we go, Kid (?)….´´

Intro to “My City Of Ruins”
´´(Nils finishes the last chorus of ´Pay Me My Money Down´ singing and playing acoustic) ….Nils Lofgren….yes….he´ll be here touring, catch his show….´´

Intro to “When The Saints Go Marching In”
´´Thank you….woo, oh yes….oh Lord, thanks for coming out to the show tonight….yes, yes, I wanna thank you for coming out, taking a chance on us….we appreciate that….been having a lot of fun and, uh, just a little thanks for the longtime support of all my music in Birmingham and in the UK….appreciate it….and I´ll, uh, send this one out to you…..and, uh, it´s a song that sort of explains, explains our whole little experiment up here tonight….´´

Intro to “This Little Light Of Mine”
´´Marc Thompson and Lisa Lowell….Charles, give me a hand, please….I wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight, please rise from your seat and join us, we´re gonna send you home with a little light in your soul and love in your heart, here we go….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

My first show of this tour (7th overall) and I was not disappointed! The band are fantastic. The sheer noise of 18 musicians playing their hearts out and enjoying themselves, it's impossible not to get lifted up and taken along by it! Too many highlights to mention (The Ghost of Tom Joad and the introduction of Nils probably got the biggest crowd reactions). If I do say so myself, we, the crowd, we in fine voice throughout, taking up Bruce's cue in 'Froggie went a courtin' that if 'We want anymore we can sing it ourselves' and singing the whole first verse again before the band rejoined us. Anyone with tickets for future shows is in for a great night. One word of warning though. If your ticket says the show will start at 7.45, the show will start at 7.45! We assumed he would be 'politely' late and heard the first song waiting outside the Ladies toilets as a result!

LuckyTouch

A fantastic start to this show, Blinded by the light. Some have described this as reggae, some as ska. Not really sure what it was, but it really rocked. Great harmonies, great energy. Followed by two standards of the tour, John Henry & Old Dan Tucker. Further on the up the road was almost unrecognizable, very slow, Gospel-like sound. Jessie James & Mary, don't you weep were two more from the album & given the usual treatment. Bobby Jean got a thorough working over, followed by Erie Canal & My Oklahoma home. The Ghost of Tom Joad was one that actually sounded quite like the original, very low horns & a similar feel to the album version. Great versions of Mrs McGrath, How can a poor man?, and Jacobs Ladder. Long time coming was followed by a slow, gospel sounding Jesus was an only son. I don't particularly like this song, but was impressed by this version. Open all night started with the horn section doing a do wop singalong before the band came in & made it sound like a rock & roll song from the fifties. Nils Lofgren guested on Pay me my money down, but there didn't seem to be enough room on stage for him. Bruce nearly clouted him with his guitar. The encores started with Bruce strumming the intro to My City of Ruins, with the band joining in slowly building up to a big climax. You can look got the rock & roll treatment, before a subdued When the saints. This little light of mine was followed by the Pogues-like American Land. The show seemed to be over but Bruce decided we deserved a bonus. Froggie got the singalong treatment. 2 1/2 hours of great entertainment with a great crowd and actually for once I was impressed with the venue. But after Manchester MEN, most places will look good.

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