2007-10-02 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

First show of the tour comes in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, with not too much variation from the rehearsals. "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" makes its first appearance of the year. "Town Called Heartbreak" is the acoustic version. "Thundercrack" keeps its spot in the encores, and remains a fairly regular feature in the first leg of the tour. A calliope version of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" is played as the band comes onstage and will be the intro music for the rest of the tour, with the exception of the 2008 shows opened with the "Blood Brothers" tribute film.

Intro to “The Ties That Bind”
“Good evening (crowd cheers) and so it begins (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Magic”
“Good evening, Hartford (crowd cheers) woo!…a good night already …thank you…alright…it’s the, uh, first stop on our mystery train (crowd cheers) thanks for being with us…here’s the title song from our new record, it’s called “Magic” (crowd cheers) it’s a song I wrote about how we live sort of in this Orwellian moment when what’s true can be made to seem like a lie and what’s a lie can be made to seem true and we’ve got to live with some consequences over the past six years (?)(crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Livin’ in the Future”
“Alright, alright, how are we doing back here? (crowd cheers)(?)… I’m so glad to be here tonight (crowd cheers) I’m so glad to be in your beautiful city (crowd cheers) this is a song called “Livin’ in the future” but it’s about what’s happening right now…how along with all the things we love about America…cheeseburgers, French fries, (?) motorcycle engines, the Bill of Rights (crowd cheers) Steve Van Zandt on “The Sopranos” (crowd cheers) Big Man Clarence Clemons (crowd cheers) we’ve had to add to all those things that we love about America, we’ve had to add to the American picture: voter suppression, illegal wiretapping, rendition, black sites, an attack on the Constitution…these are all things that shouldn’t be happening here that are happening here and we plan to do something about it right now! (crowd cheers) we plan to sing about it (crowd cheers) come on, Max…”

Intro to “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
“It still feels a little bit like summer out there (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Thundercrack”
“Alright, here’s a, uh…till about a week ago Max and Roy had never played this song with the E Street Band (?)…”

Intro to “American Land”
“Oh, turn the lights on, let me see everybody…bring them up (?) all the way up (crowd cheers) hello!…thank you for being here for our first night (crowd cheers) also here tonight we have our friends from Hartford Food System, they started in 1978 and they’re one of the nation’s oldest grassroots organizations, if you see them on the way out, stop and give a hand to the Hartford Food System (crowd cheers) and remember this year, the coming around year is an important year, let your voice be heard…(?)…(the drum intro starts) …it’s your country, don’t let anybody take it from you…
(…) Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) Garry Tallent (crowd cheers) Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Dan Federici (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) Big Man Clarence Clemons (crowd cheers) the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, heartbreaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)(crowd cheers)…”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

A.H.	As always, the show is what you need it to be. For specifics: loved hearing Ties That Bind, Night and She's The One; Reason to Believe was terrific. Sequencing Livin' in the Future into Promised Land and The Rising into Last to Die was BRILLIANT! The Last to Die was overwhelming. Wrung out after that one. Gypsy Biker, Magic, Last to Die, Long Walk Home, Livin' in the Future all sound good on the record but are MUCH more powerful and clear w/ the band adding layers of sound and texture to them — they had much more menace, rage & despair than on disc. Even Devil's Arcade, which on disc escapes me, sounded good. Thundercrack was a hoot. And American Land was a rousing finale — both Danny and Roy were center stage playing accordion. The downsides: The sound mix is off — frequently the vocals were drowned out, which was a problem for the new songs; there's a lot of reverb which distorts the piano, in particular. Bruce needs to start the shows on time. I'm not saying they have to go on at 7:30, but starting at 8:30 is RUDE. And I agree: If we're only getting 22 or 23 songs, (hell, even if we're getting 30 songs!) one had better not be Patti's. Has he ever showcased Nils' or Steve's?
Andrew	Did anyone happen to notice the other setlists?? Lemme tell you something as a huge Bruce fan, this will get old quick. No reason I should hear Darlington County at every show!! Please… I traveled from continental rehearsal to Hartford to see the same show… and please get Town Called Heartbreak out of here… God forbid he'd sit down and play any song alone, gimme my City Of Ruins, gimme Drive All Night, just don't play Patti's garbage. Another quick one… Thundercrack, Rosalita, 10th Avenue, Mary's Place… what do these have in common? … band introductions…. a fantastic display of what Bruce is all about with a climactic finish to the song after… he quickly introduces the band during American Land… half the building is leaving when they see Roy and Danny picking up accordians… why? 'cause they know the lights are going on after the song… no matter how loud we get, this tour lacks A LOT of personality with no introductions… but then again there has only been "technically" one show so far…
Boog	He can leave Patti's tune… but Thundercrack may have to be 86'd those final few songs should be out and out knockout shots or add (easier said than done) one more tune.
Joey D.	Probably seen 60 shows. This one was, no doubt, right up there. I could comment on every song but if I had to pick the one song that grabbed you by the b***ls and twisted em' it'd be "reason to believe". The name of the song, the meaning and the delivery summed up the entire night. I knew I was right back in 1980 when I told my brother I just saw the greatest rock performance I'd ever seen after the Boston Garden performance of the river show. I could say that again today and it would still be accurate.
Mark	I was at the Hartford show and had mixed emotions. Last time I saw Bruce was 1980 Boston Garden and this show, although very good in any other context, couldn't come close to matching the 1980 show. I liked several of the new songs (Radio Nowhere, Last to Die) and I thought Town called Heartbreak worked well. But I also didn't hear any of my top half dozen Bruce tunes. Bottom line - the set list needs to shift some to incorporate a few more classics; if Bruce needs to cut show lengths then he needs to take this into account when developing the set list. As I said initially, mixed emotions - overall, really good show, but it was tough to know that my wife (seeing Bruce for the first time) only caught glimpses of the past.
Michelle	Bruce was a force of nature!! everyone on their feet from the first song! A comment on Patti's song, while I don't love her voice-the duet with Bruce was powerful and gripping! He definitely made it great!
M.J.	Very strong start. The opening trio of songs just roared. I was amazed at the power of "Radio Nowhere" done live and the fact that everyone in the crowd knew the lyrics. The rest of the new stuff suffered from lack of awareness, but that's going to improve. "Reason To Believe" is beyond belief - the absolute highlight of the night. "Night" into "She's the One" was beautiful, especially because the audience's applause was so loud at the conclusion of "Night" that you couldn't really hear the intro to "She's the One" … it just sorta snuck up on you and then exploded. I'm going to get blasted for this, I know, but "Town Called Heartbreak" was tremendous. Finally a song that Patti's voice fits … as a duet with Bruce it was really something (although I think I was the only one listening). Finally, the last 4 songs of the set were really something: "The Rising" into "Last to Die" into "Long Walk Home" into "Badlands" was goosebumps time. Big time. Encores built slowly. No one knew "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and virtually no one knew "Thundercrack" (although I have it on good authority that Chris "Mad Dog" Russo knew it), but as always "Born to Run" blew the roof off and we were home free. GREAT night!
Nate	Left the concert 25 minutes into it - disgusted. CANNOT make out his great lyrics, many around my booed! We came to hear, not get lost in the sound, which seems to be his new style!!!
R.H.	A strong show that will get much better. The thing with the new songs is a) much/most of the audience didn't know them, and b) the band is still growing into them. But they will be just fine with practice. All the oldies were done really well, and the crowd loved them. Re: Town Called Heartbreak, I like the song a lot on Patti's album, but it sounded kind of thin next to Bruce's material. It's his call whether to play it, or a 50's oldie, or whatever the hell he wants to do. This was the shortest E Street concert I've seen, only about 2:20. Yeah, a solo set before the encore would have added a lot, and the rest of the guys could have laid back for a bit. Finally, Magic is a classic. Give it a few listenings, read the lyrics.
Rick	I saw Bruce one time on the opening night of the BITUSA tour in 84 and it is still by far the best show I have ever seen. With that in mind I am excited about taking my wife (who hasn't seen him)this year, but like some have mentioned, I am a little let down by the setlist. I understand he will play a lot of new stuff, but the remaining songs are puzzling "Darlington County"? Ending with "Waitin on a Sunny day" and "American Land". Anyone else feel this way? maybe I just need a pep talk…
Ron	Bruuuuuuce will not be able to please everyone on this tour. His catalog of recorded work is immense. All of it superb. For Bruuuuuce to please everyone, he would have to ignore some lesser known songs which most would agree are masterpieces. I am sure that Bruce is tired of Thunder Road after 33 years of playing it. His new songs stand on their own. Last night I was at the Show in Hartford. I can tell those of you who were not there, that Radio Nowhere, Gypsy Biker, Last to Die and Devils Arcade fit nicely beside Badlands, Night and She's the One. Last night was a classic E-Street performance. I will never forget it. If I ever want to hear Prove It All Night and Thunder Road, which I love, I will spin up Live 1975-1985, or Live in NYC. As for Bruuuuucces current set list, I think he has given enough of his sweat and hard work to his fans over the years that he deserves to be able to pick his own songs. Thank you Bruuuuuuuce and E-Streeters, for a very enjoyable and meaningful night in Hartford last night. And Andrew, leave Patti Springsteen alone. Rock on Boss!!!!

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