2008-04-23 Amway Arena, Orlando, FL

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Show rescheduled from April 19. "Blood Brothers" is the "rock" version, as found on the Blood Brothers EP, in its only tour performance. "Spirit In The Night" is dedicated to Danny. "The River" includes a lengthy piano introduction. Tour premiere of "Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?" is played, in response to a "Growin' Up" sign. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds guests for tour one-offs "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)" and "Mr. Tambourine Man". "Fire" was the winner of a "pick the song" vote from a local radio station. "Jungleland" is played by sign request. Patti Scialfa is not present.

Roger McGuinn (Guest)

Before “Blood Brothers”
“Good evening, Orlando (crowd cheers) this is something in remembrance of Danny…”

Intro to “Radio Nowhere”
“Is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Spirit in the Night”
“Alright, this one´s for Dan (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?”
“Thank you…alright, good evening, everybody (crowd cheers) thank you for coming out, I hope we didn´t inconvenience you by switching the nights around, I appreciate…I appreciate that…we wanna thank you for all the prayers and condolences that you sent to us for Dan…alright, I´m gonna test the band´s memory right now (crowd cheers) I hope you remember the beginning (chuckles) we´re gonna do this one for you, we did “Growin´ Up” last night so tonight we´ll do, uh, this for the birthday girl over there, alright? is that you? alright (chuckles)…remember, C? (giggles) ready, Max?…”

Intro to “Livin´ in the Future”
“Woo! (crowd cheers)…it´s slippery up here…Orlando! (crowd cheers) I´m going to Disneyland, baby! (crowd cheers) that´s right…are we having any fun yet? (crowd cheers) that´s good, that´s good…this is called ´Livin´ in the Future´ but it´s about what´s happening now…how along with all the things that we love about where we come from and the place we call “home”…we´ve had to add in the past eight years to the American picture things like rendition and illegal wiretapping and the rolling-back of civil liberties…the loss of the right to Habeas Corpus, these are, these are all things that because of your color or your…or your circumstance or your religion, you may think don´t have a lot to do with you, they may not have any immediate impact on your life but …but they´re all really an attack on our Constitution, which means they´re an attack on ourselves as Americans and who we are…so this is a song about sleeping through changes that, when I was, when I was a kid, your folks always told you these things happen someplace else but not here…but the mighty E Street Band (crowd cheers) is ready to do something about it (crowd cheers) we´re gonna sing about it…that´s right, that´s gonna scare ´em…what we got there…we´ll see where that gets (?)…so here´s to the end of eight years of bad magic (crowd cheers) help me tell the story, Max…”

Intro to “The Promised Land”
“I see a change is gonna come…”

Intro to “Fire”
“Alright…well…we do this thing where I guess some of you might have taken part where, you know, you voted on the radio for the song you wanna hear? (no response) this is what puzzles me ´cause everytime I mention this, everybody goes ´Huh? Huh? I didn´t vote´ - somebody did…this was, uh, this was, this was a management idea, I think…but, anyway, I´ve written a lot of songs, pretty good ones, but for some reason this is the one everybody wants to hear tonight…now, I wrote this song in about five minutes with the idea that I was gonna give to Elvis Presley back in 1976…so it´s the old story, I went to Memphis, Steve and I were playing and, you know, we went out in the middle of the night, we went out to Graceland and, uh, I tried to get into Elvis´ house so…not something I would suggest, don´t do it at my house, alright? (chuckles) but, so, anyway, we didn´t get in, a long story short, so I met a fellow named Robert Gordon, who was originally in a band called the Tuff Darts, played at CBGB´s, they had, they made one fabulous song called “It´s All for the Love of Rock´n´Roll,” go home on your…on your damn thing and, uh (chuckles) I don´t know if it´s on there but, but “All for the Love of Rock´n´Roll” by the Tuff Darts was a great, great song…but, anyway, he had a rockabilly band so I gave this song to him and he cut it and then the Pointer Sisters cut it (some cheers) and they had a big hit with it, a big smash with it…and, uh, then about three years ago Babyface Edmonds cut it and he cut the best version of all…if you can find the Babyface version of this song, it is the best version of this song that I´ve ever heard, when I heard it, I was so sure that this thing was gonna be a hit, I like ran out and bought a new car and, uh (laughter from the crowd) but then it didn´t go anywhere, it was just the cruel vicissitudes of pop culture, you know, but it should´ve, should´ve been a huge smash, I should´ve been sitting on the beach in my new car parked at the curb but, anyway…anyway, here we go, alright, people have spoken…”

Intro to “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
“Thank you…I wanna thank everybody for coming out tonight, thank you so much (crowd cheers) thank you for coming back, thank you (crowd cheers) we got the Second Harvest Foodbank of Central Florida, friends of ours in the hall tonight, the Second Harvest Foodbank provides millions of pounds of food every year for hungry children, senior citizens and the working poor that are struggling to get by, on your way out, these are good folks out on the frontlines doing God´s work, please give a hand to the Second Harvest Foodbank of Central Florida (crowd cheers) we have a special guest with us tonight, somebody whose music we really grew up on and who´s been a tremendous influence in my music, this is the guy that kind of single-handedly invented Country Rock, invented jangling guitars (chuckles) Folk Rock and, uh, just, uh, Space Rock too, absolutely! (chuckles) and he´s so much incredible, beautiful, beautiful music, we´re honoured to have on our stage, from the Byrds, Mr. Roger McGuinn (crowd cheers) [Roger McGuinn joins the band onstage]…”

Intro to “Jungleland”
“Roger McGuinn! (crowd cheers) oh yes…oh, man…when I was 15, in my little room, I had my little box stereo and I played that first Byrds album, oh, 200 times in the dark night after night after night, that’s, uh, that´s some of the most beautiful music ever written in pop music (crowd cheers) and sung…alright, give me, man, give me that thing…so first we got…thank you to my friend down there (crowd cheers) now this part´s funny ´cause you don´t look a day over about ten or twelve, my friend, and I take your word for it (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “American Land”
“Thank you for coming out to the show tonight! (crowd cheers) we love you, Florida!…
(…) Garry W.Tallent (crowd cheers) Little Steven on the guitar (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the mighty, mighty Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) the man who saved you on this tour, Mr. Charlie Giordano, in for Dan Federici (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and you wish you could be like him but you can´t: Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons (crowd cheers) Orlando! (crowd cheers) Orlando! (crowd cheers) Florida! (crowd cheers) you´ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: ´E Street Band´)…”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

^{© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.}

I Don’t Know How I Feel Tonight

The delta between going and gone is a chasm.

Danny Federici took a leave of absence from the E Street Band in November 2007 to battle melanoma. March 20, 2008, he returned to the stage in Indianapolis to play one last time with his band of brothers, a performance available in the Live Archive series. He died on April 17 of the same year.

With Springsteen on tour, two concerts were rescheduled by a few days to accommodate Federici’s funeral and attendant events. The show in Tampa on the 22nd was released in the Live Archive series in early 2019. Now, Orlando, April 23, 2008 completes a two-show celebration of life for Phantom Dan.

The 25-song set blends perseverance, nostalgia, and catharsis via a very special guest, all while still supporting Magic, the album Springsteen released the previous September. There’s a noticeable sense of purpose in the evening’s attempt to counterbalance undoubted emotional exhaustion. Another coping strategy employed seems to be turning up the guitar amps.

Like the night before in Tampa, the show begins with a five-minute video tribute to Federici played on the arena’s big screens accompanied by “Blood Brothers” from Greatest Hits. But in Orlando, the true set opener is also “Blood Brothers”; this time it is a full-band rock arrangement similar to the one released in 1996 on the Blood Brothers EP.

Rehearsed in soundcheck, the electrified “Blood Brothers” is captivating. With a slight quiver evident in his voice, Springsteen sings the first verse a capella before the band smashes into a take that sounds like a cross between a great River outtake and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Refugee.”

Moving into more familiar territory, “Night” retains its sharp edge. The Magic tour was something of a renaissance back to 1977 levels for the song, where it regularly featured, as it does here, paired with “Radio Nowhere,” played with vigor and a helping of Stevie Van Zandt vocal sauce. “Out in the Street” carries forth this strong opening salvo ahead of “Spirit in the Night,” dedicated to Dan and the first of three songs from Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ to honor him.

Professor Roy Bittan places a lovely prelude in front of “The River” in a stately, fitting version. Interestingly, for all its up-front piano beauty, the end of the song eschews any keyboard flourishes. Back to Greetings for a ragged-but-right audible of “Does This Bus Stop 82nd Street?” A return to sharper focus with the always welcome “Candy’s Room” which bristles with big guitar energy that sustains into a cracking “Prove It All Night.” Nils Lofgren takes his guitar solo into intriguing Theremin directions, then trades riffs with Van Zandt down the stretch.

“She’s the One,” like Born To Run counterpart “Night,” was having a moment on the Magic tour. It cooks in Orlando, and it’s right about here in the set when you might start to ask yourself, “are those guitars louder than they usually are?”

Clarence Clemons comes to the fore on the always sprightly “Livin’ in the Future,” its sentiment eerily apt in 2025. “The Promised Land” precedes the night’s setlist outlier, “Fire,” included as the result of a radio promotion. “What puzzles me,” Springsteen says, “[is] everytime I mention this, everybody goes, ‘Huh? Huh? I didn’t vote’,” before doing what all great artists do in a situation like this, blame management. “Fire” is buoyed by a long introduction where Springsteen recounts the history of the song including several known covers, his favorite of which is Babyface’s 1998 version featuring Des’ree.

The third and final visit to Asbury Park comes as “Lost in the Flood,” that rare OG song that isn’t played often but is always played well. In Orlando, the band really grabs hold of it, turning the entire performance up a notch and staying there. Springsteen takes a ripping guitar solo and again the gain knob seems to be moving clockwise.

“Devil’s Arcade” follows, arguably the best Magic song translated to the stage, and the guitars go off again; this gripping rendition might be the best of the night. Two more from Magic follow “The Rising”: the melodramatic “Last To Die” and the anthemic “Long Walk Home.” Fun fact: “Last to Die” namechecks “Truth or Consequences,” a town in New Mexico renamed after the radio and late TV game show of the same name.

“Badlands” gratefully accepts the night’s guitar settings to close the set ahead of a unique encore. “We have a special guest with us tonight,” Springsteen says, “somebody whose music we really grew up on and who’s been a tremendous influence in my music. This is the guy that kind of single-handedly invented Country Rock, invented jangling guitars, Folk Rock and Space Rock too…. So much incredible, beautiful, beautiful music. We´re honored to have on our stage, from the Byrds, Mr. Roger McGuinn.”

McGuinn leads a primed and ready-for-the-feels E Street Band through “Turn! Turn! Turn!” which delivers a measure of release given the occasion. This version was previously released on the Magic Tour Highlights EP back in July 2008, but not McGuinn’s second song, the Bob Dylan-written Byrds’ hit “Mr. Tambourine Man” which is played splendidly. What a treat.

Putting an exclamation point on the night is a request for “Jungleland.” Soozie Tyrell echoes Suki Lahav’s pre-Born to Run era violin intro and the band delivers the goods across the board, with a strong showing by Clemons and Van Zandt on their solos, and purging vocals from Springsteen for the song’s epic conclusion.

It’s hard to believe Danny Federici has been gone for 17 years. While he didn’t perform on Orlando 2008, his presence in this welcome Archive addition is undeniable.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation

I Don’t Know How I Feel Tonight