2009-05-04 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Another 27-song set. The tour's sole "Expressway To Your Heart" is the band stumper (although soundchecked that day). Tour premiere of "Rendezvous". "For You" is the full band version. "American Land" includes a snippet of "Theme From Shaft" in the midsection. "Expressway To Your Heart", "For You", "Rendezvous", "Night", and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" are played by sign request. Patti Scialfa is present, but leaves the stage after "Born To Run".

Middle of “Working on a Dream”
“Good evening! (crowd cheers) we’re so glad to be here on beautiful Long Island tonight (crowd cheers) many millions of years ago New Jersey and Long Island were one continuous land mass (crowd cheers) so we are glad to be here tonight with our lost brothers and sisters (crowd cheers) and the E Street Band has come here tonight to fulfil its solemn vow to rock the house! (crowd cheers) we didn’t come here just to rock the house tonight, we came here to build a house in this room tonight (crowd cheers) that’s right…we’re gonna take fear and we’re gonna build a house of love, we’re gonna take despair and we’re gonna build a house of hope, we’re gonna take sadness and we’re gonna build a house of joy, we’re gonna take doubt and build a house of faith, we’re gonna take that cooling off and build a house of sexual healing (crowd cheers) that’s right, and we’re gonna use the bad wood and we’re gonna use the good wood…and we’re gonna use the bad news and we’re gonna use the good news that’s out there tonight…and we got all the tools we need right here in this room tonight, on this stage and in those seats (crowd cheers) but we can’t do it by ourselves…that’s why we’re here…’cause we wanna build a house out of music and spirit and noise and now the mighty E Street Band is here tonight to bring the power of the music out (crowd cheers)
and we need you to bring the noise (crowd cheers) now sing it like you mean it…”

Intro to “Expressway to Your Heart”
“Alright…you’re gonna try and stump the E Street Band now, baby… this group was from Long Island…that’s right…”G,” huh?…”

After “Expressway to Your Heart”
“I knew somebody was gonna ask for that tonight…(music stops)…I knew somebody was gonna ask for that one…Long Island, baby (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Rendezvous”
[Shows the crowd a sign for "Great Balls of Fire"] This is good but it’s too easy…everybody knows that one…[shows the crowd a sign for “Night”] (crowd cheers) we’ve play this one a lot of times so… that’s a good one [shows the crowd a sign for “Rendezvous”](crowd cheers)(?)…come on, boys…this is for the Seaside Park girl wherever you are, baby, this one’s for you…let me get my shit together (laughs from the crowd)…alright…(some quiet guitar playing)…we ready?…are you ready, Max? give us the beat, Brother (Max starts pounding the drums) give me some light on these folks…”

Intro to “Kingdom of Days”
“Thank you so much…we got Miss Patti with us tonight, back with us tonight, she fell off a horse and now she’s feeling better…she’s still sore, though (chuckles) then I, then I gave her whiplash driving her to the hospital so (chuckles)…alright, we’ll do this for you again, ready?…”

Intro to “Hard Times”
“Thank you, Long Island (crowd cheers) thank you for coming out to our show tonight (crowd cheers) it’s great to be here at the fabulous Nassau Coliseum (crowd cheers) damn straight!…you know, these…these old buildings are just, these are great rock’n’roll halls and uh…as we travel the country, you know, we see them getting torn down one by one and getting replaced with all the fancy buildings with all the boxes and everything but these old halls, there’s a beautiful one in L.A, we just played in…the Spectrum we just played in Philly, that was, that’s another great one (crowd cheers) there’s places that are, uh…(chuckles) are, uh …rock’n’roll halls, so anyway we wanna…we got some friends in the hall tonight, folks from the Long Island Cares, Long Island Cares was founded about thirty years ago by the late singer and activist Harry Chapin (crowd cheers) and, uh, last year alone they provided five million pounds of food to hungry and struggling Long Islanders in need, all you have to do is pick up the newspapers today to see millions of jobs that have been lost, see the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been lost just in the past series of months, these are just folks out there going through very, very, very hard times, organizations like Long Island Cares is very often the only safety net that people have, it stands between them and going to bed hungry, kids going to bed hungry…so please in these difficult times if you can, support Long Island Cares out there, this is a song by, written by Stephen Foster back in 1855, it’s more things change the more they stay the same, this is “Hard times come again no more” …”

Intro to “Jungleland”
“This is for Long Island…”

Intro to “American Land”
“Thank you for coming out to the show tonight!…don’t forget Long Island Cares!…
(…) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) Patti Scialfa – let her hear you backstage (crowd cheers) she’s sore… Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the unstoppable Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) the thunder from down under, Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) is there an intellectual in the house? Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you’ve ever seen: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) Long Island! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, fucking history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”) (crowd cheers) …that’s right!…”

Intro to “Dancing in the Dark”
“It ain’t over till it’s over (crowd cheers) this is for Nancy, Chip and Lisa (?)…”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Christy	Fun show, but I surely miss a lot of those songs from Human Touch and Lucky Town. Human Touch, Soul Driver, Real World, Better Days, Living Proof are all excellent songs, so I don't know why he's not adding them to the show. Kingdom of Days, For You, Rendezvous and Night were glorious. I'm going to try and see a few more shows, hoping to hear Drive all Night or Incident.
John M.	Excellent show as always. Crowd was very much involved. Am I wrong or does Bruce and the Band just keep getting better? Sound is fuller and ebergy is as high as in 1978. The sound system by the way in "The Old Nassau Collieum" was the best I've heard in a while. Bruce always seems to play well in Uniondale: New Years 1980, Magic 3/08 was a fabulous show as well. This show and the 7/31/2008 show at Giants Stadium could be the best shows I've seen since 1980- and I've seen quite a few. The very few Negatives: Outlaw Pete, Patti's screeching vocals on Kingdom of Days (Hurt my ears). Question of the Night.. Where did Patty go? Disappeared sometime before the intros.
Tom Cantillon	After scoring a very cheap GA ticket a few minutes before the show, I was treated to another stellar performance by Bruce and band. Badlands and No Surrender were played with their usual intensity, as was a killer She's the One. Raise Your Hand just keeps getting better. Expressway to Your Heart was simply a fun song, done E Street Band style. A dead on For You was amazing and gave me my fourth song of my top ten I was hoping to hear this tour. Rendezvous and Night followed, making for a little mini-set of "love" songs and was without a doubt a highlight of the evening. I enjoy The Wrestler, just wish it was paired up with a classic, such as Racing or Backstreets. Not a big fan of Radio Nowhere and Lonesome Day is good, but lacks the impact of so many other fine songs. I wish Bruce would fit Lucky Day back into the set, right after Kingdom of Days and perhaps add Atlantic City or Cover Me with The Rising and BTR. A majestic, haunting Jungleland took the show to another level. It has to be one of the most emotionally, stunning and poetic songs he's ever written and I was worried I was not going to be fortunate enough to hear it. Thanks, Bruce. Dancing in the Dark? I was hoping this was not going to close the show and I guess Bruce sensed the crowd needed something a little more special after such a terrific show—thankfully we got it as Bruce motioned for the band to keep playing as he launched into Rosie. The place went crazy, as expected. Enjoyed the show tremendously, as I always do, just wish Bruce would switch up that last quarter of the show a bit, be a little more flexible and spontaneous because afterall, that's all part of the enjoyment and magic of attending one of the shows, because it used to be, you never knew what you were going to get.

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Expressway To Your Heart

With the Super Bowl just completed, social media reminded us anew about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s turn in the halftime spotlight back in February 2009. That gig speaks for itself (and will never be confused with Shakira and J-Lo’s even with knee slides), but it also proved to be the catalyst for one of the busiest periods in modern Springsteen history.

With massive TV exposure beckoning, Bruce greenlit a new album and tour mere months beyond the conclusion of his last cycle. After putting out Magic in September 2007 and touring it for the better part of 12 months, Bruce began 2009 with the drop of another studio album, Working on a Dream, followed a week later by the Super Bowl, his most widely viewed performance ever. Barely catching their breath, Springsteen and the band kicked off the WOAD tour on April 1, which would run through November, albeit with new wrinkles.

Nassau Coliseum 5/4/09 presents the first opportunity in the archive series to revisit the WOAD tour in its purest form, the first leg, before the full-album shows of the fall and on a night when Max Weinberg played drums the entire performance.

Max’s son Jay had been drafted to take his sticks while the Mighty One was fulfilling his day job leading the house band for Conan O’Brien’s short-lived stint hosting The Tonight Show. Because he was training his understudy, Max shared the drum stool with Jay for the preceding eight concerts. Max’s full participation at Nassau may be one of the factors energizing this excellent performance which offers a winsome mix of recent material, welcome returns, and a few true surprises.

Let’s get right to the point: The first half of the show is straight fire. There’s a real sense of purpose and focus right out of the gate with a punchy “Badlands” straight into “No Surrender.” Familiar territory, yet sounding mighty fresh indeed, buoyed by the E Street Band in especially fine voice (a good example of details you can only hear in the archive series recordings). Listen for lovely vocals from Soozie and Patti at the top of “No Surrender” and clear evidence of the night’s high spirits: after Bruce sings “Hearts of fire grow cold,” Clarence shouts an affirmative, “YEAH!”

With the show clipping along, Bruce goes all-in for “Outlaw Pete,” and damn if it doesn’t work, as his conviction brings the hokum narrative to life. Springsteen and the band have a rollicking good romp through the mini Western epic, and there’s even a quick nod to “Be True” in the final solo.

A snappy “She’s the One” makes an unusually early and appreciated appearance in the set, continuing the cool E Street vibes. Like “Outlaw Pete,” Bruce digs deep for “Working on a Dream” in what has to be one of the best versions of the song, sounding vital and rich, once again resplendent with background vocals from the band. One of the tour’s hallmarks was Springsteen’s preacher rap in the middle of the title track, and his gospel will surely move you, especially with the The Big Man’s call-and-response intonations so clear and heartfelt.

“Seeds” made a much-appreciated reappearance in 2009, the first E Street Band turn for the song since the Tunnel of Love Express Tour and played in a potent, straightforward arrangement that wraps with inspired guitar soloing. “Johnny 99” marks another WOAD tour return in a full-band version that bears an unmistakable Jerry Lee Lewis flavor. There’s no mistaking the blast the band is having, with Nils taking a sinewy slide guitar solo and Soozie and Patti singing sweet, train whistle “Woo Hoo”s.

Six-string pyrotechnics continue with a showcase for Lofgren on “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” completing the so-called “recession pack” of songs that started with “Seeds.” Thanks to Jon Altschiller’s revealing mix, the song is also a showcase for Roy Bittan, who, unbeknownst to most of us until now, plays a beautiful piano part behind Nils’ soaring solo.

Another distinguishing feature of the WOAD tour was the impact of song-request signs made by the audience. The acknowledgment of these signs organically evolved the show to feature a moment where, during “Raise Your Hand,” Bruce collected signs and decided what requests to grant.

Kismet was definitely in play for the first request granted, the one and to-date only performance of “Expressway to Your Heart,” a minor hit for the Soul Survivors in 1967 written by the legendary Philadelphia songwriting and producing team Gamble & Huff. Anticipating the request, Springsteen and the band rehearsed and soundchecked the song, which helps explain why their one-off version is so bloody good.

Bruce has a rich history of covering minor hits (“Double Shot of My Baby’s Love,” “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” “Mountain of Love”) and making them his own, and “Expressway to Your Heart” joins the pantheon of the best of them. With its irresistible hook and infectious chorus, the song is an instant E Street classic cover worth the price of admission.

The request section goes from strength to strength as a well-oiled “For You” follows “Expressway,” then the tour premiere of “Rendezvous,” an asset to any set list. This wonderful sequence concludes with a fizzing version of “Night.” What more could you want?

The back nine of Nassau 5/4/09 holds up its end of the bargain, too. Some consider “The Wrestler” to be the signature performance on this leg of the tour, and the case is made strongly tonight. The song’s rustic, fleeting majesty is on full display (does anyone else hear hints of U2’s “Kite”?), with Bruce’s voice rough-edged and full of emotion. In hindsight, the story told by “The Wrestler” echoes some of the sentiment expressed first-person in Bruce’s autobiography and Broadway show.

Beckoning Patti to the mic, Bruce changes the mood with a soaring “Kingdom of Days,” pledging his partnership in full voice in this underappreciated song, rare for celebrating love not at its inception, but further on up the road.

A trio of 2000s songs (“Radio Nowhere,” “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising”) carries us to “Born to Run” and the encore, where Bruce speaks nostalgically about how “these old buildings” — arenas like Nassau Coliseum, the Spectrum in Philadelphia, and the Sports Arena in Los Angeles — are “great concert halls” that are being torn down one by one. Springsteen’s history in Nassau Coliseum alone, site of the epic New Year’s Eve 1980 set among others, is significant and resonates through this final performance in the original arena which has since been renovated.

The encore ends, as it should, in joy mode, with “Dancing in the Dark” (in which Garry Talent keeps the time very tight indeed) and “Rosalita.” And surely any performance of “Jungleland” from Clarence’s final tour should be treasured. But it is the first line of a song unique to the WOAD tour, “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” that lingers: “Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears.”

Following Bruce’s comments about the value of old buildings like Nassau Coliseum and his suggestion to the audience to support Long Island Cares (founded by Harry Chapin), the sentiment of “Hard Times” — making its live archive debut here — is fitting. In early 2020, a time marked by national travails and reminders of how precious and fleeting life can be, the 166-year-old lyric sounds even more like a directive all should heed.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

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Expressway To Your Heart