19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, middle of “Working on a Dream”
“Good evening, Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) we’re so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight (crowd cheers) that’s right…now the E Street Band has come to Pittsburgh tonight to fulfil its solemn vow to rock the house (crowd cheers) but we ain’t here just to rock the house tonight…we’re here to build a house (crowd cheers) that’s right, right here in this room tonight, that’s why we’re here…we’re gonna build a house…we’re gonna take the fear that’s out there and we’re gonna build a house of love…we’re gonna take the despair that I can feel out there and we’re gonna build a house of hope… we’re gonna take the doubt that’s out there and we’re gonna build a house of faith…and we’re gonna take the blues and we’re gonna take the sadness and we’re gonna build us a house of joy and happiness (crowd cheers) and we’re gonna take that (cooling off?) and we’re gonna build us a house of sexual healing (crowd cheers) and we’re gonna use the bad wood and we’re gonna use the good wood and we’re gonna use the bad news that’s out there and we’re gonna use the good news that’s here tonight…and we’ve got all the tools we need right here in these seats and on this stage…but we’re here tonight and we’re here night after night after night after night because we can’t do it ourselves…that’s why we’re here, we can’t build that house ourselves…if we wanna build a house out of music and out of spirit and out of noise, well, the mighty E Street Band is here tonight and we’re gonna bring down the power of the music on
you (crowd cheers) but Pittsburgh, we need you to bring the noise! (crowd cheers) now sing it like you mean it…”
19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to “Like a Rolling Stone”
“We have never played this next song before (crowd cheers)…”
19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to “Kingdom of Days”
“Thank you, thank you (crowd cheers) gonna send this one out to Patti tonight, she sends her love, she’s home…all the three teenagers are back in the house so…we need maximum security (laughs from the crowd) this is for Pats, let’s go…”
19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to “Hard Times”
“Thank you, thank you so much for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers) yeah…a great crowd, thank you, a great crowd…we have a variety of friends with us in the building tonight, uh, I’m sure as everybody in town knows, on April Fourth three Pittsburgh policemen were gunned down in an unprovoked attack during a domestic dispute, that’s officers Stephen Mayhle – and forgive me if I’m not pronouncing that correctly – Paul Sciullo II, Eric Kelly all died on the scene, three officers leave five daughters, wives, (?) families’ friends’ donations can be made to support the families of PittsburghFallenHeroes.Com, PittsburghFallenHeroes.Com (crowd cheers)(?) we also have some old friends of ours here in Pittsburgh, folks from the Rainbow Kitchen and Just Harvest (crowd cheers) this is a town where we came in the, uh, I guess it was mid-‘80s and, uh, I met Ron Weisman and this was the first, I think this was the first city where we got involved with the foodbanks, uh (crowd cheers) twenty, twenty-five years ago, the Rainbow Kitchen was founded twenty-five years ago in response to the devastating impact of the closing of the area’s steel mills and since then they’ve been there to feed those in urgent need and to provide services and encourage self-sufficiency, that’s the Rainbow Kitchen, they were one of the first foodbanks to get involved, they’re here tonight (crowd cheers) for more than twenty years Just Harvest has focused on long-term solutions to hunger and poverty here in the Pittsburgh area through public policy initiatives, these are grassroots organizations in these very, very difficult times when you just have to pick up a newspaper to see the millions of jobs that have been lost and hundreds of thousands of jobs just over the past few months to realise there’s so many people going through very, very difficult times, these organizations very often their only safety net and their only voice so please, the Rainbow Kitchen and Just Harvest, if you see them on your way out, please support them …along with the PittsburghFallenHeroes, thank you…this was a song written in 1855 by Stephen Foster, it’s called “Hard Times Come Again No More”…”
19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to “American Land”
“Pittsburgh, thank you for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers)…
(…) The incredible Little Steven (crowd cheers) Curtis King from the Sessions Band (crowd cheers) the thunder from down under, Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the unstoppable Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) the brilliant Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) the indubitable Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) the lovely and talented Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you’ve ever seen: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) Pittsburgh! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)(crowd cheers)…”
19.05.09 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to “Glory Days”
“It ain’t over yet…we wanna bring out two sons of Pittsburgh: Joey and Johnny Grushecky! (crowd cheers)…
(…) Joe, I do believe it’s quitting time…I believe it’s time to get the fuck out of Pittsburgh…(Joe: “Not yet, Bruce, not yet”) not yet?… not yet…then Joe, what I wanna know is…ah, Joseph, what time is it?…(Joe: “It’s Boss-time”)…”
Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi