20.09.09 Chicago, IL, middle of “Working on a Dream”
“(Two verses in, the song comes to a halt) Hold on, Band…hold on, Band…oh…I hear the sound of the E Street Band fucking up, baby (crowd cheers) I hear the sound of the E Street Band fucking up (crowd cheers)(chuckles) and it ain’t pretty…go ahead, take it to the four…(sings to himself)…to the five – let’s start right there… good evening, Chicago (crowd cheers) that’s right, it can still happen after all these years…we’re so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight (crowd cheers) the E Street Band has come here tonight to fulfil its solemn vow to build a house out of music and out of spirit and out of noise…now we are going to bring down the mighty power of the music on you (crowd cheers) and you, Chicago, are gonna bring the noise (crowd cheers) now sing it like you mean it…”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Thunder Road” (following “Working on a Dream”)
“Steve said I left a verse out…that was the sound of the boss man fucking up (chuckles) not the band (chuckles) alright…oh…we’ve done what we’re about to do once before (crowd cheers) in our little town of Red Bank (crowd cheers) we played this all the way through one night and, uh…it was fun, it was fun so we’re gonna see how it goes but this was a record we made, we were, uh (crowd cheers) at the time we were (crowd cheers) we were close to being dropped from our record label, we had two records come out that kind of stiffed and, uh, this was our big shot and, uh (crowd cheers) …”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, after “Jungleland”
“Come on up (crowd cheers) that was Curt Ramm on trumpet (crowd cheers) and Richard Davis who played bass on the original record (crowd cheers) oh yes, come on out here…yeah…alright… thanks, come on, Boys…”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Hard Times”
“Thank you (crowd cheers) alright…we’re gonna play one, then we’re gonna take a few requests before we get out of here (crowd cheers) first I wanna do something for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, they’re here with us in the house tonight (crowd cheers) Greater Chicago Food Depository has been serving the hungry here in Cook County for thirty years, distributing over 50 million pounds of food to the struggling citizens of the Chicago area this year, as you know times for many, many folks are very, very hard, you watch that unemployment level going up, many folks who have worked have slipped through the middle, sometimes grassroots organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository are all that stands in between them and putting their kids to bed hungry so please give them a hand on your way out (crowd cheers) and we need health care for each and every American (crowd cheers) this is called “Hard times come again no more”…”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Da Doo Ron Ron”
“Alright, we got a few we’re gonna try…give me a guitar…now we gotta find a key…we’re gonna give this a shot, right up there, up there in the balcony…what key?…(sings to himself)…(chuckles)… alright, key of D…there’s no bridge, right?…there’s no bridge?…no …no bridge and, uh, now look at the sax solo…yeah…it’s got a very complicated sax solo, C (chuckles) just, just play it, just play it, Baby…we’re gonna start it out badabadabadabadabadapam, right, ready…you start the roll, I’ll count us in…give me some words… alright, Max (Max drums a bit) oh yeah, this is for the fabulous Ellie Greenwich who passed away a few weeks ago, an incredible rock, rock’n’roll songwriter, I’ll send this one out to her…go ahead, Max …”
[According to the Backstreets report, "Da Doo Ron Ron" was requested via “a big bright green sign from up in the 300 level, courtesy of Jeff and Sarah.”]
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Rockin’ Robin” (following “Da Doo Ron Ron”
“That’s a great one, that’s a great one (crowd cheers) where’s the pie plate?…(sings to himself)(some in the crowd start singing the song) Yeah, yeah, yeah, I appreciate it, appreciate it, appreciate it …(sings to himself) oh, it’s a great one (keeps singing to himself) gotta see if we can figure this one out…or we can move on…you don’t have any place to go, do you? (crowd: “No”) alright…any luck?…(?)(sings to himself)…everybody knows this one, this is a pie plate special, Baby (crowd cheers) pie plate special – we only know half of it, that’s how much we’re gonna play…(sings to himself)… (Max starts drumming) key of A…”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “American Land”
“Thank you, Chicago, for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers)…
(…) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the unstoppable Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you’ve ever seen, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (crowd cheers) Chicago! (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”) (crowd cheers) …”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Dancing in the Dark”
“Come on, Roy…give me some noise, Boys (crowd cheers)…”
20.09.09 Chicago, IL, intro to “Rosalita”
“We got one more for Chicago (crowd cheers) Steve, are you ready?…”
Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi
