Share:
Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time 20:38 / End Time 23:39Info & Setlist | Venue
The River is performed in its entirety and is a stunning performance. "Crush On You", "Stolen Car" and "Wreck On The Highway" are tour premieres, along with "Sweet Soul Music" and "Can't Help Falling In Love" - only the last will be played again on the tour. Bruce repeats a line from "Cover Me" during the outro to "Point Blank". "Two Hearts" includes "It Takes Two" and "American Land" features a snippet of "Theme From Shaft" in the midsection. Curt Ramm plays trumpet on "Wrecking Ball", "I'm A Rocker", "Sweet Soul Music", "American Land", and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher". Final tour performances for "Sherry Darling", "Jackson Cage", "Independence Day", "Out In The Street", "The River", "Point Blank", "I'm A Rocker", "Fade Away", "The Price You Pay", "Drive All Night", "Atlantic City", and "Seven Nights To Rock". "Atlantic City", "Sweet Soul Music", and "Can't Help Falling In Love" are played by sign request. "Working On A Dream" is dropped for the first and only time on the tour.
- On Stage
- Setlist
- Performances
- Appearances
- Cancelled
- Gallery
- Media
- Recording
- Storyteller
- Eyewitness
- News/Memorabilia
incl. Rehearsals.
- 2023-04-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2022-10-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2019-11-04 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-11-05 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-07-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2017-09-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-11-01 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2016-03-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-01-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2015-11-10 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2015-07-31 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2014-11-05 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2013-11-06 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2012-12-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-09 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-06 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2011-12-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-08 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-07 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-30 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-05-03 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2006-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2003-02-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2002-08-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-07-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-20 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1997-02-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1993-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-08-24 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-16 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1987-12-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1983-08-02 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-14 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
incl. Interviews and Recording-sessions.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 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.
Official concert recording available for purchase in multiple formats, including CD and high definition audio, from Springsteen's official live download site at nugs.net/bruce (previously live.brucespringsteen.net).
- Running Time: 3:01:27
Audience tape and IEM/AUD mixes (Hoserama). Audience tape is released as 'New York City Second Dream Night' (Crystal Cat), part of the six-disc 'New York City Dream Box' set, also released as 'Into The River We Dive' (Godfather). Two editions of both before mentioned releases circulate – the original audience tape and a subsequent re-issue with the IEM/AUD mix. Make sure you get the right ones. In August 2012 a soundboard recording (many labels use the catch-all term "soundboard" to describe recordings that are in fact IEM or ALD sourced. The sound quality of this source is indeed very high, but it is unlikely to be a true soundboard) of this show and the previous night is released on the six-CD set 'Madison Square Garden 2009' (no label listed). Also available on DVD (NYCBC).
 |
Intro to “Wrecking Ball”
“Good evening, New York City (crowd cheers) hello, Madison Square Garden…
(…) Now, my home’s in the Meadowlands but tonight New York City’s gonna go up in flames (crowd cheers) where the blood is spilled and the Garden’s filled and Earl the Pearl played his game…”
Intro to “The Ties That Bind”
“Good evening, everybody (crowd cheers) we’re gonna get right to work now…tonight we’ve got something…never before performed! (crowd cheers) just this one time (crowd cheers) it’s too long to do it again…as you know, towards the end of our, we’re in the last seven shows of our tour, we’ve had a great couple of years out here playing for you, we appreciate your support and uh (crowd cheers) we tried to think of things that would make these last series of dates fun for ourselves and our fans so we’ve been playing different albums on different nights, we’ve played “Born to Run,” “Born in the U.S.A,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” we played “The Wild and the Innocent” last night for you folks (crowd cheers) this is a record, uh, it’s sort of a gateway to a lot of my future writing, it’s a record we made **##030390|After “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” it was a record during a recession, hard times in the States, uh, its title song is a song I wrote for my brother* and sister, uh, brother’s in the construction industry and lost his job and they had to struggle very hard back in the late seventies, like so many people are doing today…uh, it was a record where I first started to tackle men and women and families and marriage and, uh, there were certain songs on it that led to complete records later on, “The River” sort of led to the writing on “Nebraska” (crowd cheers) “Stolen Car” led to the writing on “Tunnel of Love” (crowd cheers) it was a record where, originally it was a single record, I handed it with just one record and I took it back because I didn’t feel it was, uh, it was big enough and I wanted to sort of capture the themes that I’d been writing about on, on “Darkness,” I wanted to keep those characters with me and at the same time added the music that made our live shows so much fun and enjoyable for our audience so, uh, in the end…we’re gonna take you down to “The River” tonight (crowd cheers)…”
[* Bruce means his brother-in-law, not brother.]
Intro to “Sherry Darling”
“Let’s hear some party noises (crowd cheers) come on, C…”
Intro to “Crush on You”
“And now…a masterpiece on “The River”…”
Intro to “Cadillac Ranch”
“Can anybody get me a Ca-Ca-Ca-Cadillac? (crowd cheers)…”
After “Wreck on the Highway”
“These are the guys that recorded the record (crowd cheers) and Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) thank you (crowd cheers)…”
Middle of “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day”
“Alright, let’s hear ‘em – I’m waitin’ (Crowd sings the chorus) do we have a volunteer?…oh my God, it’s safe, it’s safe (chuckles)…(a kid sings very quietly and at the end says “Take it, Big Man”)…”
Intro to “Atlantic City”
“Alright, this is by request…”
Intro to “Sweet Soul Music”
“Curt Ramm, where are you, man, Curt Ramm? we need a trumpet player…alright, this, Curt, you know this one? I know you do…I know you do…we ain’t played this in a long time…this is our one and only request (?) I think we should do it in “C”…do you like…(?) …long as it’s swinging…oh yeah, oh yeah…spotlight – that’s pretty high, let’s go down to B-flat – do you like – oh, that’s good…yeah, yeah…spotlight on Little Steven (chuckles)(crowd cheers) alright, it starts out with the horns, right?…(sings the horn-part and the crowd joins in) somewhere in there…we’ll figure it out once we get going…you guys got the riff? B-flat…let’s try it…”
Intro to “American Land”
“Thank you, New York City, for coming out to these two shows (crowd cheers)…
(…) Little Steven (crowd cheers) First Lady of the E Street Band, Miss Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) Curt Ramm (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) saxophonist…libertine…man of words… author…he’s bigger than Shakespeare…his book is better than the Bible…ladies and gentlemen…the biggest author you’ve ever seen, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) New York! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the last of – for a little while - the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)(crowd cheers)…”
End of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”
“We love you, New York (crowd cheers)…”
Intro to “Higher and Higher”
“Come on, horns…are you ready to bring it home? (crowd cheers)
can we take this thing a little higher? (crowd cheers) can we take it higher? (crowd cheers) can we take it higher? (crowd cheers) can we take it higher? (crowd cheers) let’s go, a-one, two…
(…) Thank you, New York City (crowd cheers) thank you, New York (crowd cheers) we’ll be seeing you…”
After “Higher and Higher”
“(?)…alright…thank you, New York City (crowd cheers) for your love and support for two fabulous nights – we had a great time…we’ll be seeing you further on up the road (crowd cheers)…”
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
| Marcus | We (my wife and me) flew in from Berlin, Germany, just to see that show. It was fantastic! It was my 11th concert and simply one of the best. To hear the whole River album was just a dream come true. So many songs I never heard before at a concert. The sound was so clear, I had goosebumps all over during Fade Away and especially Drive all night. It was also interesting to attend a Bruce show in the States and compare it to Europe: The fans are much more into it in Europe, there's much more dancing and clapping in Europe. But at MSG the people all new the lyrics much better than in Europe. Also the fans in Europe are in average much younger which explains why there is more dancing and partying in Europe. All in all a fantastic experience that I will never ever forget. Hopefully we get a DVD from that show. |
| Ralph | The River. THE RIVER! The entire album. What a night. Bruce played this for the only time ever - "and never again" - as he said that "it takes too long to play". After another opening with "Wrecking Ball", Bruce went right into The River album. It was historic. As prepared to play the rockers, ballads and epics, he told a long story about how much the album meaned to him and "how he wanted to develop characters in this album that he would bring back in other albums". It was Bruce telling stories in a night which would take well over three hours and nearly 30 songs in length. Bruce was masterful. Yeah, we had "Sherry" and "Crush" and "Jackson", but we had "Fade Away", "The River", Independence Day" and other ballads. "Marry You" was special - and you could just feel the emotion as retold the story of young love. But, it was side four. Oh, Side Four! After "Ramrod", we tightened our seatbelts and endured the emotions of "The Price You Pay", "Drive All Night" and "Wreck on the Highway". Wow. Bruce usually takes me on the rollercoaster ride. Up emotionally, down emotionally, a little fun, a little retrospection, more fun, etc. Tonight, there was no show for me emotionally after "Price/Drive/Wreck". I was done - and so were a lot of my friends. Not since the New Year's Eve show at Nassau Coliseum (also in NY) on December 31, 1990 had I heard those three songs - and certainly not in their natural order. How can I describe it? Now, 29 years later from when these songs were released, they meant so much more to me. I have grown into these songs and my story has become the stories in the songs. Life has endured. Dear members of my family and friends have passed on. Love has been found, and lost, and has become complicated. The light that shines ahead is flickering and the world has changed - and is still changing. While, to me, "Born to Run", is Bruce's best album, due to the perfection of eight amazing songs, Side Four will always be my favorite - make that, most critical - side of any of Bruce's album sides. Maybe more so than any album side from any other artist. After Side Four, I was done. It's almost 2:00am and I have to tell the world that this was one of the most emotional, yet enduring, nights of my life. I have now heard it once - maybe the only time played - but, I do not think that I could sit through Side Four again. Once is enough. Once was almost too much. Bruce was so in tune with this album tonight and the extraordinary E Street Band was so good. More so than ever. There were some references to Danny (although Charlie did not miss a note tonight) and I could not help but think of Terry (they broke the mold). It was a great night. An essential night. Played once. Bruce, if you do see this note, please accept my thanks for doing these albums. They mean so much to us - especially in today's world. There are a lot of disciples out here that believe that The Promised Land is always just around the bend. And, you know something, it always is… |
| Tom Cantillon | Now with their hands held high they reached out for the open skies… THE RIVER—From start to finish! Breathtaking. Riveting. Mind blowing. Unmatched. From reckless rockers such as Cadillac Ranch, Crush on You and Ramrod, to heartfelt songs about love, desperation, risks and death within such classics as Independence Day, Point Blank, Stolen Car, Price You Pay, Wreck on the Highway and the epic love poem, Drive all Night, this was a show unlike any other. Without a doubt, easily in my top 3 because the show was off the charts from start to finish. There are a few artists whose music can reach deep into their listeners and make lifelong connections that in some instances, are even life-altering. Bob Dylan, of course. The man's music is timeless, a reflection of humanity's soul, both divine and depraved. The Stones, with their British-blues tinged songs of love and lust played with a real bad-boy attitude. And then there's Springsteen, with a catalog of songs that reach deep to our very core, asking questions about the life we live, the dreams we have, the places we travel, the love we share with the connections we all make thru our own personal journeys. This was the first album, The River, that spoke to me on many levels. I remember while attending art school and working late at night on various art projects, I'd put The River album on my turntable and play it nonstop, sometimes till dawn. And there I sat, drawing and painting, creating images that were both directly and subconsciously effected by this collection of songs. I remember listening to the River, it's lyrics filled with heartbreak over the realization of the death of one's own dream and nothing seemed more frightening. The dark poetic imagery in Stolen Car and Drive all Night inspired much of my own art and writing because they were so honest, so down to the bone real and powerful that one couldn't help but be moved. And then of course there were moments in which to celebrate, to dance and rock all night because it simply felt like the right thing to do. Ramrod, You Can Look, I'm a Rocker and Crush on You are moments of joyous celebration embedded in the foundation of all good rock songs — thanks to Chuck Berry. This collection of songs spoke to me in a way no other music ever had up to this point in my life. And when I saw my first Springsteen concert, December 8th 1980, the man, the performance, the music and the lyrics were a life-altering moment that I am forever grateful for. It was like attending a concert in which the souls of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis, the Beatles, Woody Guthrie and Dylan all came together for one unbelievable night of music. As the River segment finished that night at MSG, Bruce was obviously on a high and delivered a powerhouse of songs with Atlantic City, followed by Badlands — right into Born to Run — which I was hoping for at least one night — and then into a rip-roaring 7 Nights. The energy level was astounding! The magic continued with a revved-up Sweet Soul Music, manic No Surrender, a surprise I Can't Falling in Love and the hand-clapping sing-along of Jackie Wilson's Higher and Higher, which was the perfect way in which to end this show because Bruce and band had taken us all higher and higher that evening, all the way to the end and there was no place left to go. Except maybe out to the streets of New York to rock 'n' roll till the break of dawn. Thanks Mr. Springsteen and E Street Band for finally delivering the entire River collection, something I've waited for a long time. Hopefully, this show will be released as a DVD or CD because for the fans who were not there, they definitely missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a monumental collection of songs played with all the energy, sincerity and passion that only New Jersey's true street poet could do. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 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.
Down The River We Ride |
Sometime in the early 2000s, playing full albums in sequence, in concert came in vogue. For the final leg of the 2009 Working On A Dream tour, Bruce Springsteen got in on the fun, announcing that for the band’s five-show stand at Giants Stadium, they would revisit a classic album each night, drawn from Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the U.S.A., after test-driving the concept with BTR at a show in Chicago.
For fans, there’s a lot to like about a full-album performance. Hearing those songs in that order hearkens back to how many of us fell in love with the music in the first place, playing the albums over and over until we memorized every note and nuance. For Bruce and the band, it was something novel and different, too, shifting the approach to both the songs and sequencing within a concert dynamic. Case in point, “Badlands” and “Thunder Road” had evolved into key tracks used to wind down or close sets; in a full-album context they reverted to their roles as the starting point of the narrative.
In a run of a dozen or so shows starting at Giants Stadium, Springsteen rotated the three albums into his sets, one each night. In truth, many of the songs were in regular rotation anyway (acknowledging outliers like “Meeting Across the River” and “Streets of Fire”), so the new experience was hearing the songs in order, presented as a whole.
But when it was announced that Springsteen would return to Madison Square Garden and feature one-off, full-album performances of The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle and The River, stakes were raised. Considerably.
Both albums contain songs that were not part of the regular or even extended concert repertoire, plus a few that had barely made a set list in decades. The River is also a 20-song double album, so to perform it meant devoting nearly two hours of the show to that material alone. An ambitious prospect, and one that made this an unmissable night, because The River is just as much THE album that got many of us into Springsteen as Born to Run, Darkness and BIUSA are.
The River performance at MSG holds its own today as much as it did in 2009, even given the 2016 River tour first leg which saw the album essayed every night. When Bruce and the band hit the road in January 2016 to start the new River tour in Pittsburgh, they were rehearsed and ready. In November 2009, a better operative word might be game. Firing in peak tour form, they were game to perform their most ambitious studio work as a special, one-time event. “It’s too long to do it again,” Bruce quipped at the time.
For those lucky enough to be there (myself included), the result was a marvelous, in-the-moment experience for band and audience, as rarely played songs like “Crush On You,” “Stolen Car,” “Wreck On The Highway” “Fade Away,” “I Wanna Marry You” and “The Price You Pay” roared back to life, fulfilling long-held fan desires and restating the case for The River’s place in the core canon.
It seems contradictory to feel heightened anticipation for a set where you know what 20 songs are about to be played, but there was an undeniable air of expectancy in the building as Springsteen took the stage for the opener, “Wrecking Ball,” which served to remind us Bruce had history with the building. Indeed, MSG was the site of four epic performances on the original River tour in 1980.
“We’re gonna get right to work now,” Bruce then declared, explaining The River’s place as a transitional record, moving into adult themes later explored on Nebraska and Tunnel Of Love. He also said it was also a conscious attempt to balance the dark with the light, or what Springsteen called, “the music that made our live shows so much fun and enjoyable.”
From there we were off, galloping through both ends of the emotional spectrum with equal aplomb. Stalwarts like “The Ties That Bind” and “Out In the Street” felt freshened by renewed context, while Bruce made a delightful meal out of “Crush On You,” “a hidden masterpiece” only played once since 1980. The charm of mid-tempo romantic gems like “Fade Away” and “I Wanna Marry You” resonated and left one wondering why they lay dormant for so long.
Part of the answer is the absence of Stevie Van Zandt from the two major tours that followed the album. His imprint on The River cannot be understated. Heard in the robust, up-close mix by Jon Altschiller, Van Zandt’s guitar playing (which on this night included 12-string electric) and vocals (backing harmonies and shared leads) are essential to this body of work.
For many, “Stolen Car” was the moment they had been waiting for. With Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Charlie Giordano and Roy Bittan in particular providing a gorgeous accompaniment, Springsteen played one of his greatest and saddest songs with heart-wrenching austerity.
The River’s high contrast is truly brought to bear in the sequence of “Stolen Car” into the hydraulic pounding of “Ramrod” followed by the exhilarating declaration of “The Price You Pay,” the latter another high point in the show. For its final act, The River winds down through the slow rising crescendo of devotion pledged in “Drive All Night” and, lastly, the stark humanity of “Wreck on the Highway.” On the 2016 tour, “Wreck” was given a more lush and full-bodied arrangement, ending the album sequence on a different note. The 2009 edition retains more of the somber majesty of the original and serves as a plaintive coda to the overall River story.
When Bruce gathered “the guys that recorded the record” and shouted out their missing comrade, Danny Federici, everyone in the room, be it on stage or off, recognized that this reading of The River was a audacious achievement. Nine years on, it still is.
| By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net. |
Disclaimer | © 1996 - 2024 | Brucebase
