10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Wrecking Ball”
“Good evening, Cleveland! (crowd cheers) let me see somebody out there (crowd cheers)…
(…) Now my home is in the Meadowlands but tonight Cleveland’s going up in flames, here where the blood spilled, the arena is filled and LeBron plays his games…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, middle of “Working on a Dream”
“Good evening, Cleveland! (crowd cheers) are we having fun yet? (crowd cheers) thank you, thank you, thank you…’cause the mighty E Street Band…has come thousands of miles…just to be here in Cleveland tonight (crowd cheers) we’ve come here of course to fulfil our solemn vow to rock the house! (crowd cheers) but as always we come here for something more than just to rock the house, we come out night after night after night after night after night after night ‘cause we wanna build a house right here tonight (crowd cheers) we wanna build a house out of music and out of spirit and out of Cleveland soul and out of noise…now, ladies and gentlemen, the mighty E Street Band is going to do everything in its power to bring down the music on you…but, Cleveland, we…need…you…to… bring…the…noise (crowd cheers) now sing it like you mean it…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Thunder Road”
“Thank you very much and thanks for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers) we are towards the very, very, very near end of our tour, we’ve had, uh…a great couple of years between these two records coming out and playing for you, we appreciate… your support of our shows and of our new music and old music (crowd cheers) so, uh…we were trying to think of something special we could do for the fans towards this last stretch so we’ve been playing some of our, of our albums, played, uh, “Born in the U.S.A,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” uh, “Wild and the Innocent,” the other night “The River” and uh…this was a record here that was, uh, we kind of, we had two strikes on us, I had a three-record-deal with my record company and, uh, we had two records that had come out and hadn’t done well and we were about, I think, to get bounced from our record company and this music came along, this was really the album where, I guess, we started a lifelong conversation with most of the folks that are here (crowd cheers) so…alright…this is for you (crowd cheers)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, middle of “Backstreets”
“Until the end…until the end…just me and you, darling…just me and you, darling…just me and you, darling…just me and you, darling… (sings without words)…like an angel on my chest…you’re like an angel on my chest…(sings without words)…till the end…till the end…till the end…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, after “Jungleland”
“Thank you (crowd cheers) these are the guys that made the record (crowd cheers) and Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Red Headed Woman”
“I thought I saw a sign for this somewhere…key of “C,” boys, “C”…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Back in Your Arms”
“Oh yeah, we’re gonna do it tonight…a little obscure but…(the music starts)…do we have any lovers out there tonight? (crowd cheers) I mean do we have anyone who’s ever been in love out there tonight? (some cheers) that’s good…now do we have anyone who’s ever been in love and blown a good thing? (not much of a response) I don’t think everybody’s telling the truth (chuckles) have you ever been in love and blown a good thing? (some cheers) now, men…have you ever been in love and not appreciated your woman? (some response) are there any women out there tonight that feel sometimes a little underappreciated? (quite a bit of response from the ladies) that’s right…yes there is, that’s right… now, girls, I’m talking to you too…are there any men out there… after they’ve worked hard all day long…feeling like their girls sometimes…are missing some of the finer points of their character? (some response) are there any of you men out there tonight?… alright, everybody’s lying (chuckles)…but I know one thing: everybody’s been to that place where you’ve let something go that you’ve wanted back…you’ve let something good go that you wanted back…some guys like to play it cool, some girls like to play it cool but I always think that if you want something, if you need something, if you’re hungry for something, if that something is a part of your soul and your life and your happiness, then you better get right out there and don’t be ashamed to fight and to beg for it …you better be ready to get down on your knees (crowd cheers) and say “Baby…I was so wrong and I’m sorry”…I said “Darling…I was so wrong and I’m sorry…and won’t you please, please, please, please, please, please, please…just give me one more…please, please, please, please…just let me have one more…chance…just to show…the love…I feel…in my heart…for you”…now, this is my story, I want you to listen to me…
(…) Take me back…take me back…take me back…take me back… take me back…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, after “Back in Your Arms”
“(Crowd cheers)(Bruce gets a drink of water and comes back to the microphone) Goodnight, everybody! (chuckles)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Radio Nowhere”
“Alright, Sara…happy birthday, Honey…this is for seven-year-old Sara, where is she?…(?) who’s the birthday girl? (chuckles)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “No Surrender”
“Oh, once again we appreciate everyone coming to our show tonight, thank you (crowd cheers) and uh…we’ve been touring for, uh, like I said, the past couple of years, it’s nice to see so many familiar faces we’ve seen the last time we were here, the little flower girl, these different people, it’s uh…tonight we have some friends in the hall tonight, we got folks from the Cleveland Foodbank, they distributed over 27 million pounds of food to those in need throughout Northeast Ohio…the demand for food is expected to remain high in the year ahead, all you have to do is pick up the newspapers and see so many people unemployed, out of work, you realise how important grassroots organizations like the Cleveland Foodbank are, makes the difference between some kids going to bed with something in their stomachs or hungry during these hard, hard times for so many Americans, please support organizations like the Cleveland Foodbank, I’m gonna send this one out for them (crowd applauds) and the next one’s [“Bobby Jean”] going out for the Cleveland Boys, for our good friend…who passed recently, this is for Joey and the Cleveland Boys…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “American Land”
“Thank you for coming out, Cleveland (crowd cheers)…
(…) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Curt Ramm (crowd cheers) Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor 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…author…man of letters… he’s bigger than Shakespeare…the biggest man you’ve ever seen, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Cleveland! (crowd cheers) Cleveland! (crowd cheers) Cleveland! (crowd cheers) Cleveland! (crowd cheers) Cleveland! (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)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Higher and Higher”
“Alright, Cleveland…can we take this thing any higher? (crowd cheers) can we take this thing any higher? (crowd cheers) can we take this thing any higher? (crowd cheers)…”
10.11.09 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Rosalita”
“Am I in Cleveland? (crowd cheers) am I in Cleveland? (crowd cheers) am I in Cleveland? (crowd cheers) Stevie!…”
Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi
