2009-11-10 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Born To Run album is performed. "Raise Your Hand" again includes a bit of "You Sexy Thing". The tour's final "Red Headed Woman" is in a full-band arrangement with a very similar arrangement to the tour's version of "Johnny 99". An excellent "Back In Your Arms" makes its final appearance of the tour. "No Surrender" is dedicated to the Cleveland Boys and Joey, one of the Boys that died recently. "American Land" includes a snippet of "Theme From Shaft" in the midsection. The tour's second and final "Can't Help Falling In Love" included in the encores. Also the final tour performance for "Pink Cadillac". "Red Headed Woman", "Pink Cadillac", "Back In Your Arms", and "Radio Nowhere" are played by sign request. Curt Ramm lends trumpet to "Wrecking Ball", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Meeting Across The River", "Raise Your Hand", "Pink Cadillac", "American Land", "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher", and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". Patti Scialfa is not present.

Curt Ramm (Guest)

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…”

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…”

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)…”

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…”

After “Jungleland”
“Thank you (crowd cheers) these are the guys that made the record (crowd cheers) and Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Red Headed Woman”
“I thought I saw a sign for this somewhere…key of “C,” boys, “C”…”

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…”

After “Back in Your Arms”
“(Crowd cheers)(Bruce gets a drink of water and comes back to the microphone) Goodnight, everybody! (chuckles)…”

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)…”

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…”

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)…”

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)…”

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.}

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Tonight's Gonna Be Everything That I Said

The start-to-finish performance of an album in concert, despite having so much in common with the music format so many of us were weaned on, is a far different animal than a listening session with the LP or CD itself.

Great concerts thrive on internal mechanics, intentional peaks and valleys that, when done well, take the audience on a journey. Bruce Springsteen famously crafts that journey through setlist choices, dialing in the dynamics that make his concerts so electrifying, while also creating a narrative arc—more pronounced on some tours than others, but always present in some form—from the opening song to the encore closer.

Playing an album like Born to Run from start to finish inside a concert runs the risk of disrupting that journey. For many Springsteen aficionados, some of his most famous songs, "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" in particular, have become more associated with their historic places in the set than their slots in the album sequence.

Perhaps that's precisely what makes hearing Born to Run performed front to back in Cleveland so interesting. Relieved of now-familiar in-concert roles and restored to their original context, the songs of Born to Run shift tone. Their storytelling qualities rise as their anthemic, crowd-pleasing function is stripped. It would go too far to say it's like hearing the music anew, but a chance for reappreciation? Absolutely.

Though recordings from 2014 have been available, Cleveland 11/10/09 brings the album performance of Born to Run to the Live Archive series for the first time—in the context of the Magic tour, when he began this particular trick. Springsteen opens the show in a familiar fashion for this part of the 2008 tour, with the defiant statement of "Wrecking Ball," followed by an edgy "Prove It All Night." The latter is marked by two fine guitar solos, lively Max Weinberg drum fills, and an emphatic vocal turn from Stevie Van Zandt that buoys Springsteen's own performance.

That dynamic duo slides into "Hungry Heart," and the Cleveland boys (and girls) are well prepared to sing verse one with gusto. That word also suits "Working on a Dream," which Bruce and the band play with full conviction. (Does anyone else think of the Beach Boys' earworm "Kokomo" when they hear "Working on a Dream"?) Jon Altschiller unpacks each player in the mix, letting otherwise background parts like Clarence Clemons' rich baritone sax shine through.

Then the eight-song show-within-a-show arrives. "[We wanted to do] "something special…for the fans towards this last stretch [of the tour]," says Bruce, "so we've been playing some of our albums." He goes on to explain that after failing to break through commercially with his first two LPs, and sensing he had but one more swing at the plate in 1975, "this was the album where we started a lifelong conversation with most of you."

WIth that, "Thunder Road" and our story begins. It's been theorized that Born to Run was originally meant to depict a single day from bright morning to the dark of night, and elements of that come through in this setting. "Thunder Road" in Cleveland is on the sprightly side, feeling more like a beginning than a culmination as it is so often in concert.

High spirits and comradery ensue via "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out," which remains a celebration of the band itself. Curt Ramm was a returning special guest for this portion of the tour (presaging the full horn section to come in 2012), and his trumpet adds extra juice to the song's indelible horn hook. "Night" arrives, and we're moving quickly through side one, with The Big Man leading the way in a fine rendition. Kudos to Charlie Giordnano, too, who wraps sinewy organ and chiming glockenspiel around the band's wall of sound.

The aforementioned shift from peak to valley hits with "Backstreets." Van Zandt teases out lovely licks in the intro, and a sublime version follows. It may not be realistic for Bruce, at 60 years old, to tap the emotions of his mid-20s self, but his vocals in Cleveland carry gravitas. The mid-song interlude that was once filled by "Sad Eyes" finds Bruce improvising vocally and reprising lines like "you're an angel on my chest" to beautiful, meditative effect.

Release comes with "Born to Run," which delivers hope and elation, however fleeting, to the narrative. Hearing the song come an otherwise odd ninth in the show doesn't feel as disorienting as it would outside of the album context. As much of an anthem as "Born to Run" has become, standing on its own, it holds a vital place among these eight songs.

For whatever reason, "She's the One" feels ever so slightly lost, but focus is restored with the pairing of "Meeting Across the River" and "Jungleland." The album's least-played track, "Meeting" never established a place in Springsteen's live shows, having been played only 70 or so times. Curt Ramm's majestic trumpet is the focal point of the gorgeous performance. Listen for Bruce's voice crack emotionally as he sings, "It'll look like you're carrying a friend."

It's a pleasure to hear "Meeting Across the River" playing its role as the narrative companion to "Jungleland," and the album-closer takes the handoff and soars. Every member of E Street is locked in, none more so than The Big Man. He takes his famous solo with aplomb and steals this movie's epic final scene. Curtain.

What follows after Born to Run, to the end of the night, is more Magic tour excellence, highlighted by the welcome inclusions of the delightfully reworked "Red Headed Woman," a trumpet-tinged "Pink Cadillac" (why isn't this song performed more often?), and the coup de grâce, "Back in Your Arms."

In the song's rare live appearances, "Back in Your Arms" typically opens with Springsteen asking the audience who among them who has blown it, throwing away love they should have cherished. There's little doubt he's speaking from personal experience. In Cleveland, his preamble ends with a spoken-sung line that builds to eventually implore, "Please please please let me have one more chance to show the love I feel in my heart for you." "Back in Your Arms" has been played only 23 times, so each performance of the song is a special treat, but this one just might be first among equals.

With love on his mind, lost or otherwise, Bruce adds "Can't Help Falling in Love" to the Cleveland encore, then "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" and "Rosalita," both featuring Ramm on trumpet, to end the journey as he always does: on just the right note. A great album and a great show, all wrapped up in one great night.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

Cindy	Amazing, amazing show. I'm still on cloud nine. He took my sign… he played my song…. pink cadillac. MY HOT PINK SIGN was at his feet as he played. Wish I could have gotten a picture. The whole concert was the best we've been too…. but I always say that after everyone (9 and countin').
Jenny	I can't stop grinning about the concert last night! It was just awesome - I didn't want it to end. The people next to me named their dog Rosalita - I thought that was funny-mostly they call her Rosie but when they're angry at her - it's Rosalita - met some great folks, had a great time!
Joe	It's been ten months since I took my son to this concert, traveling from the West Coast to see it. It was worth every mile. Two memorable moments: hearing "Back in Your Arms" like only Bruce can do a song live, and Bruce and Clarence being the last ones to leave the stage and their final wave. Will I ever see that again?
Ruth Fulkerson	This was truly a "magical night. The band was electrifying. I have gone to 8 Bruce Springsteen concerts over the last 30 years and this was greatest ever; I did not want the evening to end. Great Great show.

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Tonight's Gonna Be Everything That I Said