Story 2009-06-13 Great Stage Park, Manchester, TN
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Intro to “Badlands”
“Hello, Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Working on a Dream”
“Good evening, everybody (crowd cheers) we’re so glad to be here tonight at the beautiful Bonnaroo (crowd cheers) that’s right…that’s right…we’ve come all the way from the great state of New Jersey (crowd cheers) to fulfil our solemn vow to rock the house! (crowd cheers) but we didn’t come all the way down to the beautiful Tennessee hills just to rock the house…we came down here tonight because we wanna build a house (crowd cheers) that’s right, right here in this field tonight we wanna build a house tonight…we wanna take the fear that’s outside there and we wanna build us a house of love (crowd cheers) we wanna take doubt and we wanna build us a house of faith (crowd cheers) we wanna take despair that’s out there and we wanna build us a house of hope (crowd cheers) and we wanna take the sadness and build us a house of joy and happiness (crowd cheers) and then we wanna take the cooling off and we wanna build us a house of sexual healing! (crowd cheers) that’s right, are we ready for the sexual healing to begin? (crowd cheers) that’s good…because we’re gonna use the bad wood and we use the good wood…we use the bad news that’s out there and we use the good news that’s here with us tonight…and we got all the tools we need right here on this stage and in this field tonight…and we wanna build us a house out of music and spirit and noise…now, listen to me, listen to me…because the mighty E Street Band is here tonight and we’re gonna do all our best to bring down the power of the music on you (crowd cheers) but, Bonnaroo, we need you to bring the noise! (crowd cheers) let me hear it (crowd cheers)(?) now sing like you mean it…”

Intro to “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”
“It’s request time…it’s too fucking hot for Santa…it’s too fucking hot for Santa…it’s too hot for Santa…(intro music starts)…if I’m gonna sing this song in this fucking hot, I better hear some voices out there (crowd cheers)…
(…) It’s 259 days till Christmas!…has everybody been good out there? (crowd cheers) you’re not taking none of the brown acid? (laughs from the crowd) then sing it with us…”

Intro to “Growin’ Up”
“(Piano intro starts)…Oh, I saw it in there somewhere…let’s go…”

Intro to “Kingdom of Days”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you…come on, baby…alright…I’m gonna dedicate this to Pats tonight, we got Patti with us (?)(crowd cheers)(?)…it’s nicer over here, you can read my words, I got a cheat sheet…(?)(chuckles)…”

Intro to “Hard Times”
“We just came from Norway where it was 48 degrees (chuckles) damn! alright…it’s good training, good training down there (chuckles) oh…woh…this is only, I think, the second festival we’ve ever played, we played one in Holland a few weeks ago and this is really…it’s the second one we’ve done and we’ve had a great, great time tonight, I wanna thank all the folks at Bonnaroo for inviting us (crowd cheers) it’s fun seeing all you young faces out there…here’s a song, uh…I have a friend, Jackson Browne, and every time we go out on tour, you know, and he comes to the show and he’ll say “You know, it’s a, it’s a good thing about those good songs, those good songs stay written” – in other words, if you wrote one thirty years ago and it was good, thirty years later it still sounds pretty good…but, uh, this one was written in 1855 (chuckles) so this one stayed written and uh…the reason it stayed written and sung so long is because it addresses times like we’re having right now, you can pick up a newspaper and you look and you see millions of jobs here in the country lost, hundreds of thousands of jobs every month, we see things that, uh, if anybody ever told me I, I’d be a part-owner of General Motors, I wouldn’t believe it (chuckles) but, uh, you see things that I never thought I’d see, with many, many folks struggling out there and uh…this is a song written in 1855 by Stephen Foster, it’s called “Hard times come again no more”…”

Intro to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
“Is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers)…is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers)…is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) then come on, I wanna hear you…”

Intro to “American Land”
“We wanna thank everybody at Bonnaroo for inviting us tonight, we wanna thank you for coming out and seeing us…
(…) Little Steven on the guitar (crowd cheers) Miss Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) my boy, Evan James Springsteen (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the prodigy, Jay Weinberg on the drums (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you’ve ever seen: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (crowd cheers) Bonnaroo! (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)…”

Intro to “Rosalita”
“You can’t take no more (crowd cheers) you’re gonna pass out from heat prostration (crowd cheers) I don’t wanna be responsible to your mommy and your daddy (crowd cheers) you can’t take no more (crowd cheers) you can’t take no more (crowd cheers)…did anybody say they were from New Jersey tonight? (crowd cheers)…”

Intro to “Glory Days”
“You can’t take no more (crowd cheers) you’re all Bonnarooed out (crowd cheers) you’re all Bonnarooed out, you can’t take no more (crowd cheers)…
(…) Come on, Steve…it’s quitting time, baby (Steve: “No way, baby”)…I’m tired (Steve: “Bonnaroo don’t close”) I wanna go back to (?) and put on my pyjamas (Steve: “Bonnaroo never really closes”)…well, Steve, if it ain’t quitting time…what I wanna know is what time is it?…(Steve: “It’s Boss-time!”)…”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.
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