I first saw Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band on May 8, 2000, in Hartford, CT. The bootleg of that show became known as the Hot Hartford Night, and it changed my life. It set me off on a now 26-year quest to see this band as many times as I can in as many places as I can. It led me to dig obsessively through a catalogue of songs that just kept expanding and amazing, to collect literally thousands of bootlegs in search of the perfect performance. My study of Bruce Springsteen is equal parts academic and religious, statement and symbolism, and all of it erupted into the glorious Land of Hope and Dreams tour. After being so moved by the Belmont Park, NY show, my wife and I grabbed our ticket and our suitcase to catch the spectacle one more time in Boston, MA.
Normally, no two Springsteen shows have the same setlist. However, this tour is different, with some minor exceptions, it’s been a static setlist every night. Bruce Springsteen is a master storyteller and usually crafts a setlist that takes the concert goer on a journey. This tour has a specific message night after night. Springsteen shines a light on the current state of the country; he calls out the offenders by name and challenges his audience to hold them responsible. The opening monologue is perhaps the most powerful concert opening I have seen in my 40 years of concertgoing. Bruce states the mission statement for the night, that initial call to action builds before the mighty E Street Band, augmented by guitarist Tom Morello, joins him in a call for peace over “War”. The Edwin Starr classic was a staple of the band in the mid-80s, but the expanded E Street lineup turned the song into powerful statement. It was also clear from these opening moments that this show had a different feel than the earlier show I saw. The tension, the emotion, the energy of the band was ratcheted up for the Boston performance.
The opening run of 4 songs sets the tone. With Morello in tow, the band shows where we are as a country, “War”, “Born In The USA”, “Death To My Hometown”, and a cover of the Clash’s “Clampdown” create an intensity that illustrates the past 18 months in America. Morello leaves the stage and the E Street Band brings the set to its first climax with “No Surrender” into “Darkness On The Edge of Town”. As the last notes of “Darkness” fade, Springsteen delivers the night’s second monologue. A harsh speech on the events that took place on the “Streets of Minneapolis”. Bruce holds nothing back as he leads into the song he wrote so we never forget the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. The full band version of this song features extended chants of “ICE out now” and the lyrical change from “dirty lies” to the scathing “fucking lies”. Just as the rage an emotion reaches a combustible level, we are reminded that there is hope as “The Promised Land” ensures us that everything that does not have the strength to stand its ground will be blown away. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are just that twister.
The pressure valve is opened for a bit of E Street fun with “Two Hearts” and “Hungry Heart”. A needed moment of levity in the story before the next build up. A fiery “Youngstown” and one of the best versions of “Murder Incorporated” I’ve seen start the build. Steven Van Zandt reminds everyone that even with Tom Morello and Nils Lofgren on stage, he is still an incredible guitar player, his ending solo was even better in Boston than in Bellmont. Those songs set the stage for “American Skin (41 Shots)”. An emotional song whose message is sadly relevant today as it was when written. Perhaps the most emotionally chilling part of the comes as Bruce sings the plea of a mother to her son to “Promise mama you’ll keep your hands in sight”, sax player Jake Clemons stands at his perch with his arms raised in the air. They stay that way throughout the rest of the song, except for his sublime sax solo. This was a detail I didn’t pick up in Belmont but sent chills through me in Boston. This segment finished off with “Long Walk Home”, introduced as a “prayer for our country”. I see “home” as being where we were as a country before the deep division that separates us all now, and it surely will be a long walk back to that home.
An acoustic “House of 1000 Guitars” serves as a palate cleanser before the tone slowly starts to change. Before the final run, however, the incredible Nils Lofgren gets his moment in the spotlight with a mind-bending solo in “Because The Night”. The next monologue leads to the hauntingly beautiful “My City of Ruins” before set standards “Wrecking Ball” and “The Rising”, both of which have new meaning in the context of this particular show. The show-stopping moment of the night hits with “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. Tom Morello and his band Rage Against The Machine turned this plaintive acoustic song into a bombastic statement piece, and Springsteen adopted that version to blow the roof of TD Garden. Morello’s solo is one of the greatest guitar moments I’ve ever seen. The standard “Badlands” keeps the energy growing before the closing number of the main set and the tour’s namesake “Land of Hope and Dreams” takes everything we’ve heard and felt throughout the night and reminds us that there is room for us all, that there is hope, and that we can peacefully change what we disagree with.
The encore set begins with the E Street immigrant song “American Land” which features the full power of the extended E Street Band in front of the stage paying homage to those who built the land. The pure joy of that song leads to what in unquestionably the greatest concert moment, one that occurs at every Springsteen show. The houselights turn bright and “Born To Run” reminds us of the promise that awaits us all if we take that long walk. I’ve seen this song played live around 60 times now, and it never gets old, there is nothing else like it. “Dancing In The Dark” leads to the traditional “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” which features not only an introduction of the current E Street Band, but video clips remembering Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici. One last monologue leads to the Bob Dylan classic, “Chimes of Freedom”, also a staple of the mid-80s.
There are many who repeat the talking point of “I liked Bruce before he got political”. That proves that his entire catalogue was misunderstood. Those classic songs of the 70s and 80s were not just the story of one man, they were a reflection of society at the time. Just because he didn’t overtly explain them doesn’t mean that the message wasn’t there. Maybe you chose not to see it because you were living it.
Upon seeing the Belmont show on May 5, I knew I had to see this tour again. The Boston show had the same setlist and similar monologues but was an entirely different experience. The pure emotion of the faces of the band, the extended hugs between members, the energy that felt like it had to be expelled and just couldn’t be kept in any longer made this show entirely unique. There are two nights left on the tour, including Washington, DC, so perhaps it was just a push to the end of the tour, but this felt like a goodbye. The members of E Street are getting older and who knows what the future holds, but if my first Bruce show in 2000 was life changing, this night was life affirming.
