The Boss Is Back: Bruce Springsteen Rocks Madison Square Garden

When 8:15 rolled around at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the stage was empty. The house lights didn’t dim. But as soon as the strains of Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York” began to drift down from the speakers, the audience went wild. Because it meant that Bruce Springsteen, after nearly two and a half years, was back in New York.

“NEW YORK CITY!” Springsteen shouted, bounding on stage with the rest of the E Street Band to an even louder roar. And with that, he launched straight into “Badlands,” opening track of 1978’s Darkness on the Edge of Town. The song, already a fan favorite, was all the rowdier and more exciting for the house lights, which stayed on for the whole song.

“ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?” Springsteen called, to thunderous applause, before jumping into “We Take Care of Our Own,” the opening song of his latest album, Wrecking Ball. The song was relegated to the second slot for the first time so far this tour, but the biting anger behind it at the American status quo was just as apparent. In concert, Springsteen adds a word to the most scathing line to make himself even more clear: “Where’s the promise from sea to shining sea, that wherever this flag is flown, that wherever this flag is flown, that wherever this flag is flown, we take care of our own?”

Springsteen continued with “Wrecking Ball,” the title track of the new album. It’s song that premiered live in the soon-to-be-demolished Giants Stadium in October 2009, but has taken on far greater significance in the recession since. Mention of the Giants was met with wild cheering (a stark contrast to the Boston show earlier in the month, where Springsteen was actually booed). From there, Springsteen threw it back to The River‘s “Out in the Street,” another fan favorite, before jumping ahead to “Death to My Hometown,” another scathing indictment of the “robber barons” and “greedy thieves” responsible for the financial crisis.

After the cheers died down, Springsteen joked with the audience. “There’s so many things to appreciate about New York!” he said, pacing across the stage. “There’s the Statue of Liberty…which, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure is in New Jersey. There’s the greatest theme song ever written about a city…which, come to think of it, is sung by a man from New Jersey. And there’s a world championship football team! …Who, come to think of it, play in New Jersey.” The crowd (which, come to think of it, was probably mostly from New Jersey) roared, and Springsteen launched into the solemn and powerful “My City of Ruins,” originally from 2002’s The Rising and now a setlist fixture on this tour.

Just as he had done on every night so far, Springsteen paused after the first verse. “All right, Max,” he said, turning to drummer Max Weinberg, “Roll call.” After introducing the band, Springsteen turned to the audience. “Are we missing anybody? Do I need to say the names?” The audience roared. Behind Springsteen, two spotlights shone down on the places where organist Danny Federici and saxophonist Clarence Clemons, both original members of the E Street Band, should have been standing. “All I can guarantee,” Springsteen said, “is that if you’re here tonight, and we’re here tonight, then they’re here tonight.” The song was a moving tribute to two men gone from the band far too soon and impossible to replace—Springsteen has brought in an entire five-piece horn section, including Clemons’ nephew Jake on the saxophone, to take over Clarence’s parts, but  no one can make up for the Big Man.

The mood picked up again with “Murder Incorporated,” an outtake first recorded on 1995’s Greatest Hits. The performance featured solos from Springsteen and guitarists Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt, finishing with a full-out guitar duel between The Boss and Miami Steve. Springsteen kept up the momentum with a rollicking version of  “Johnny 99,” originally from his 1982 solo album Nebraska. It’s a fantastic concert song, especially with the E Street horn section, who came downstage with Springsteen to finish the song on a blaring high note.

After “Jack of All Trades” and “Shackled and Drawn” from the new album (“Shackled and Drawn” was a welcome re-addition to the setlist after several shows without it), Springsteen gave the audience a rare treat: the fourth-ever performance of “Lion’s Den,” from 18 Tracks, which showcased the horn section once more. He continued with the new album’s “Easy Money,” sing-along song “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,” and (one of my all-time favorites) “The Promised Land,” complete with a harmonica solo from Springsteen and a great sax solo from Jake Clemons.

The next song was the rowdy “Apollo Medley,” a mash-up of “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and “634-5789,” during which Springsteen ventured out into the audience, chugged two beers, and crowd-surfed his way back to the stage. The show took a much more solemn turn after that with “American Skin (41 Shots),” a song Springsteen wrote in 1999 to protest the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo but has revived in recent shows in response to the death of Trayvon Martin. He continued with “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising,” two other songs with particular meaning in New York City.

Springsteen drew the audience in close for the next song, “We Are Alive.” Standing in a lone spotlight onstage with an acoustic guitar, Springsteen whispered, “Now listen…now listen.” The song, which begins quietly and crescendos to a full-on, horn-blasting, Johnny Cash-riff-inspired party, is quickly becoming one of my concert favorites. The main set finished in the best possible way with “Thunder Road.”

At the beginning of the encore, Springsteen blew a kiss to a section of the audience near the stage. “Got my whole family here tonight,” he said, waving. “My mother’s here, my sisters, all my nieces…Give ’em a wave, Ma! Shake that booty! …I’m gonna do this song for her—she knows what this song is all about. I was too young to even know what I was watching… She taught me all about hard work, consistency, and love.” With that, he brought vocalist Michelle Moore up to the stage for “Rocky Ground,” another track from the new album. Moore’s crystal-clear voice and Springsteen’s raspy shouts of “I’m a soldier!” complement each other better every time I hear the song.

The hands-down best twelve minutes of the night, however, were the next song: Kitty’s Back. The song is one of Springsteen’s oldest, from his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., and is probably the best E Street Band musical showcase in his repertoire. There were solos from organist Charles Giordano and everyone in the horn section, an unbelievable piano solo from Roy Bittan (Springsteen waved him on to keep going for a solid two minutes), and an amazing turn on electric guitar from the Boss himself.  It was easily one of the best performances of the song that I’ve ever seen, and it was obvious that the band was having a blast playing it.

“NEW YORK CITY!” Springsteen shouted again, launching immediately into “Born to Run,” one of the few songs that could live up to the wonders we’d just witnessed. The house lights came back up for the song and stayed on for the remainder of the show. The next song was “Dancing in the Dark,” during which Springsteen pulled his mother and young niece up on stage to dance.

Springsteen saved the most emotional song of the night, though, for last: “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” the song about the Big Man joining the band. Springsteen ventured out again to the platform in the middle of the audience, where, upon reaching that line, he shouted “This is the important part!” and froze, pointing his microphone at the JumboTron. There, images of Clarence flashed for at least three full minutes as the audience cheered louder than it had all night. At a signal from Springsteen, the entire horn section played Clarence’s famous solo in unison, and the band finished the song to a frenzied ovation. Springsteen left the stage last, shouting, “We love you, New York! You were incredible! See you on Monday!”

Bruce proved once again that if anyone is “king of the hill, top of the heap,” it’s him.

The full setlist from the show on Friday, April 6th, 2012 can be found here. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are playing at Madison Square Garden again tonight, April 9th, 2012.

Images via and.