Last night I went to see Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium. My dad and brother have seen him live before but they never invited me, and I'm glad I finally got my shot to see him. I'm from New Jersey, I grew up there, spent almost my entire life there, and it will always be my home, even if my parents decided to abandon it, so I think I'm obligated to feel something for Bruce's music. Nicole and I got $80 tickets for $25 each from someone selling them at the last minute. As you'll see, of course our view wasn't as good as it was for U2, but we waited 12 hours for our U2 spot and it was cool to see the stadium from a different perspective last night.
Seeing the Boss play in New Jersey, especially in a venue like Giants Stadium where you're surrounded by about 80,000 fans, is an experience unlike any other. It's indescribable. Bruce has achieved something akin to godlike status in New Jersey. And he sure puts on a good show. He's playing a bunch of concerts at Giants Stadium, and at each one he's playing one album through it's entirety. At my concert it was Born in the U.S.A. It's one of the best selling albums of all time, it's Springsteen's most successful album, and it has seven top-10 singles (the most for any album in history). So you'd think we picked a good night to go, but I think I would have actually preferred hearing the "Born to Run" night instead. I think there are some clunkers on "Born in the U.S.A." The first Giants Stadium setlist (a Born to Run show) looks perfect to me.
The main song I really wanted to hear but didn't is my favorite song of his, "Atlantic City." There are a few others I wish had been in there as well. This was the first time on this tour and the first time in over 10 years that "Badlands" wasn't played at an ESB show, and that really bummed me out because I love that song. It's really unimaginable that it was omitted. But overall it wasn't a bad setlist. He opened with a song called "Wrecking Ball," which he wrote about the destruction of Giants Stadium. The addition of "Jersey Girl" to the setlist made me really, really happy. Even though I love the song, "My Hometown" made me sad because it made me miss my hometown. They didn't pull me out of that depression until they got to "Born To Run." I was so glad they closed with "Thunder Road;" I was afraid they wouldn't play it. It's one of my favorite songs, and I loved screaming all the words (because I know every single one) along with the crowd. Overall it was a great night.
One highlight that needs to be mentioned is Bruce crowd-surfing from the back of the pit to the stage. It was at least 30 yards, and it was amazing to see. The view from above was so incredibly cool. Here's a video from the pit (obviously not mine). The crowd-surfing begins around 2:30:
Here are a few (not-so-good) pictures of mine:
And here are some even worse videos of mine, but they have good audio (and surprisingly you can't really hear me singing, except for maybe on Thunder Road!). The last two are the best.
Dancing in the Dark (ends partway through because the girl from the row behind me was pushed down into my row, nearly knocking me over):
Born to Run:
Jersey Girl(!):
Thunder Road (cuts off at the end because I ran out of memory):
Setlist
Wrecking Ball
Out In the Street
Outlaw Pete
Hungry Heart
Working On a Dream
Born In the U.S.A.
Cover Me
Darlington County
Working On the Highway
Downbound Train
I'm On Fire
No Surrender
Bobby Jean
I'm Goin' Down
Glory Days
Dancing In the Dark
My Hometown
The Promised Land
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
The Rising
Born To Run
Raise Your Hand (instrumental)
Jersey Girl
Kitty's Back
Detroit Medley
American Land
Waitin' On a Sunny Day
Thunder Road
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