With a finger to his lips, Bruce Springsteen petitioned his audience: “Let’s see how quiet we can make it. Shh.”
Most fans would have none of it.
They’d waited too long. Friday’s sold-out set at Prudential Center was Springsteen and the E Street Band’s first proper New Jersey show in almost seven years. The most devout Boss-lovers brought lawn chairs and lined up the night before, in effort to snag the best spots on the arena floor.
They’d paid too much. Bruce’s exorbitant ticket costs made global headlines last summer as Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” model spiked some seats to more than $4,000 each, due to feverish demand. Amid widespread fan outrage — many complaining they’d been priced out of seeing the Jersey rock icon after a half-century of support — Springsteen and his manager Jon Landau defended the slide-scale costs, arguing they were following industry trends.
Those who did splurge on tickets would not be silenced Friday. They would be heard.
“BRUUUCE,” bellowed the chants from the rafters down, a collective exhale of joy, defiance and relief.
“Don’t ‘Bruce’ me — I’m working,” Springsteen snapped, making a joke of the fans who could not and would not contain themselves.
The electricity shared between The Boss, his 17-piece band (with horns and back-up singers) and his hometown crowd of about 18,000 friends was palpable across the nearly three-hour set — one of the longest of this 31-date U.S. arena run, which wrapped Friday in Newark. The group begins its European run April 28 before returning to play U.S. stadiums this summer, including three nights at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium.
“Good evening, New Jersey!” Springsteen barked at the top of the show. “I’m so glad to be back in my home state, with my people.”
Then, for only the second time this tour, the setlist began not with fan-favorite “No Surrender,” but with the aptly titled rouser “Local Hero,” a deep cut from 1992′s “Lucky Town” LP, which the band hadn’t performed live since 2013.
Never heard of it? Neither had most of the crowd, who nodded along but didn’t erupt until “No Surrender” kicked in a track later.
Springsteen, 73 and all toothy grins, was ready for a party this night. During “The Promised Land” early in the set, a female fan briefly jumped on stage — a no-no, she was quickly ushered back down — but was still able to convince Bruce to guzzle a travel-bottle shot of tequila with her.
It was that sort of night, as the band was loose and rowdy, perhaps giving a little more oomph with the knowledge they’d be off for the next two weeks.
The group reached its zenith as Springsteen struck the balance between rock-star deity and studied band leader, conducting the horns and keys through a blistering, 13-minute rendition of “Kitty’s Back,” the jazz-tinged showpiece from 1973′s “The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.” When it was Springsteen’s turn for a solo, he held a bent string on his guitar for what felt like a month, pretending to slick back his hair with his free hand as the extended note pierced the back of the arena.
The night’s other long-leash jammer, added to the set only a few nights ago, was the raucous “Mary’s Place” off 2002′s “The Rising,” which Springsteen prefaced by asking: “Are you ready for a New Jersey-style house party?” This was also the track where he tried to quiet the crowd. Futile!
While Springsteen and the band should be commended for the show’s high-octane pace — barely a break, song after song — it was rather disheartening that Springsteen never paused to offer the local crowd a Jersey story or two. A bit of homecoming chatter would’ve been welcome, to better distinguish the gig from all its facsimiles (fans have complained this tour about a lacking variance in nightly setlists, typically a band staple).
But Springsteen mostly stuck to the script. He spun the same story he’s told all tour, of how in 1965 his sister’s boyfriend, George Theiss, knocked on his door in Freehold and asked a 15-year-old Bruce if he wanted to jam. This led to Springsteen joining his first band, The Castiles, which would last for three years, “a lifetime for teenagers,” he quipped. Flash forward 50 years and Springsteen was standing at Theiss’ deathbed, leaving Springsteen as the last living member of his high-school band.
“Death’s last great gift to the living is expanded vision,” Springsteen noted solemnly, alone on stage, a tone familiar to his Broadway show. “It presents possibilities along with the pain and the suffering.”
This all preceded his pensive new track “Last Man Standing,” one of several songs played from 2020′s excellent “Letter to You” album. To finally hear the single “Ghosts” and its “I’m alive!” exaltation of a chorus played in New Jersey was a long-awaited thrill.
Though a few more surprises for the Garden State crowd would have been welcomed. The only other addition to the set was Springsteen’s well-worn cover of Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl” to kick off the encore. Sure, fans wailed to “down the Shore everything’s all right,” but of all the locally inspired songs in Springsteen’s prolific catalog — of which there are dozens, of course — this was a hokey choice.
Give us “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” or “Something in the Night.” Or here’s an idea: Play anything off of “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” “Nebraska” or “Tunnel of Love,” all of which were omitted in favor of overdone “Because the Night” and his soulful yet lukewarm cover of the Commodores’ “Nightshift,” the latter spurring streams of fans up the aisles toward the bathroom.
Hopefully, the MetLife shows this summer will see a significant shake-up in sets, as they did in 2016.
But on Friday, this largely hit-filled playlist was fine by most fans, who unloaded requisite shout-alongs to “Born to Run,” “Badlands” and “Dancing in the Dark,” during which Springsteen jumped in time like a punky kid about one-third his age. Those knees must be bionic.
The night reached its familiar delirium during “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” where Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Jake Clemons, Nils Lofgren and Soozie Tyrell made funny faces and stomped around the ramp in front of the minimalist two-tiered stage. Van Zandt, ever the comic relief, pulled on Springsteen’s ears, grabbed his nose and pretended to choke him. Kid stuff, all in good fun.
While this tour has not yet neared the mythic quality of previous roadshows — chalk it up to age if you like — it was indeed a night of exhilaration for the Jersey crowd who’d waited the better part of a decade to share a room with Springsteen again.
All grumblings over the cost were set aside as cheers shook the arena, with Springsteen on his own turf, declaring during “Wrecking Ball,” “I was raised outta steel, here in the swamps of Jersey.”
Springsteen’s setlist
April 14, 2023 — Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
Encore:
- “Jersey Girl” (Tom Waits cover, tour debut)
- “Thunder Road”
- “Born to Run”
- “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”
- “Glory Days”
- “Dancing in the Dark” (followed by band introductions)
- “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” (pictures of Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons were shown during the song)
- “I’ll See You in My Dreams” (solo acoustic)
Bobby Olivier may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook.
