Bruce Springsteen, Solo, at Madison Square Garden

As you know, Bruce wasn't solo tonight at Madison Square Garden. Actually, I was. Not having bought tickets when they went on sale, I was the only person of my friends that I figured would pay upwards of $200 at StubHub to see The Boss. Their loss. But in fact you are never truly alone at a Bruce Springsteen concert. As I took my seat at the equivalent of Knick's center court, I overheard the people sitting behind me playing the "I'm the bigger Bruce fan" game. After they both figured out they had seen Springsteen 50+ times (I only used to hear these crazy games of one-upmanship at Phish shows) one guy drops the bomb that he lives in Australia and he flew to NY just to see the show. In fact he told me Springsteen hasn't played Australia in over fifteen years. So this guy has put some serious miles on his Springsteen passport.

The E-Street Band is the hulking Clarence Clemons, who was adorned this evening with his pimp hat, Nils Lofgren who looks like a mini-Bruce, Little Steven "Silvio" Van Zandt, Max "I wear a suit just like my British counterpart Charlie Watts" Weinberg, the Professor on keys, and Bruce's wife Patty Scialfa on guitar and vocals. And Clarence actually spends the majority of the show on tambourine. He may have the greatest gig in the history of rock n roll.

The show was just tremendous. I knew seeing Bruce Springsteen in the NY/NJ area, his home base, would be just fantastic and something I would always remember. And that is exactly what I got. I had been listening to Bruce's new album, called "Magic" on my iPhone for the last two weeks and a few songs had stuck out and I hoped he would play them. Radio Nowhere, the single, opened the show. We also got a good number of additional songs from the album that I really liked: "Livin In the Future", "Girls in their Summer Clothes", "Magic", "Devil's Arcade", and "Long Walk Home". He also played a couple songs from his 9/11 album, The Rising, which I really love.

Bruce had some great lines when saying how happy he was to be in New York City and what he loves about it. He reels off: "The Statue of Liberty" which he says, by the way, is actually in New Jersey. Then he says how great the New York Jets/Giants are, and oh yeah, they play in New Jersey too. And don't you all love the song "New York, New York" Bruce claimed as the crowd went wild. And then Bruce pipes in amongst the cheers, "You know that guy was from New Jersey, right", referring to Mr. Sinatra.

We also got a run through of great versions of Badlands, Brilliant Disguise, Darlington County, Dancin in the Dark, and Born to Run.

Seeing Springsteen in concert, for the uninitiated, is like going to church. You jump to your feet, you listen to Bruce preach, you get teary-eyed thinking about the lyrics of youthful abandon and leaving the stressful working world behind. And most of all you are there to celebrate music and as Bruce says, "The power of rock 'n' roll". I am already converted, but it felt good to hear Bruce testify. Even if I was going to have to leave The Garden alone. But damn if I didn't have 20,000 new friends to walk out of there with. And only two shows at MSG so far this tour?!? Please Bruce, you know you'll be back soon.

Bruce Springsteen
Madison Square Garden
10/17/2007

Setlist:Radio Nowhere>The Ties That Bind>Lonesome Day>Gypsy Biker>Magic>Reason To Believe>Adam Raised A Cain>She's The One>Livin' In The Future>The Promised Land >Brilliant Disguise>Backstreets>Darlington County>Devil's Arcade>The Rising>Last To Die>Long Walk Home>Badlands>>Encore: Girls In Their Summer Clothes >Thundercrack>Born To Run>Dancing In The Dark>American Land