[♪ poignant music playing]
♪
[Bruce Springsteen] Red Bank,
that's the site of the old Carlton Theater,
now the Count Basie...
where back in the '70s, I'd play with the early E Street Band.
I used to walk these streets on Saturdays in the '60s
when they were filled with teenagers.
And my first band, The Castiles, and I would spend the mornings in Freehold
getting our hair just right.
How we used to dream of playing in front of screaming crowds.
Since I was 16,
playing live has been a deep and lasting part of who I am
and how I justify my existence here on Earth.
A lot of it comes together when I count off the band.
Recently, when the world shut down,
no live music, no audiences.
So I made a promise to myself, to my fans, and to the band
that if we got through this,
I'd throw the biggest party I could.
[crowd cheering]
[♪ "Ghosts" by Bruce Springsteen playing]
[crowd cheering]
♪ I hear the sound of your guitar ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ Comin' from the mystic far ♪
♪ Stone and the gravel in your voice ♪
♪ Come in my dreams and I rejoice ♪
♪ It's just your ghost ♪
♪ Moving through the night ♪
♪ Your spirit filled with light ♪
♪ I need ♪
♪ Need you by my side ♪
♪ Your love and I'm alive ♪
♪ I can feel the blood shiver in my bones ♪
♪ I'm alive ♪
♪ And I'm out here on my own ♪
♪ I'm alive ♪
♪ And I'm comin' home ♪
♪ Your old Fender Twin from Johnny's Music downtown ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ Still set on 10 to burn this house down ♪
♪ Count the band in then kick into overdrive ♪
Let's go!
[crowd cheering]
♪ By the end of the set we leave no one alive ♪
[wind whistling]
[Bruce] This would be our first tour in six years.
Now that's a lot longer break than I planned.
[♪ strums guitar]
So we got together on a quiet, cold January morning in Red Bank
to begin our rehearsals.
There are two things I try to accomplish in rehearsal.
One, you've got to shake the cobwebs off the band,
off of all those years of inactivity.
And two, you've got to find your set list.
[people speaking indistinctly]
[Bruce] Now that set list is going to communicate the story
you are trying to tell your audience this time around.
And the 25 songs I chose to focus on
would complete the narrative for what I wanted to say,
and it would let the audience know who I am
at this point in my work life.
- [indistinct chatter] - [band member 1] Notes?
[band member 2] Notes, notes.
[Bruce] Getting ready to write it down.
No Surrender.
Ghosts.
Letter To You.
Promised Land.
Last Man Standing.
Backstreets.
She's The One.
Badlands.
Glory Days.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.
I'll See You In My Dreams.
And that's the end of that set.
This is 28 songs and I think on the last tour--
That's easily three.
Last tour, what-- I think that's about how many we did.
- That's three hours. - Yeah.
[Jake Clemons] After six years, I thought it might, uh, scale it back a little bit.
- Well done, man! - [both laugh]
- We can't do that! - [Jake] Yeah, amen to that.
[Bruce] Can't disappoint the fans, goddammit!
[band and crew chattering]
When we rehearsed in Red Bank at this small Black Box theater,
of course, it was wonderful on a reunion basis.
We hadn't been in the same room, all of us,
since the recording of Letter to You.
[Jon Landau] I think everybody's mindset was,
you know, we're gonna go on tour.
But what was then four years since the last tour
wound up being six years.
[Patti Scialfa] I hadn't seen everybody together for a very long time.
And I'm always taken back by the deep,
profound sense of camaraderie that you feel
when you see everybody all together.
[Roy Bittan] You know, it's 50 years
that this group has been together.
And, of course, we're all in that zone.
We don't know how long things can go on and what can happen to anybody.
We're lucky that we have the core band.
[Garry Tallent] The only thing we have to fear
is destroying the legacy we've made so far.
Uh, so, Doug, you get those chords?
[sings] ♪ I sent it in my letter ♪
E minor.
- [♪ Bruce vocalizes] - [♪ electric guitar playing]
♪ I sent it in my letter ♪
[people speaking indistinctly]
♪ My letter ♪
♪ To you ♪
♪
A little bit concerned when we started rehearsals.
[laughing]
Um, you know, it was all a little bit casual, you know?
[Nils Lofgren] The initial rehearsals is just the core band
getting our sea legs with the songs.
So you got, like, 40-somethin' songs.
Three new albums we've never played live.
Max is saying that we changed the arrangement for the live?
- [Bruce and Garry] Yes. - [Nils] Oh.
[Garry] Yeah, the chart is wrong.
- The chart is wrong. - [Nils] No wonder I don't know it!
Six years, seven years is a really long time
to not really play together.
[♪ band plays intro to "She's The One"]
[Max Weinberg] It became fairly apparent
that we were playing everything extremely slow.
♪ ...graces and her secret places ♪
We played She's The One so slow, it was a ballad.
♪ With her hands on her hips ♪
♪ Yeah, and that smile on her lips ♪
People would expect musicians in their 70s
to play that loping thing, which would be unfortunate.
♪ With her soft French cream ♪
♪ Standing in that doorway like a dream ♪
Tempos were so damn slow,
I couldn't play the damn song.
I can't play-- I can't play that fast.
I can't pay-- play that slow.
You know, I, I only play it one way and it's--
That's all I can do.
♪ Heart of stone ♪
[Max] He had articulated to me in a phone call earlier,
he wanted this show to be a real rock show.
♪ That shine like a midnight sun ♪
[Max] And we had the responsibility to those audience members
who hadn't seen Bruce and the E Street Band in 1976.
You've gotta transmit that excitement.
[♪ upbeat rock music playing]
[Max] We had to recall some of that manic,
out-of-control-way we played, 50 years ago.
♪ Hey ♪
[♪ "She's The One" continues playing]
♪ Hey ♪
[Max] Really get back to where we were.
[♪ song ends]
[Stevie Van Zandt] We only rehearsed, I think, six days.
We have new horn players, we have new singers,
and it's a big band and a lot of moving parts
and I am completely anal
and I care about every note that everyone does, you know?
That's just my thing.
Yeah, good. Yeah, I know.
Remember in E Street Shuffle, we did a thing where
Max and, uh, it used to be Everett, of course
- did the back and forth... - Oh yeah, on E Street Shuffle.
- ...so we wanna do that tomorrow. - Trading eights.
- Yeah, trading the eights. - I told Anthony...
We had a bigger band, some of the people I didn't know.
[♪ fast-paced percussion music playing]
[Bruce] Hold right there.
[♪ band joins in]
[♪ music stops]
- We're varying the last lick - [Max] Yeah.
[Bruce] Let's go on. Uh, Max, do the... tail end there?
One, two, three.
[♪ "The E Street Shuffle" playing]
First rehearsal, I was nervous, you're excited.
There's a whirlwind of emotions.
I made it a point to go over and introduce myself.
Anthony are a fantastically talented percussionist.
It was the first time he's played with us.
♪
We started talking about musicians that we know,
and we spoke for about 30, 40 minutes.
That was all before we played a note.
So by the time we started playing, it felt very natural.
[♪ song ends]
[Max] So I said to Anthony...
[band chattering]
...well, one thing you'll never hear anyone say to Bruce,
"Gee, that's not the way we rehearsed it."
It doesn't matter.
It's what's happening now that matters.
This takes experience.
[waves lapping]
[♪ "Spirit in the Night" by Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band playing]
[Danny Federici] We heard about this guy Bruce,
and we went down to see who this guy was.
I had to be with Bruce.
[Garry] Before I met Bruce,
I was very successful in the club circuit.
I realized that you had to,
one, start doing original material
and two, had to have a strong leader.
[♪ "Spirit in the Night" continues]
Bruce came along, you know, he didn't like me at first
and that was okay, I stayed busy.
Eventually, he came around and said, "Okay, I need you."
[laughing]
We finally started playing.
And it's been since January of '71.
Long, long time.
♪ And I'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go ♪
♪ They're built like light ♪
[Clarence Clemons] I grew up in a Baptist church.
My mom and my dad were very, very religious people,
and they were really stunned with my decision
to give up my job as a counselor in a reform school
to go to follow this man, and play rock and roll.
[♪ "Spirit in the Night" continues]
[Roy] When Max and I joined, the band came together
in a very different way.
Prior to us, it was more eclectic, I think.
Very jazz oriented with Dave Sancious and Vini Lopez.
Blues, R&B, rock hard, pop, that was our wheelhouse.
♪ By the time we made it up to Greasy Lake ♪
[Max] I'd only been in the band about two weeks
and Bruce said, "Bring it down."
♪ I think I really dug her ♪
♪ I was too loose to fake ♪
[Max] I-I just got quieter.
And he took me aside later and was like,
"When I say 'bring it down,' hit that snare drum,
just bop as hard as you can."
♪ And we danced all night to a soul fairy band ♪
♪ She kissed me just right ♪
He was teaching me his brand of the stuff
that he absorbed from seeing Sam & Dave and James Brown.
- ♪ In the night ♪ - ♪ All night ♪
- ♪ All night ♪
[Max] I'd been looking for a situation like that.
I was so disgusted personally with what,
you know, rock had become in the early '70s.
Where's all that great show business stuff?
So Bruce brought that back.
♪ Oh! ♪
♪
Which is why he had me join the band.
He wanted to put the guitar down and front the band.
♪
Which was a huge step.
I can't even begin to explain how big a step that is
for a guy I grew up with
that was the most introverted guy you'd ever met in your life.
[♪ "Spirit in the Night" continues]
For him to go from that to, like, the world's greatest entertainer...
[laughing]
♪
[Jon] This is not by accident.
Bruce loves to be surrounded by a family of musicians
and other talents who he can depend on.
And occasionally, we have to make a substitution,
a tragic pair of deaths.
[♪ music fades out]
[Bruce] Well, the loss of Danny and Clarence
were terrible blows to the band.
First off, they were both relatively young and playing great
and, well, they both died of natural causes.
Danny contracted melanoma,
and Clarence had a stroke.
But for any band that had been together
with the exact same lineup for 40 years,
there's no getting over that shock or replacing that history.
Now, Clarence and I were very, very close for 40 years.
We were different parts of the same spiritual body.
And the loss of that relationship is simply forever irreplaceable.
Now we've been blessed with Charlie Giordano on organ,
who channels Danny's style and mixes it with his own
and, of course, Jake Clemons, who took the toughest position
to replace in rock and roll,
and miraculously makes it his
while showing respect and love for his uncle,
both in his playing and the great presence
of his spirit on stage.
You never get over the guys you played with for that long.
They're always an integral part of your life
for the rest of your life.
[♪ gentle solemn music playing]
God bless 'em.
[♪ music fades out]
[director] Let's try the beginning of Dancing in the Dark. Next one.
[Stevie] These people have such a, such a strong identity
with the saxophone.
[indistinct chatter]
Which the presence of horns changes.
You know, you now become a rock and soul band, you know,
rather than just a rock band with a saxophone.
[Eddie Manion] The rehearsals in Red Bank were a refresher course, if you will,
between myself and Curt Ramm,
do most of the arranging for the horn section
and try to prepare ourselves as much as possible
for whatever might come up.
♪ She drives the boys insane ♪
[♪ "The E Street Shuffle" playing]
♪ Yes, she does ♪
Nobody really sat me down and said, "This is what's gonna happen."
They just put music in front of me.
♪ Whoa, whoa, yeah ♪
They had thousands of pages of music for the horn section.
Books this thick.
♪ Whoa, whoa, yeah ♪
[Eddie] You know, we might have arrangements,
we might have things worked out,
and he could change something at the drop of a hat.
Bruce, he likes the band to just be a little off balance.
It's part of the finding how we're gonna play these songs now.
It's-it's really a process of alchemy.
It's oftentimes not adding more things,
it's distilling out the things that don't need to be there.
[Nils] It's not like a horn choir revue.
It seems like we're the rock band, we are at the core,
and they're adding beautiful touches throughout.
Same with the singing.
Out in the Street, you guys go over Out in the Street?
- Yep. We've been out there. - [Bruce] That's good news.
[all laughing]
[Patti] The E Street Band is very structured,
but inside that structure, you have to be really flexible
because he's gonna throw things at you.
[Curtis King Jr.] Their approach is not quite the same.
Bruce takes the original, and they just start moving it around.
He's the kind of artist that doesn't set perimeters.
You don't know exactly what's coming.
You just go along with what might be in his mind,
and I guess it all gets felt out.
♪ When I'm out in the street ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ I talk the way I want to talk ♪
♪ When I'm out in the street ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Pretty girls, they all pass me by ♪
♪ When I'm out in the street ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ From the corner we give them the eye ♪
♪ Out in the street ♪
♪ Yeah, I feel alright ♪
[♪ vocalizing]
♪ Little girl, tonight ♪
♪ Meet me out in the street ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Meet me out in the street ♪
Alright, here we go!
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
[Curtis] It felt like I was just stepping onto this train that,
that I say that has no brakes.
[chuckles] 'Cause it, once it gets going out the station,
it's just like we're nonstop.
A one, two, three, four.
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
[♪ song ends]
- [band chattering] - [♪ gentle upbeat music playing]
[Bruce] Each tour rehearsal starts out in a small theater.
We settle on the songs, we practice 'em,
we get the band in the groove,
but then we move to a local arena
to address the staging and the pace of the performance,
what will the rhythm of the show be?
The big room also lets you know
that this will all very soon be real.
♪ Well, you better learn to move fast ♪
♪ When you're young or you're not long around ♪
♪ Cat somehow lost his Kitty down in the city pound ♪
[Barry Danielian] Now we get to Trenton, it's more about,
okay, when this tune happens, the horns are gonna go
to that spot of the stage.
It's how we're moving through the space of the stage by step.
[Bruce] After that last breakdown...
[sings] ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
...singers gonna come up front.
Kind of a run-through
just so that the first time we all play together
in an arena, it's not in front of those people.
[Patti] The energy really shifts
because now you have to be on point.
That's the time when you go, "Okay,
I better get my act together." [laughing]
Rehearsals, frankly, were a little on the short side.
Two hours and so forth.
And I realized, "Eh... he's,
he's actually not that into rehearsing," you know?
- [Curtis] We can do that again. - [overlapping chatter]
Alright, I'm gonna go home, Jon.
You're going? That's all you're gonna do? Um...
There's no sense tiring everybody out. We got it.
Now, the band needed rehearsal,
so Stevie really started to take an active hand
and the band started doing something they--
I don't know that they've ever done,
which is rehearse without Bruce.
In the '70s, Bruce, the band, and myself were obsessive.
[♪ upbeat rock music playing]
Soundcheck is when you're just checking the PA system,
maybe you're using a half an hour to rehearse, no big deal.
He would have the band play continuously
as if it was a loop.
And he and the late Bruce Jackson, they'd walk every row.
Totally obsessive and you know,
I, I understand that, uh, you know, he cares, and that's good,
but...
playing for four hours, the same eight bars,
it's insane.
Now, today he tells the band to keep playing
the way they did in the old days
and he goes out to the soundboard
and he listens for all of two and a half minutes.
And he said to everybody, "That's fantastic.
Don't change a thing."
[♪ "Thunder Road" playing]
Bruce has tremendous confidence.
He knows that these guys, they care.
[♪ Nils singing indistinctly]
[Stevie] Stop, stop. No, no, no. Right there...
I'm like, man, what I don't want to happen
is the critics or the audience to look at us and say,
"Well, yeah, it's, it's nice, you know,
but these old men are just going through the motions."
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's the riff, right?
That's the... [♪ vocalizes]
♪
After seven years away, you know, who knows what they're gonna get, right?
Right there, right there, right there, right there, uh.
But I wanted to come out and blow their fucking minds.
I said to him, "Listen, man, le-let me, let me go in
and just, you know, tighten up some things."
So he's like, "Okay, yeah,
I'll make you officially the, the music director."
You know, which is, you know, nice, you know.
Whatever, you know,
[chuckles] 40 years late, but fine.
[laughing]
[Max] I think Bruce said to me,
"Well, we don't want to get too good.
It'll work its way it's way out."
[Bruce] We could rehearse tomorrow.
We don't have to. I don't think so.
[laughter]
He knows exactly what he needs to do
and the time in which he had to do it
before we opened in Tampa.
[Bruce] Because there's a certain percentage
that we're gonna fuck up on anyway.
[all laughing]
So...
[band member] That's what the people are paying for.
[Bruce] That's what they're paying for.
They wanna see it live!
That means a few mistakes.
[laughter, indistinct chatter]
Later on, I realized what was happening.
He got what he needed to out of rehearsals,
the structure of the set, warming up his voice
getting it into shape.
And as to pulling the arrangements together,
I think he's "Well, I got the greatest band in the world,
they'll figure it out."
[Charlie Giordano] It was a little dreamlike.
You know, is-is this really happening?
And I looked around, and it was.
[Roy] This was something that we've all been praying for,
for it to happen.
What you've been hoping for and wishing for
is being manifested before your eyes.
[Patti] You walk out.
It's quite a beautiful thing
to see these faces with so much joyful expectation.
[Anthony Almonte] When we stepped up on that stage in Tampa,
you start to witness how intense, how very personal this show is
for the audience, for us.
You know, these are, these are lasting memories.
[Stevie] The man who was coming up the stairs in Tampa,
he knows exactly who he is.
He knows exactly what he's done.
And he is the maestro.
[crowd cheering]
[♪ "No Surrender" playing]
[crowd cheering]
♪
♪ Well, we busted out of class ♪
♪ Had to get away from those fools ♪
♪ We learned more from a three-minute record ♪
[laughs] ♪ Than we ever learned in school ♪
♪ Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound ♪
♪ I can feel my heart begin to pound ♪
♪ You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes ♪
♪ And follow your dreams down ♪
♪ Well, we made a promise ♪
♪ We swore we'd always remember ♪
♪ No retreat, baby, no surrender ♪
♪ Like soldiers on a winter's night with a vow to defend ♪
♪ No retreat, baby, no surrender ♪
♪ Now young faces grow sad and old ♪
♪ And hearts of fire, they grow cold ♪
♪ We swore blood brothers against the wind ♪
♪ I'm ready to grow young again ♪
♪ And hear your sister's voice calling us home ♪
♪ Across the open yards ♪
♪ Well, maybe we could cut someplace of our own ♪
♪ With these drums and these guitars ♪
♪ 'Cause we made a promise ♪
♪ We swore we'd always remember ♪
♪ No retreat, baby, no surrender ♪
♪ Blood brothers on a stormy night with a vow to defend ♪
♪ No retreat, baby, no surrender ♪
Come on, Steve.
♪ Li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li ♪
[♪ song ends]
[crowd cheering]
[Roy] From the first second, this tour exploded.
All night long!
[Roy] The audience response was as good or better
as we've ever had.
[cheering continues]
I couldn't believe the intensity level.
Twin Cities!
[crowd cheering]
Milwaukee!
Boston!
[Curtis] I look in the audience, I see, I see these people are just
so grateful for having this music again.
[Michelle Moore] Looking out in the audience is special.
I catch somebody's eye, and I catch a tear.
[crowd cheering]
I call it a very spiritual show.
This is the church.
The faces in the audience, the entire breadth of people out there.
It's really kind of lifting it into a different realm.
[♪ "Prove it All Night" playing]
♪ What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie ♪
♪ What it's like to live and die ♪
♪ Prove it all night ♪
♪ There's nothing else that we can do ♪
♪ Prove it all night ♪
♪ I'll prove it all night for you ♪
♪ I'll prove it all night ♪
♪ Prove it all night ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Prove it all ♪
Come on, Steve!
- ♪ I said yeah ♪ - ♪ Yeah ♪
- ♪ Yeah ♪
- ♪ All night ♪
[♪ electric guitar riff]
♪
[crowd cheering]
- [♪ song ends] - [crowd cheering]
[Bruce] Something changes in a song
when you play it in front of a live audience.
You can't understand your song's possibilities
or the stakes that it can play for
until you count it off in front of your audience.
Now of course, our songs from Letter to You,
they were untested.
I know one thing, they were essential
to the story I wanted to tell this time around.
[Stevie] He came in with this unbelievable song list,
which I don't think we changed it from the first moment it came in.
[Bruce] What did we just do? Surrender.
- Ghost. - Right.
Prove it. The Letter.
He just had it exactly right right from the very beginning.
- Alright. - Let's start with that.
[Stevie] Pick two songs.
[Max] It started to emerge that this is all sort of connected.
It's not just 20 or 30 songs thrown together,
it's a building thing.
And it's just gotten more defined, more refined,
more direct.
And I think mention has been made of his experience on Broadway.
Come down and copy the set list right here.
[Max] Where you play essentially the same thing every night.
I think that informed what he wanted to do this time.
[Jon] These songs are interlocked by a certain defiance
and a certain urgency.
[♪ "Letter to You" playing]
There are four songs from the Letter to You album
that provide a certain continuity.
And those songs have occupied the same space in the set list at every show.
♪ 'Neath a crowd of mongrel trees ♪
♪ I pulled that bothersome thread ♪
[Jon] They all are connected to feeling the pressure of time
and approaching death.
♪ I tried to summon all that my heart ♪
♪ Finds true ♪
♪ And send it in ♪
The subtext is about living your life right now.
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ I took all my fears and doubts ♪
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ All the hard things I found out ♪
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ All that I found true ♪
♪ And I sent it in my letter to you ♪
Yeah!
♪
♪ Come on ♪
[crowd cheering]
Now listen.
♪ I took all the sunshine and rain ♪
♪ All my happiness and all my pain ♪
♪ The dark evening stars and the morning sky ♪
♪ Of blue ♪
♪ And I sent it in my letter to you ♪
Come on!
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ I took all my fears and doubts ♪
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ All the hard things I found out ♪
♪ In my letter to you ♪
♪ All that I found true ♪
♪ And I sent it in my letter to you ♪
♪ I sent it in my letter to you ♪
[♪ song ends]
[Bruce] See, that was quite good.
It's the mighty E Street Band, baby.
What's the surprise? [laughs]
[Stevie] The start of every show we wait for him backstage.
[Lisa Lowell] We get called out of our rooms,
and, uh, we walk onto the backstage area
out of sight from the audience.
[Stevie] He comes in, we all grab hands.
It's not a prayer per se,
it's whatever comes off the top of his head.
[Patti] Sometimes he'll have a joke,
sometimes it'll be a little solemn,
but for that moment, we're bonding.
[Stevie] One time he said, "This is the place I warmed up
"for the band Chicago and got booed off the stage.
"It will not happen tonight.
Somebody say amen."
[all] Amen.
[band member] Woo!
[crowd cheering]
[people screaming]
[Danny] Oh, he was in, like, local bands in Asbury Park
playing clubs playing Top 40.
I saw him play at a place called the Upstage Club.
It was a coffee house that was open till four o'clock in the morning.
And we-- this is a place that we'd go to, to like, really get our rocks off.
[♪ mellow rock music playing]
♪
[♪ sings indistinctly]
[Garry] Touring in the early days, it was not touring,
it was gigging.
We're going out to Westchester, Pennsylvania today
to open for Cheech & Chong.
♪ Sha, na, na, na, na, na, ooh ♪
After 30 minutes, some guy
stole my leather jacket from the dressing room.
♪ Thundercrack ♪
It was dangerous not to take your wallet on stage
because if you went back to the "dressing room,"
your wallet wouldn't be there.
♪ To her lightning shack ♪
[Garry] We did whatever we could do,
random gigs, clubs, wherever we could set up shop.
♪ She moves back ♪
♪ Out on the floor there ain't no one cleaner ♪
[Max] We played so many "shot and a beer" bars.
We played a show at a club inside the Bayway Refinery
where the flames come out.
♪
♪ Straight from the Bronx ♪
[Garry] We played a free gig at Damrosch Park,
and there might have been 10 people there.
♪ She bumps, she grinds ♪
We were new and the promoters just come out,
and they, they wanna push you around and then, "Yeah, yeah..."
You're on the stage for 45 minutes, they're pulling the plug.
Pull the plug? No, you're not gonna do that.
♪ Out on the floor there is no one cleaner ♪
I think we were delirious for those early tours.
♪ She calls the "Jump Back Jack" ♪
[Roy] The rides were many, many hours.
♪
We'd pull into a college and go do four-hour show
and then another nine-hour drive.
[♪ jazz fusion music playing]
♪
You realize that you've spent most of your adult life
with these characters.
There's no question how meaningful it is to all of us.
It's a real big core of familiarity and family.
For me, being like the, the new guy in the band at 39 years,
getting together to create great music,
it's one of the rare joys.
At this particular moment in time in our lives,
to be doing this, it's quite a blessing.
[Patti] I've been performing with this band for 40 years.
With those first performances, it felt so good to be back on stage.
Touring has become a challenge for me.
[♪ gentle music playing]
In 2018, while Bruce and I were doing a play on Broadway,
I was diagnosed with early-stage multiple myeloma.
And this affects my immune system.
So, I just have to be careful what I choose to do
and where I choose to go.
♪
Every once in a while, I come to a show or two,
and I can sing a few songs on stage
and that's been a treat.
That's the new normal for me right now.
And I'm okay with that.
♪ Romeo and Juliet ♪
[♪ "Fire" playing]
♪ Samson and Delilah ♪
Fire is always fun to sing.
♪ You can bet ♪
♪ Their love they couldn't deny ♪
♪ Your words say split ♪
It's very personal in a way.
You can see a side of our relationship that you usually don't get to see.
♪ ...kiss ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Fire ♪
Being back on stage with Bruce is a blast.
Now I remember those summer nights
down by the Jersey shore.
[crowd cheering]
As the band played, with you in my arms,
we'd move across that floor.
Oh, but then, darling, you went away.
Well, all I've got to say is,
tonight, I don't care if you lied.
Let's dance!
♪ Oh, darling, you lied ♪
♪ Darling, I loved you ♪
♪ You know that you lied ♪
♪ Darling, I loved you ♪
♪ You know that you lied ♪
♪ Darling, I loved you ♪
[Patti] Every night of this tour gives the band
a chance to celebrate.
♪ Papa says he knows that I don't have any money ♪
♪ Oh, your papa says he knows that I don't have any money ♪
Tell him this is his last chance
to get his daughter in a fine romance.
The record company, Rosie,
gave me a big, big, big, big, big, big, big advance.
♪ And my tires were slashed and I almost crashed ♪
♪ But the Lord had mercy ♪
♪ My machine, she's a dud, I'm stuck in the mud ♪
- ♪ Somewhere in the swamps of ♪ - [crowd] ♪ Jersey ♪
[Jon] US Tour, there were 31 arena shows.
They were wild. Those shows were incredible.
[Bruce] Come on!
He's having an experience every night.
[♪ "Mary's Place" playing]
♪ Let it rain ♪
[Jon] He is living it.
♪ Let it rain, let it rain ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ Meet me at ♪
♪ Mary's ♪
♪ Place ♪
[♪ song ends]
[crowd cheering]
I would catch Bruce in the gym the morning after our show day.
And I was like, "Okay, this is pretty impressive."
You know, this guy gives out three hours of concert,
next morning he's in the gym.
And I walk in and he goes, "Well, that's-that's how I like to see my guys,
in the gym ready to go."
And then he'll look at me and go,
"You haven't seen anything yet. Wait till we get to Barcelona."
[crowd cheering]
I was like, "Okay."
Said that the first time.
And then he repeated that for a month.
Every time he'd see me, "Barcelona, Anthony."
[♪ "Burnin’ Train" playing]
[Bruce shouting]
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
[Bruce] In Barcelona, Catalans take their music very seriously.
We've had an audience here that's nonstop.
Very loving, warm, exciting,
everything you could ask for in a crowd.
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
It's been that way for a long time
and it still is.
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪
It's a very warm audience.
It is an audience that accepts you on your terms.
♪
I had never seen an audience like that ever.
There's more singing along,
the chants and those things.
Every single soul is engaged, alive from front to back.
[Anthony] Europeans, they let out their emotions
and their, their excitement out on their sleeves
and-and they let you know instantly.
[crowd cheering]
[Jon] Right now on this tour,
Bruce is the biggest he's ever been in Europe.
It's a second home for us.
It's magic.
[♪ "My Love Will Not Let You Down" playing]
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
[♪ electric guitar riff]
♪
♪ Well, hold still now, darling ♪
♪ Hold still for God's sake ♪
♪ I got me a promise I ain't afraid to make ♪
♪ I ain't afraid ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪ My love, love, love, love, love, love ♪
♪ Will not let you down ♪
♪
[♪ crowd singing]
[♪ song ends]
[crowd cheering]
[Vivian Abbi Johnsen] We have been waiting for this with anticipation for--
It's been seven years
since you saw a real E Street, uh, concert in Europe.
Bruce's fan community, I think, is one of the strongest in the world.
There's this sense of unity that unites us all.
His community is like, I think it's on another level.
Some of my best friends, I've met in the pit
at a Springsteen concert.
[crowd cheering]
[Marit Larsen] This year in Barcelona,
to see the band again, all the friends, the crowd,
and we are singing along.
I know people all over Germany, from Switzerland,
from Austria, from Sweden, from England,
it's a big community.
[crowd cheering]
[Jimi Coughlan] When we're together, we're the best of friends,
we connect, we know each other, we connect with each other.
It's like we have been friends for a lifetime.
We have met for many tours.
We have grown older together
and we've all connected because of Bruce.
We're talking about friendship, we're talking about love.
For three hours, all dancing, not thinking about anything.
We try to, to live the moment.
I just want it to last forever.
There's part of the show when he says, "Do you wanna go home?"
Everybody, "No!" [laughs]
Hey, Steve.
Yeah, baby?
I think it's time to go home now.
Are you saying-- What?
I said, I think it's time to go home.
[Stevie] The first time I saw Bruce at a club until today,
there are certain fundamentals of the show that have never changed.
And one of them is no matter how serious some of the songs are
and how serious the tone of the show is...
Do you wanna go home?
[Stevie] ...he always finds a space for humor.
It's always there.
That's part of his vision of what he's doing.
Max don't wanna fuckin' go home.
- And as we know... - [♪ music stops]
...if Max Weinberg don't go home,
- nobody goes fuckin' home. - Nobody wants to go home. [laughs]
- [crowd cheering] - One, two, three!
- [♪ music resumes] - [crowd cheering]
[Roy] I can't even wrap my head around how are they able to move
all this huge amount of gear that we have
from point A to point B.
[Max] I always laugh because, you know, if you look backstage there's,
you know, there's these road cases full of 40 guitars.
Every show we did in the early days, one guitar.
[Kevin Buell] When you see all these guitars,
it's a lot of work maintaining them.
But at the same time, it's a blessing that we have 'em.
I don't have the time to, "Oh, hold on a second, Bruce,
I'll be right with you."
♪
If he turns around and gives me that look,
I have gig-mares about it, truthfully,
to tell you the truth, man.
[crowd cheering]
[plane engines roaring]
In the early days when we traveled,
I think we started in a Club Wagon.
[car engine revving]
You couldn't lay down to sleep. You had to, you know, sleep like this.
By the time I joined, things were a little better.
[laughs] Not much.
I think by then, we graduated to the bus.
You know, we customized it ourselves with army cots.
It had to be chained to the wall. [chuckles]
And every time the bus went around a corner,
the bunk beds would-- [laughs]
would kinda lean over.
♪
Shortly thereafter, we went to a motor home,
and actually it was the GMC Motorhome,
which was at the time very modern.
[Max] Well, it was a huge step up.
Here, you could turn the tables down into little bunks.
There was a fold-down, like on a submarine,
Bruce had that.
There was a sofa,
you took the cushions off, and Clarence could fit on that.
There was a, a table that recessed into the floor,
and Garry and Roy slept on that.
Except it really wasn't wide enough for two people.
So Garry and I would sleep foot to head
and we put a little mattress over it.
And in the back was another table that we could lay out,
and Danny and I slept in it.
Driving six, seven hours, you could sleep.
One of my fondest memories is we woke up
to the smell of Clarence cooking breakfast.
He made pancakes, bacon, eggs.
Anything you want, like a short-order cook,
like the father.
And it was really, it was really fantastic.
[band member] Give us a limerick, a limerick, Clarence.
Now, as I was saying...
[overlapping chatter]
[Max] It was a very bonding experience.
And that bond, thousands of shows later,
that's what gets played out on stage.
If you get swept up in the spirit, you'll be able to figure out a way in.
[Jake] I grew up seeing my uncle there.
It gave him so much happiness,
which is why I've always been really particular
about playing his horn, playing his mouthpiece.
Like, I need-- I need to keep as much of him
with me as possible.
[Roy] Those solos, those sax solos,
Badlands, Jungleland, Prove It All Night
that puts Clarence right back there.
It's almost like this transference.
[Jon] Bruce loves stability
and so when he finds the person that's a match
for what he needs,
he tends to keep that person.
Having this musical and communal experience,
I never took it for granted.
I'm very grateful to be part of the band
and all the fabulously talented people that are up on that stage.
I listen to what everyone is doing
and just try to add my little spice to it.
Not too much but just part of the whole.
[crowd cheering]
Clarence and Danny have not been forgotten.
[Jon] Nightshift.
People hear that song in the show in a lot of ways
and the way I hear it is...
he's talking about our guys.
[♪ "Nightshift" playing]
♪ Marvin ♪
♪ He was a friend of mine ♪
♪ And he could sing his song ♪
♪ His heart in every line ♪
♪ Marvin ♪
♪ Sang of the joy and pain ♪
♪ He opened up our minds ♪
♪ I still can hear him say ♪
♪ Oh, talk to me ♪
- ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ - ♪ So you can see what's goin' on ♪
♪ Say you will ♪
♪ Sing your songs ♪
♪ Forevermore ♪
♪ Oh, gonna be some sweet sounds ♪
♪ Coming down ♪
[Anthony] Nightshift early on, I mean, I was curious to see
how the crowd was gonna be receptive to it.
The fact that the singers come forward and they take the spotlight.
[Ada Dyer] We were in sound check.
He said, "Ada, you know, I think I want you
to do a little something here."
He didn't specify as to exactly what that something was gonna be.
♪ On the nightshift ♪
And I knew that if it was too much, he would say,
"Uh, pull it back a little bit."
♪ ...not alone, on the nightshift ♪
But he said, "No, no, no, I want more."
[♪ vocalizing]
"There you go, this is a seed.
Now let's see what it grows into."
♪ Oh, it's gonna be on the ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Yes, it is ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Yes, it is ♪
He just said, "We're going down front,
we're gonna do this together."
And I'm sort of kind of watching him.
A lot of it was me just observing him.
♪ Nightshift ♪
One night, we stepping down as I usually do,
and Bruce kind of let the song go a little longer
and sit a minute.
[crowd cheering]
It's almost like on pause, let people feel that moment.
I mean, we're talking about those who have passed.
♪ ...another home ♪
[Curtis] And then he sang a higher note.
♪ I know you're not alone ♪
[Curtis] I sang a note over him.
- [♪ both vocalizing] - [crowd cheering]
I remember him saying...
- I can try. - "Try, I can try."
I took that as, "Let me just do something that might be a little different."
[♪ Curtis vocalizing]
[♪ hits higher notes]
He seemed to react to it. He responded to it when I went higher.
- [♪ Curtis vocalizing] - [crowd cheering]
And then it went on from there.
It just started developing.
♪ It's gonna be a long night ♪
♪ It's gonna be alright ♪
♪ On the nightshift ♪
♪ You found another home ♪
- ♪ I know you're not alone ♪ - ♪ Not alone ♪
♪ On the nightshift ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
- ♪ You found another home ♪ - ♪ Another home ♪
- ♪ I know you're not alone ♪ - ♪ Not alone ♪
♪ On the nightshift ♪
Nightshift, that's become a showstopper.
Come on!
♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee ♪
♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Hee, hee, hee, hee ♪
♪ Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee ♪
♪ Nightshift ♪
- [♪ song ends] - [crowd cheering]
Curtis King!
Miss Ada Dyer, Michelle Moore,
and Lisa Lowell.
The E Street Choir.
[♪ band warming up instruments]
A little Mary's Place, just to remind us.
The greatest musical influences of my youth
are all my soul music mentors.
They've guided me on stage and shaped our show
for many years.
Sam & Dave, James Brown, Jackie Wilson.
Come on!
They still inspire me as a band leader to this day.
Is there anybody alive out there?
[♪ band lightly playing "Mary's Place"]
We're trying to translate in our musical language
what he's doing moment to moment.
Even if he just twitches his butt,
you kind of know where he is going with that.
[Max] Sort of visual cues on stage,
certain tells that Bruce might have physically
that indicate he's about to do something.
He might not know what that is, but he's about to do something.
He cues with his shoulders a lot.
He'll cue with his hand.
There are cues with the guitar.
[Barry] You just have to watch him.
He knows what to give us in order to make all these things happen.
♪ Meet me at Mary's place ♪
Come on!
♪
♪ Woo! ♪
[♪ saxophone solo playing]
- ♪ Ooh! ♪ - ♪ Meet me at Mary's place ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Meet me at Mary's place ♪
[♪ song ends]
[crowd cheering]
Hit it, Max.
Shh!
[Curtis] The greatest skill Bruce has
is demanding the attention of an audience...
Shh.
[Curtis] ...and being able to direct it however way he'd like.
Hit it, Max.
Shh.
[John Cooper] He has an amazing amount of control,
and he can quiet that crowd to where you can hear a pin drop.
Shh.
[Max] He directed me to stop playing completely, just the piano.
[whispering] Just Roy.
Shh.
- [Max] And then he said, "Nobody." - [whispers] Nobody.
[Max] And he wanted silence.
[fan 1] Love you, Bruce!
[Max] This is the genius of Bruce.
[whispering] Nobody.
[Max] The complete silence on stage...
[fan 2] Woo!
[Max] ...tends to make people very nervous.
[crowd cheering]
I mean, you never see anybody do this on stage.
[♪ funky jazz music playing]
It takes a lot of thought and detailing to make it all look tight
and to be spontaneous at the same time.
[♪ "Kitty’s Back" playing]
[Stevie] In the early '60s, me, Bruce, and Garry
had gone to see Sam & Dave.
Seeing an R&B, you know, a soul music show up close,
you know, it was like in, in a little club,
uh, i-in those days was just an incredible impression on you.
[♪ "Kitty’s Back" continues]
[Barry] He has a way of being able to pull those nuggets
from these different genres of music that seem unrelated.
[♪ trombone solo playing]
But then he's able to kind of weave them into the mix
in a way that it's very relatable.
And tapping into all these various streams of American music.
You got a little gospel in there,
you got a little rock and roll, a little jazz.
[Barry] We're improvising, like we made a conscious effort.
We could have worked out our little eight bars,
and we play the same eight bars every night
and it's gonna be perfect.
But that's not what Bruce wants.
Bruce wants, like, say what you're feeling at that moment.
[♪ trumpet solo playing]
[Curt Ramm] Kitty's Back is a very different song,
and it's very loose...
let everybody have their moment and do what they want.
[♪ saxophone solo playing]
[Barry] He goes, "You know, guys, I want something
"after you guys finish your solo in the horn section,
I want you guys to come up with some kind of a horn soul lead."
[♪ horn soul lead playing]
Which means you're playing the same thing together.
♪
[crowd cheering]
[♪ piano solo playing]
It's almost like a small group at a jazz nightclub vibe.
♪
It's an exciting thing
because you don't know what's gonna happen.
[♪ electric guitar plays]
♪
[♪ keyboards solo playing]
♪
[♪ song ends]
[♪ upbeat music playing]
I am a big fan of having a very random set list,
and I know most of the other guys would not agree with me.
[Charlie] On other tours, we would always get a set list
maybe 30 minutes before we would go on stage.
Well, the last tour, he was a lot more spontaneous.
It was a lot of going out in the audience and picking up signs.
Hey, can we stump the band?
If you knew it, you knew it
and if you didn't, you just had to catch on.
♪ Ohh, your flat feet down on the ground ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
Hit it, boys. Come on, Charlie Giordano!
The audience had these signs.
Always exciting and nerve-wracking.
[John] Bruce would go out and find some of the most obscure songs
and song titles.
That was kind of the theme, "Stump the E Street Band."
[Bruce] Alright, Professor...
Craning my neck to try to see what was on the sign,
you know, and oh, my God.
We haven't played that in 10 years.
I don't think I've ever played that.
Is there a chart somewhere on that?
[Soozie laughing] Quick, quick.
And he'd oftentimes come back to the stage with a dozen of 'em stacked up,
and he'd be flinging through 'em on stage and find the one he wanted.
Give it to the organ man.
♪
[Nils] We were doing 15 different songs a night.
Nobody knows what the hell's happening.
[Bruce] Turn 'em up! Turn 'em up!
There's an energy to that.
[Bruce] Three, four!
But you can't really get deep, deep, deep in any one song
because you were just never playing it that often.
[♪ gentle music playing]
That's one of the things I like about this tour is
you can hear your bandmates evolving.
[muffled cheering]
[Garry] It's not a jam session, it's not a "Stump the Band,"
it's an experience, it's a show.
Bruce has put this set list together meticulously.
Start listening a little closer.
There's different emotions being brought out of each song every time you hear it.
♪ Blow away the dreams that tear you apart ♪
♪ Blow away the dreams that break your heart ♪
♪ Blow away the lies that leave you nothing ♪
♪ But lost and brokenhearted ♪
♪ The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand ♪
♪ If I could take this moment into my hands ♪
♪ Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man ♪
♪ And I believe in a promised land ♪
♪ For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside ♪
♪ That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive ♪
♪ I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me ♪
♪ I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these ♪
♪ Badlands, you gotta live it every day ♪
♪ Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay ♪
♪ Keep pushin' till it's understood ♪
♪ And these badlands start treating us good ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪
♪ There's spirits above and behind me ♪
♪ Faces gone black, eyes burnin' bright ♪
♪ May their precious blood bind me ♪
♪ Lord, as I stand before your fiery light ♪
♪ Li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li, li ♪
♪ La-la-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li ♪
[♪ music fades out]
[♪ pensive music playing]
[cheering and applause]
[ambient village noises]
[Guglielmo Latini] My first concert, I was 19.
I skipped school the next day too. [chuckles]
Since then, I've seen him in Spain, in Germany,
in the UK, in Italy.
Now I'm 37, and I grew up with Bruce.
[muffled cheering and clapping]
[Marit] My first Springsteen show was here in Oslo in 1993.
Oh, it was so magic.
You just get happy.
So happy.
[♪ pensive music continues]
[Hannah Summers] My dad is a massive Springsteen fan.
He's been listening to him all his life.
It's always really special to go to concerts with him,
having, like, that history.
He's the reason that I love Springsteen now.
[Ralf Dissmann] When I first got into his music,
I could connect to these scenes that he described
and to these feelings that he described,
to me after all these years,
it still means a lot to me and that I still enjoy so much.
[fan] I always get emotional when I,
when I go to Bruce Springsteen concerts.
You know, it's just like he takes his soul,
and he puts it into music.
So I think that everyone can relate to it.
[muffled rhythmic clapping]
We don't expect the man to tour forever.
We hope he does, we hope he tours for as long as he can.
But we're appreciating these moments.
We want to soak up every last moment of this, just in case.
[indistinct chatter]
Just a little, where it says horn, it's just a little riff.
[♪ "Last Man Standing" playing]
♪ I'm the last man standing ♪
♪ Do, do, do, do, da, da ♪
[♪ trumpets playing]
Let's try just Curt.
[♪ solo trumpet playing]
That's good. Alright.
So I'm gonna tell a little story.
[♪ lightly strumming guitar]
And I'll go into the song.
[Stevie] From the beginning of the tour,
he has told the story of Last Man Standing
and why that phrase came to him.
And the story he tells is that he realized
when his friend George Theiss passed away,
that of all the members of his first rock band,
he was the last man standing.
I think he reads into that notion
an increased sense of mortality.
He's next.
That's kind of like you're standing on the tracks
with the white-hot light of an oncoming train
bearing down upon you.
It brings a certain clarity of thought,
you may not have previously experienced.
Because death's final and lasting gift to the living
is an expanded vision of life itself.
George passed away
shortly after I wrote this song.
It's just about the passions we follow as children,
not knowing where they're going to lead us
and how at 15 it's all tomorrows and hellos
and then later on there's a lot more yesterdays and goodbyes.
♪ Out of school and out of work ♪
♪ Thrift-store jeans and flannel shirts ♪
♪ The lights go down as you face the crowd ♪
♪ Oh, the last man standing ♪
♪ Lights come up at the Legion Hall ♪
♪ Pool cues go back up on the wall ♪
♪ Pack your guitar and have one last beer ♪
♪ With just the ringing in your ears ♪
♪ Rock of ages lift me somehow ♪
♪ Somewhere high and hard and loud ♪
♪ Somewhere deep into the heart of the crowd ♪
♪ Oh, I'm the last man standing ♪
♪ Oh, the last man standing ♪
[crowd cheering]
[Stevie] One of the most emotional parts of this show is the juxtaposition of
Last Man Standing and Backstreets.
Last Man Standing talked about friendship and end of days.
Then he put it up against Backstreets,
a song from 50 years ago, about betrayal of some sort.
[Jon] Backstreets reads a whole other way
in the shadow of Last Man Standing.
Bruce seems to be again talking about the mementos
of his lost friend.
[♪ "Backstreets" playing]
♪ Endless juke joints and Valentino drag ♪
♪ Where dancers scraped the tears ♪
♪ Up off the street dressed down in rags ♪
♪ Running into the darkness ♪
♪ Some hurt bad, some really dying ♪
♪ At night sometimes it seemed you could hear ♪
♪ The whole damn city crying ♪
♪ Blame it on the lies that killed us ♪
♪ On the truth that ran us down ♪
♪ You can blame it all on me ♪
♪ Terry, it don't matter to me now ♪
♪ When the breakdown hit at midnight ♪
♪ There was nothin' left to say ♪
♪ But I hated him ♪
♪ And I hated you when you went away ♪
♪ Say yeah ♪
[♪ electric guitar solo]
♪ Laying here in the dark ♪
♪ You're like an angel on my chest ♪
♪ Just another tramp of hearts ♪
♪ Crying tears of faithlessness ♪
♪ Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see ♪
♪ Trying to learn how to walk like the heroes ♪
♪ We thought we had to be ♪
♪ Well, after all this time ♪
♪ To find we're just like all the rest ♪
♪ Stranded in the park ♪
♪ And forced to confess ♪
♪ To hiding on the backstreets ♪
♪ Hiding on the backstreets ♪
♪ We swore forever friends ♪
♪ On the backstreets until the end ♪
♪ Till the end ♪
[Charlie] In the breakdown where it's just Roy and Bruce...
♪ Till the end ♪
[Charlie] ...he's continuing the story
that he began in Last Man Standing
and brings the two together.
Now I got, I got that box of 45s that you left me...
and I got all your old books...
and I got the, the guitar that you used
to keep down at the end of your bed.
And I got that picture of the two of us
sitting on your porch on your wedding day...
and you were barely 19.
And everything else... everything else...
I'm gonna carry right here.
[crowd cheering, applauding]
I'm gonna carry right here.
[whispers] I'm gonna carry right here.
♪ Until the end ♪
[whispers] Until the end.
♪ Hiding on the backstreets ♪
♪ Was alright ♪
♪ We're all hiding on the backstreets tonight ♪
♪ On the backstreets ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ Oh ♪
[crowd cheering]
[Jon] To go in the space of a half an hour
from the depths of Last Man Standing into some of his most well-known songs.
The fact that he can cover that range of territory
he always has.
Backstreet is the beginning of this ramp-up,
this insane rollercoaster that is the rest of the show.
♪ Born in the U.S.A. ♪
♪ I was born in the U.S.A. ♪
♪ I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A. ♪
[crowd singing] ♪ Born in the U.S.A. ♪
- [♪ song ends] - [crowd cheering]
[♪ "Bobby Jean" playing]
[♪ "Dancing in the Dark" playing]
[crowd cheering]
[Bruce] One, two, three!
♪ Hey, baby ♪
♪ Aah ♪
[♪ "Born to Run" playing]
♪ Someday, girl, I don't know when ♪
♪ We're gonna get to that place ♪
♪ We really want to go ♪
♪ We'll walk in the sun ♪
♪ Till then, tramps like us ♪
♪ Baby, we were born to run ♪
♪ Tramps like us ♪
♪ Baby, we were born to run ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
[crowd cheering]
[♪ song ends]
[cheering continues]
[Soozie Tyrell] We end with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.
We line up and take a little bow with Bruce.
[muffled cheering]
He gives everybody a, a thumbs up or,
you know, a pat on the back.
He just makes you feel like you're the greatest.
Then he goes on to finish the show by himself.
[Jon] He comes back one last moment with the acoustic guitar.
It's of vital importance that he ties together
the underlying thoughts and feelings
that make this show different than any other show he's done.
♪ The road is long ♪
[♪ playing "I’ll See You in My Dreams"]
♪ And seeming without end ♪
♪ The days just go on ♪
♪ And I remember you, my friend ♪
♪ And though you're gone ♪
♪ And my heart's been emptied it seems ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ I got your guitar ♪
♪ Here by the bed ♪
♪ All your favorite records ♪
♪ And all the books that you read ♪
♪ And though my soul feels like ♪
♪ It's been split at the seams ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ When all our summers have come to an end ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ We'll meet and live and laugh again ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ Up around the river bend ♪
♪ For death is not the end ♪
♪ And I'll see ♪
[crowd singing along] ♪ You in my dreams ♪
[♪ playing the harmonica]
[crowd cheering and applauds]
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ When all our summers have come to an end ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ We'll meet and live and love again ♪
♪ I'll see you in my dreams ♪
♪ Up around the river bend ♪
♪ For death is not the end ♪
♪ 'Cause I'll see ♪
[crowd singing along] ♪ You in my dreams ♪
♪ You in my ♪
♪ I'll see ♪
[crowd singing along] ♪ You in my dreams ♪
[crowd cheering, applauding]
The E Street Band loves you!
[crowd cheering]
[Bruce] I stuck closely to our original set list
on this tour
because it told the story I wanted to communicate.
Life, death, and everything in between.
Playing music as you get older is an interesting
and tricky business.
Now I plan on continuing until the wheels come off
and for as long as the band will follow me.
There's one thing I know,
after 50 years on the road, it's too late to stop now.
Time moves quickly when you are on the road.
And I've always believed the audience
does not pay necessarily to hear their favorite song
or to see your aging face again.
But they pay for the intensity of your presence,
how alive you are on any given evening.
[♪ poignant music playing]
That's the beating heart of my job,
to be there and only there,
playing for all the stakes rock and roll has to offer
for you, in your town, on this night.
And in doing so, I want to leave you with life's possibilities,
with energy to take outside the concert gates,
to bring into your life with a smile on your face
and some feeling of love in your heart,
a quiet soul, and hopefully a lifted spirit.
It's my job.
I'm left with one thought, it's a quote from Jim Morrison,
"O great creator of being
"grant us one more hour to perform our art...
and to perfect our lives."
[♪ intense rock music playing]
[♪ music stops]
[crowd cheering]
[♪ music resumes]
Jersey in the house!
[crowd cheering]
On the trombone,
Ozzie Melendez, Barry Danielian,
Curt Ramm, Eddie Manion.
Curtis King, Lisa Lowell,
Michelle Moore, Ada Dyer,
sister Soozie Tyrell, brother Charlie Giordano.
On the guitar, Nils Lofgren.
On the saxophone, Jake Clemons.
On the drums, the mighty, mighty Max Weinberg.
On percussion, Anthony Almonte.
On piano, Professor Roy Bittan.
Miss Patti Scialfa.
On base, Garry W. Tallent.
And last but not least,
on guitar,
[elongated] Little...
Steven Van Zandt.
[crowd cheering]
♪
Bring it up, bring it up, bring it up.
Bring it up, bring it up, bring it up, bring it up.
One, two, three, go!
[♪ "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" playing]
[crowd cheering]
Whoo!
♪
That's right.
♪ Teardrops on the city ♪
♪ Bad Scooter searching for his groove ♪
♪ The whole world walking pretty ♪
♪ And you can't find the room to move ♪
♪ Well, everybody better move over, that's all ♪
♪ I'm running on the bad side got my back to the wall ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Say it again ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ I'm stranded in the jungle ♪
♪ Taking all the heat they givin' ♪
♪ Yeah now ♪
♪ The night is dark but the sidewalk's bright ♪
♪ And lined with the light of the livin' ♪
♪ From a tenement window a transistor blasts ♪
♪ Turn around the corner things got real quiet real fast ♪
♪ She hit me with a ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Say it again ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ And I'm all alone ♪
♪ I'm all alone ♪
♪ And kid you better get the picture ♪
♪ I'm on my own ♪
♪ And I can't go home ♪
Now this is the important part.
♪ They made that change uptown ♪
♪ And the Big Man joined the band ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ From the coastline to the city ♪
♪ All the little pretties raise their hands ♪
♪ I'm gonna sit back right easy and laugh ♪
♪ When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half ♪
♪ With a ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Say it again ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ One more time ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ One more time ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Everybody form a line ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Everybody form a line ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Everybody form a line ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
♪ Everybody form a line ♪
♪ Tenth Avenue freeze-out ♪
- ♪ I said say it ♪ - ♪ Say it ♪
- ♪ Say it ♪
[♪ vocalizing]
♪ Oh yeah ♪
♪ It's alright ♪
[crowd cheering]
[♪ song ends]
[♪ "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra playing]
[both laughing]
- [people clapping and cheering] - [Bruce] Beautiful, Ma. Beautiful.
Beautiful.