Out of all the songs that Laura Marling could have covered from Bruce Springsteen’s vast catalog, we would have likely figured it would have been something from either of his stark acoustic records – the brilliant Nebraska
The track, which appears on The Boss’s mega-selling 1984 record Born in the U.S.A.
Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen continues to deliver one dream setlist after another featuring songs fans never thought they’d hear on the current European leg of his Wrecking Ball Tour. The latest unbelievable moment took place just minutes ago at HK Arena in Turku, Finland. Twelve songs into his set, Bruce and his band offered the live debut of Wages Of Sin.
[Pre-Show Photo by Lef_IV]
Wages Of Sin was originally recorded by The Boss for multiple demos in his Colts Neck, New Jersey home between 1981 and 1982 before he brought in The E Street Band to lay down the track at The Power Station in NYC in 1982. While Wages Of Sin was cut from Born In The U.S.A. it was finally released on Springsteen’s Tracks compilation in 1998.
Tonight marked the first live performance of the song many diehards have been calling for since Tracks’ release. Bruce said this about the tune to Billboard in a 1998 interview, “['Wages Of Sin'] was a real find. I forgot I wrote it. It may have been one of those songs that cut close to the bone at the time, so i put it to the side. It was actually cut for Born In The USA. What happens is very often you have your own personal sensitivities about a particular piece of music or you may be uncomfortable with the way you’ve sung or what the song is about and you steer away from that a little bit, and I think that’s what happened on that one.”
The evening started with an acoustic performance of I’ll Work For Your Love and included rarities Atlantic City, Blinded By The Light and Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? all played by request for the Finnish audience.
Here’s the setlist from tonight’s still-in-progress (as of press time) show…
There’s a large contingent of Bruce Springsteen fans who feel that The Boss gives he best at European shows. Only three performances in to the E Street Band’s just-started European leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour, those fans are looking extremely smart right now. Springsteen and the E Street Band are in the middle to tonight’s show at Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden as of press time and there’s already news from the gig worth posting.
[Photo via @littlebrooce]
The Boss and his band have shocked the Swedish crowd by performing their 1975 iconic album Born To Run in its entirety. After opening the show with six songs that included three off Wrecking Ball, Springsteen and the E Streeters lit into Thunder Road. By the time they got to Backstreets it became clear what was happening. Bruce has covered the album a few times in 2008 and 2009, but in nearly all of those instances The Boss had announced his intentions before the show. Not tonight!
Pro-shot video of Out In The Street and The Promised Land has already surfaced…
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band brought their Wrecking Ball Tour to Australia this evening for the group’s first performance of 2013. When the band took the stage at Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane they did so without guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who is in Norway filming his Lilyhammer TV show. It was the E Street Band’s first performance without Little Steven since 1988.
[Photo by @patricklion]
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello filled Van Zandt’s role and will do so for the entire ten-show Australian leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour. After opening with We Take Care Of Our Own, the first single off Wrecking Ball, the band honored their Australian hosts by debuting a cover of Australian alternative act The Saints’ late ’80s hit Just Like Fire Would. The Saints hail from Brisbane.
We’ve come across a video of the Just Like Fire Would debut…
Our favorite event of Grammy weekend is the MusicCares Person Of The Year Gala in which organizers put together a jaw-dropping lineup of performers to pay tribute to a musical legend. The 2013 MusicCares Person Of The Year is Bruce Springsteen and today the event’s producers have revealed the ridiculous list of mainly HT faves that will honor The Boss on Friday, February 8th in L.A.
Springsteen’s pal Jon Stewart will host the event which will feature performances of Bruce songs by Alabama Shakes, Jackson Browne, Kenny Chesney, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris,Faith Hill, Jim James, Elton John, Juanes, John Legend, Natalie Maines, Tim McGraw, Tom Morello, Mumford & Sons, Patti Smith, Mavis Staples, Sting, Eddie Vedder and Neil Young.
We can’t wait to see what each of those artists comes up with for their Springsteen cover. If the past is a guide, perhaps Kenny Chesney will play I’m On Fire, Ben Harper will tackle Atlantic City, Emmylou Harris will offer Racing In The Streets, Faith Hill will choose If I Should Fall Behind, Jim James will handle vocals on Hungry Heart, Elton John will take on Streets of Philadelphia, John Legend will show off his beautiful version of Dancing In The Dark, Tom Morello will cover The Ghost Of Tom Joad maybe with Mumford and Sons in tow, you’d think Patti Smith will sing Because The Night, Sting will give The River a go, Eddie Vedder will tackle My City Of Ruins while your guess is as good as our as to what Neil Young will cover.
Tickets for the event are sold out.
After nearly a year of speculation, warmup gigs and the shows themselves, The Rolling Stones’ 50 and Counting Tour came to a close tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The guest-laden performance was broadcast live as Pay-Per-View special both on television and over the internet.
The Stones started off the show with the old school pairing of Get Off My Cloud and The Last Time before moving on to a Bill Wyman-less It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It) and repertoire staple Paint It Black. Lady Gaga was the first guest of the night as she emerged for a shriek-fueled Gimme Shelter. Following Wild Horses, the Stones brought out Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer to create a four-guitar attack on I’m Going Down. Over the past few days the band has been soliciting votes for a song to play tonight via their new app. Dead Flowers was the top vote-getter, so Mick Jagger and Co. dusted off the Sticky Fingers classic for its 50 and Counting debut. Next, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, aka The Black Keys, came out to help the Stones on a debut of Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love.
The months in the planning 12-12-12: The Concert For Sandy Relief benefit concert is finally here. We’ll update this post with a setlist, photos, videos and our thoughts as the night goes along. The expected order of performances is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band > Roger Waters > Bon Jovi > Eric Clapton > Rolling Stones > Alicia Keys > The Who > Kanye West > Billy Joel > Chris Martin > Paul McCartnirvana.
Setlist:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Land of Hope and Dreams, Wrecking Ball, My City of Ruins, Born To Run (w/ Jon Bon Jovi), Living On A Prayer
Roger Waters: In The Flesh, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2, The Ballad Of Jean Charles de Menezes, Money, Us and Them, Comfortably Numb (w/ Eddie Vedder)
Adam Sandler: Hallelujah (w/ Paul Shaffer)
Bon Jovi: It’s My Life, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Who Says You Can’t Go Home (w/ Bruce Springsteen), Living On A Prayer
Eric Clapton: Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, Got To Get Better In A Little While, Crossroads
Rolling Stones: You Get Me Rocking, Jumping Jack Flash
Alicia Keys: Brand New Me, No One
The Who: Who Are You, Bell Boy, Pinball Wizard, See Me Feel Me/Listening To You, Baba O’Riley, Love Reign O’er Me, Tea and Theatre
Kanye West: Clique > Mercy > Power > Jesus Walks > All Of The Lights > Run This Town > Diamonds From Sierra Leone > Diamonds > Touch The Sky, Gold Digger, Good Life, Runaway, Stronger
Billy Joel: Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway), Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song), Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas > New York State Of Mind, River Of Dreams, You May Be Right, Only The Good Die Young
Chris Martin: Viva La Vida, Losing My Religion (w/ Michael Stipe), Us Against The World
Paul McCartney: Helter Skelter, Let Me Roll It, 1985, My Valentine (w/ Diana Krall), Blackbird, Cut Me Some Slack (w/ Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic), I’ve Got A Feeling, Live and Let Die
Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind Pt. 2
All proceeds from tonight’s concert benefit the Robin Hood Relief Fund and will be used to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Please head to the organization’s website to donate to the cause.
On December 15th The Rolling Stones will close out their 50 and Counting run at Newark’s Prudential Center for a concert that will be broadcast via a Pay-Per-View special. Today the band has announced the guests for that show: The Black Keys, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga.
A statement on the band’s website reads, “We’re excited these extraordinary artists, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and the Black Keys, have agreed to help celebrate our 50th Anniversary as we share the night live with our fans all over the world. Now the fun begins of trying to figure out the best songs to perform together.”
The Stones are also set to perform at the 12-12-12 benefit show on Wednesday as well as an additional Newark performance on Thursday. As of now, there’s no word on who will guest at the first Newark show. Any guesses at to what the guests will play with The Stones on the 15th?
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Wrecking Ball Tour continued last night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., where The Boss and his band welcomed old friends Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and Mike Ness (Social Distortion) to help out at points during the show.
[Photo by @strulin]
Morello emerged at the start of the show for the Land of Hopes and Dreams opener and then returned for versions of Death To My Hometown, This Depression, Ghost of Tom Joad, Badlands and Tenth Avenue Freeze-out. Meanwhile, Social Distortion front man Mike Ness came out in the middle of the show for a rollicking take on his band’s 1992 classic Bad Luck. Springsteen has long been a Social Distortion fan and collaborated with Ness on Misery Loves Company from his 1999 solo album. Ness first sat in with the E Street Band in 2009 during a run where Morello guested as well.
The 2009 Performance of Bad Luck
The Wrecking Ball Tour continues tomorrow night in Glendale, Arizona.
Here’s the complete setlist from last night’s Springsteen show…
Bruce Springsteen and Levon Helm might have come from two completely different worlds, but they had a love and respect for each other that they voiced many times. Helm and The Band started covering The Boss’s Atlantic City in the ’90s and the resulting version is arguably the best Springsteen cover of all-time. When Levon passed away earlier this year, Bruce tackled The Weight and talked about his reverence for The Band drummer at an E Street Band show in Newark on May 2nd. However, there was only one time the two music legends actually performed together.
Levon Helm and his All Stars visited Springsteen’s “hometown” bar, The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, on August 22nd, 1987. The Boss was pretty much on hiatus from the road that year, so he often sat in when his musical friends would rock The Pony. As it was that night when Bruce emerged towards the end of the show. The crowd went nuts as Springsteen shared lead vocals on Up On Cripple Creek with Levon. Then, Bruce, Helm and the All Stars lit into a rollicking take on Little Richard’s Lucille. You could tell the two were getting off on the experience by the knowing glances they exchanged in a fan-shot video that thankfully emerged of the sit-in. Take a look at this meeting of the minds…
Bruce Springsteen w/ Levon Helm and the All-Stars – Up On Cripple Creek / Lucille
Earlier this evening NBC aired a one-hour telethon called “Hurricane Sandy – Coming Together” to raise funds for victims of the storm that ravaged the Northeast just days ago. Among the stars that participated were New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi as well as New Yorkers Billy Joel, Jimmy Fallon, Mary J. Blige and Tina Fey plus many more.
The Today Show’s Matt Lauer hosted the telecast which urged viewers to donate to the Red Cross by visiting RedCross.org, calling 1-800-HELPNOW or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Highlights of the performances included Sting’s gorgeous unplugged version of Message In A Bottle, Steven Tyler teaming up with Springsteen, Fallon and Billy Joel for a fun romp through Under The Boardwalk, a Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) that hit close to home and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s optimistic Land of Hopes and Dreams.
If you missed it, we’ve found a number of videos from the telecast…
Yesterday afternoon Bruce Springsteen played a short acoustic set at nTelos Wireless Pavilion in Charlottesville, Virginia as part of a rally for the campaign of President Barack Obama. The Boss performed six songs in total including Forward, his song for the campaign, We Take Care Of Our Own from the recently released Wrecking Ball album as well as classics The River, Promised Land, No Surrender and Thunder Road. He also told a few oft-hilarious stories.
If you missed the live broadcast, you can now watch the entire set…
Set: No Surrender, [Speech], The Promised Land, Forward, The River, We Take Care Of Our Own, Thunder Road
SiriusXM satellite radio’s E Street Radio will broadcast last weekend’s instant classic Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performances which took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Friday and Saturday. The channel will air last Friday’s show, a fan-favorite affair which featured five tour debuts tonight at 8PM ET. Tomorrow, the channel will air last Saturday’s memorable birthday show which started at 10:30PM and went until 2AM.
Soundboards from this year’s Wrecking Ball Tour have been few and far between, so Springsteen fans will eat up these broadcasts. You can find E Street Radio on Channel 20.
On March 9th Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band unofficially kicked off the Wrecking Ball World Tour at the Apollo Theatre in New York City. Just over six months and 69 shows later, the group brought the third leg of the massive tour to a close at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Saturday night.
Before the band returns to the road on October 19th we wanted to offer a look at just how many songs The Boss has dusted off during what many fans consider his best tour since bringing the E Street Band back in 1999. For those who think Springsteen plays the same songs every night, you might be surprised to see just how deep the Jersey native and his longtime backing band dig. Of the 69 shows only 12 didn’t contain any tour debuts. Here’s a look at the tunes debuted at each show this tour…
3/9 – Apollo Theatre: We Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball, Badlands, Death to My Hometown, My City of Ruins, The E Street Shuffle, Jack of All Trades, Shackled and Drawn, Waitin’ on a Sunny Day, The Promised Land, Mansion on the Hill, The Way You Do The Things You Do, 634-5789, The Rising, We Are Alive, Thunder Road, Rocky Ground (with Michelle Moore), Land of Hope and Dreams/People Get Ready, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Hold On, I’m Comin’
3/15 – ACL Live: I Ain’t Got No Home, Seeds, The Ghost of Tom Joad, The Harder They Come, Time Will Tell, Many Rivers To Cross, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, This Land Is Your Land
Home state heroes Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the first time last night, treating fans to a 3:40+, 30-song marathon concert that kicked off a three-show stand at the venue. The Boss, at the age of 62, crowd surfed, just four songs into the show. Original E Street Band drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez sat in with his old band on E Street Shuffle during the main set as well as the final two tunes of the evening.
[Photo via @STFU_Donny]
According to Backstreets, towards the middle of the show current E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg disappeared from behind the kit leading Springsteen to ask the crowd, “Where did Max go? What happened to the drummer? He got sick — we need an M.D.!” Mad Dog emerged and gave a thrilling performance on drums for E Street Shuffle, a tune from Springsteen’s second album (The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle) recorded in the era before he parted ways with the band.
Lopez “left” the E Street Band in 1974 following a dispute with Springsteen’s then manager. Vini made previous appearances with the E Street Band back in 2003 at Giants Stadium and again in 2009 at The Spectrum. The Asbury Park native returned to add tambourine to a pair of songs which closed out the show – Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out and Twist and Shout.
Besides Lopez’s sit-ins, highlights from last night included the first Mansion On The Hill since early in the tour (complete with a story about Jersey Freeze in Springsteen’s hometown of Freehold), Prove It All Night with the 1978 intro and a two-song acoustic set performed for early arrivals. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band return to MetLife Stadium on Friday and Saturday.
Setlist…
Pre-Show Acoustic Set: Growin’ Up, For You
Set: Shackled and Drawn, Prove It All Night (’78 intro), The Ties That Bind, Hungry Heart, We Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball, Death to My Hometown, My City of Ruins, Spirit in the Night, E Street Shuffle (with Vini Lopez), Jack of All Trades, Human Touch, Johnny 99, Darlington County, Working on the Highway , Easy Money, The Promised Land, Waitin’ on a Sunny Day, Mansion on the Hill, Racing in the Street , The Rising, Badlands, Land of Hope and Dreams
Encore: We Are Alive, Thunder Road, Born to Run, Rosalita, Dancing in the Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out, Twist and Shout
[via Backstreets]
