Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Verizon Center, Washington, DC

The Boss brings it

Though our group of a half dozen was split up throughout Verizon Center, Schiz and I had some good seats in the 100 section for the DC Bruce show, at about center ice and perhaps a dozen rows from the floor. I thought they were pretty good seats considering how popular the Boss is and how quickly the tickets sold out. They were pricey seats and considering that I had seen Bruce less than two years ago, and at Bonnaroo of all places, where he jammed with Phish, I was still debating whether the show was worth the price of admission as we were taking our seats. Bruce was really going to have to bring in order to impress me.

Without an opening act, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band took the stage, playing a healthy mix of old and new songs, including a few solid tunes from the new album, “We Take Care of Our Own” and “Wrecking Ball.” Even within the first few songs, I was already convinced that the show was going to be worth the money. Man did Bruce bring it! I don’t know how else to say it other than that he and the rest of the E Street Band just rock so hard and for so long. Sometimes I just couldn’t believe the kind of energy that they’re able to bring each and every night after all these years.

He played a lot from the new album, which was fine with me considering that I think it’s his best since 2002’s The Rising. However, he also played a bunch of his more modern, minor hits, like “Waiting on a Sunny Day” and “The Rising” in addition to staples towards the end. I was also happy to hear his version of “Because the Night”, which I fairly recently learned was actually written by him, and “American Skin (41 Shots)”, one of my favorite Bruce songs, but one I never thought had received a lot of in-concert playing time, perhaps because it was somewhat controversial.

His encore alone consisted of half a dozen songs. When “Born to Run” was the third, I thought he would definitely end it on that note, but then, boom, “Dancing in the Dark.” Afterwards he even played two more, finally ending on “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.” The entire show was just under three hours. Bruce earned every penny of my admission price.

Setlist:

We Take Care of Our Own

Wrecking Ball

Night

Death to My Hometown

My City of Ruins

Seaside Bar Song

Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?

Jack of All Trades

Trapped (Jimmy Cliff Cover)

Adam Raised a Cain

Easy Money

She's the One

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

The Promise

Apollo Medley (The Way You Do the Things You Do/634-5789)

American Skin (41 Shots)

Because the Night

The Rising

We Are Alive

Thunder Road

Encore:

Rocky Ground

Out In the Street
Born to Run

Dancing in the Dark

Land of Hope and Dreams

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out