Right now I'm just about over Winslow Arizona wishing I was driving through that country instead of flying above it at 36K'. Believe it or not Arizona (home state of Rick Kane!) was the first place I ever saw Springsteen live in concert, maybe that is the reason I don't hold a NJ driver's license anymore, they simply won't let me have one because of it!
This show was one of the most personal and connected concert experiences I ever had, two thousand people in an arena, concessions and you were not allowed to leave. Seriously, once could not leave their seats, if you did that was the end of the show for you. I often wonder if maybe the reason why the concert touched me in the way it did was because of the drive from southern California and back...through the desert, seeing many of the songs he would sing about those few hours trapped in a room with the man. I guess there's other reasons and they all made it up for a special show.
April 30 / Glendale, AZ / Glendale Arena
Notes: Though "All I'm Thinkin' About" is one of the catchiest songs on Devils & Dust, it's one of the last to be played live. That song had its concert premiere at Saturday night's Phoenix show, also the first show of the tour in one of these half-arena configurations. Compared to theaters, the setup was a mixed bag in terms of acoustics and atmosphere, but by several accounts it didn't hamper audience attentiveness or the effectiveness of the show (having the concessions shut down during the performance couldn't have hurt). The crowd was rewarded with the ultra-rare "Book of Dreams" (a song only played live a handful of times, and not since the 1992 Plugged performance), on piano for the first time. Bruce described it as "a song about wedding days," before chuckling, "I say 'days' plural, unfortunately...." Also on the piano, "Racing in the Street" brought the biggest audience response of the night; as on 4/22, Springsteen introduced it by talking about the 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop. "Highway Patrolman" came back to the set, and in the encores, the first E Street guest of the tour: part-time Arizona resident Nils Lofgren on dobro for "This Hard Land."
Setlist:
Reason to Believe
Devils and Dust
Youngstown
Lonesome Day
Long Time Comin'
Silver Palomino
For You*
Book of Dreams*
Part Man, Part Monkey
Maria's Bed
Highway Patrolman
Reno
All I'm Thinkin' About
Racing in the Street*
The Rising
Further On (Up the Road)
Jesus Was an Only Son*
Leah
The Hitter
Matamoros Banks
Encore:
This Hard Land (with Nils Lofgren)
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
My Best Was Never Good Enough
The Promised Land
