Springsteen Closes Down Giants Stadium With Powerhouse “Born in the U.S.A.” Show

October 10th, 2009 by Andy Greene Leave a reply »

When Bruce Springsteen first played Giants Stadium in the summer of 1985, he was at the height of his fame. Born in the U.S.A. yielded an astonishing seven Top 10 hits that were inescapable on the radio and MTV. Last night, 24 years and 24 Giants Stadium concerts later, he returned to the New Jersey venue to play the final show there before it’s demolished. In honor of the event, he played Born in the U.S.A. in its entirety in the middle of an epic three-hour-and-20-minute farewell party. Despite predictions that it would rain all night, barely a drop fell until the the very minute Springsteen walked offstage with his arm around Clarence Clemons — at which point it began pouring.

As he did at the previous four Giants Stadium shows, Springsteen opened the concert with “Wrecking Ball” — a defiant tune written specifically for these gigs. The song is written from the point of view of the stadium itself, but weeks after Springsteen’s 60th birthday it was impossible to not hear a dual meaning with lines like these: “Now when all this steel and these stories, they drift away to rust/And all our youth and beauty, it’s been given to the dust/And our game’s been decided, and we’re burning down the clock
/And all our little victories and glories, have turned into parking lots.”

Check out photos from Springsteen’s first Working on a Dream show of the year.

Early on, during a crowd sing-along of “Hungry Heart,” Springsteen ran onto the general admission pit on the field. Unlike prior shows, where he circled the pit before walking back to the stage, he made what looked like a spontaneous decision to crowd surf across the entire length of the rather deep pit. It was precarious and at times his body began sinking down and it truly looked like the crowd was going to drop him, but not only did he continue singing while flat on his back, he kept signaling to the band...

Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

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