Bruce Springsteen To Play Complete Albums In New Jersey

Bruce Springsteen's run of five nights at New Jersey's Giants Stadium, the first of which goes down tomorrow, was already destined to be a special one.

First, New Jersey is the Boss' home turf, with the Meadowlands sports complex being just a few exits up the Turnpike from where Springsteen grew up and where he currently lives.

Second, Giants Stadium has become a home for Springsteen, who has played the concrete slab over twenty times since the '80s.

Finally, Giants Stadium is scheduled to be demolished once this football season has ended, making way for the shiny new stadium that has risen out of the parking lot right next to the now-old stadium. These Bruce shows will be the final non-sporting events to take place in the stadium

So yeah, heading in to this week, the shows were undoubtedly noteworthy. A statement released yesterday, however, ratchets up the intrigue factor considerably. Full albums will be performed. Says Bruce's 'people':

In response to the overwhelming fan enthusiasm at Chicago's Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live performance of the album Born to Run, Springsteen has decided to perform one classic album each night at Giants Stadium:

• Wed, Sep 30 - Born to Run
  
• Fri, Oct 2 - Darkness on the Edge of Town
  
• Sat, Oct 3 - Born in the U.S.A.
  
• Thur, Oct 8 - Born to Run
• Fri, Oct 9 - Born in the U.S.A.

In Chicago, Bruce began with a varied set list, performed the album portion of the show in the middle of the concert, and continued the show through its grand finale. Said long time manager Jon Landau, "Chicago convinced us that this was really worth doing. The audience was so supportive of the concept that it convinced us to go ahead with this at Giants Stadium."

 

The Chicago show they refer to happened last month, and saw Bruce and the E Streeters perform the entirety of 1975's Born To Run, dropping the set of songs smack in the middle of the set. Given the spontaneous nature of Springsteen's setlists, albums could conceivably drop in different spots each night.

Potential highlights:

Meeting Across The River Born To Run's penultimate song is rarely played live. The companion piece to "Jungleland" should shine in the album order.

Streets Of Fire Another lost gem, this one from Darkness. And while many of Darkness's songs are Bruce standards—"Badlands," "Promised Land," "Prove It All Night," the title track—to hear them in the original order, next to fan favorites like the less-often performed "Racing In The Street," should be special.

Born In The U.S.A. (the song) The best album-opening song in the Bruce canon (yes, including "Born To Run"). "Born In The U.S.A." opened most of the Born In The U.S.A. tour shows. Look for this, and the rest of the album, to kick off at least one of the nights.

And hey—at least he isn't playing Working On A Dream in its entirety. Get tickets here.