“The Boss,” Bruce Springsteen has been wowing the crowds for more than three decades. He has performed at concerts that have lasted longer than four hours with no opening act while still managing to maintain a high level of energy that electrifies the crowd. Recently, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrapped up “The River Tour.” The tour started on January 16^th in Pittsburgh, PA and took Bruce and the E Street Band to several major cities across the United States including Washington D.C. Atlanta, GA, and Seattle, WA. It also had them traveling abroad where they played shows in countries such as England, Spain, Germany, and Ireland. I was fortunate enough to see him perform at two of his concerts in the second North American leg of the tour. The first time was at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on August 25^th and the second time at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA on September 9^th. Having only seen him once before as a child 12 years ago, I was excited, but was unsure of what to expect as I had only seen videos of his live performances.

The first night he opened with “New York City Serenade,” as he had done two nights before at a concert held at the same venue and he performed with a live strings section. He followed up the opening with “Prove It All Night,” and after seven other songs, he performed an extended gospelized version of “Spirit of the Night,” from his 1973 album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. He then sang “My City of Ruins,” a sign request, which he dedicated to the people of Italy, where an earthquake had occurred only a day before. Right after this he performed “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” where he brought up on stage to sing with him a cute little 3-year-old who was standing in the front row with her parents. Throughout the rest of the night Springsteen and the E Street Band continued to keep the crowd dancing and singing with performances that included special guests such as, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. He sang several more of his hits including, “Because The Night,” a song he originally wrote in 1976 before giving it to singer/songwriter Patti Smith, and “The Rising.” The concert officially ended eight songs into the encore when Springsteen and the E Street Band finished with the Tom Waits original “Jersey Girl.”

The show in Philadelphia that I saw two weeks later also proved to be nothing short of amazing. He once again opened with “New York City Serenade,” and performed several others songs he had played at the New Jersey show including “Out in the Streets,” “Sherry Darling,” and “No Surrender,” only at this show he performed it with a fan as part of a sign request. He also added some of his other songs such as “Candy’s Room,” and “She’s the One,” two songs that my family and I hoped to hear live. The first song of the encore was “Streets of Philadelphia,” which was very appropriate considering the city that the venue was in, and once again he ended with “Jersey Girl.” Both shows had a set list of 33 songs and lasted four hours long, but despite the hot weather, and the crowds, the soon-to-be 67-year-old singer/songwriter proved to me that he still had the energy and the desire to put on a great show for his fans.

Despite the tour ending on September 14^th in Foxborough, MA, Bruce is far from done with touring. “The Boss” will be embarking on a book tour for his recently published 500-page memoir, Born To Run. The first book signing of the tour will take place at a Barnes and Nobles in the Freehold, NJ on September 23^rd. In a recent article in Vanity Fair, Springsteen spoke of the trials and tribulations of his life, when describing the details of his book. Springsteen obviously recognizes the triumphs in his life also. His new and longtime fans can only look forward to this next chapter in the force that is Bruce Springsteen.