THE ANATOMY OF A SPRINGSTEEN SETLIST

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The wild cards — 28%
For true Springsteen fanatics, this is where things get fun. Will he dig deep for “Atlantic City”? Maybe he’ll take it back to the beginning with “The E Street Shuffle” or break out “Prove It All Night.” Perhaps a fan with a colorful sign request will catch his eye and the audience will be treated to a real rarity. “In the past several years, Springsteen has been taking requests from the crowd. He has never been stumped,” David Remnick wrote in a recent New Yorker profile. Springsteen usually will play a cover or two as well. You’ll likely hear more obscurities in cities where Springsteen plays multiple nights; in single-show cities such as Washington, the “standard” setlist usually is the norm.

If I had a nickel for every minute Op and I poured over each setlist of the previous night's show during The Rising tour and tried to calculate what the next show's wild cards/almost certainties were gonna be, I'd have a stack full of fucking nickels. My wish list always had My Love Will Not Let You Down/The Ties That Bind together, which I hit at this fucking show in the Meadowlands.

July 18 / East Rutherford, NJ / Giants Stadium

Notes: A wet and rainy night three, but on the plus side that means "Who'll Stop the Rain" to open. Perhaps still trying to dry things off, Bruce jumps from "Empty Sky" straight to "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" for the first time. But the rain kept coming down.... Some choice Darkness rarities in the main set, "Something in the Night" and "Racing in the Street." And in the six-song first encore: "Cadillac Ranch," the "Detroit Medley," and special guest Garland Jeffreys on the ? and the Mysterians classic, "96 Tears." (Jeffreys last guested with Bruce at the 2001 Holiday shows.) As for "Rosie," she's three for three!

Setlist: Who'll Stop the Rain/The Rising/Lonesome Day/The Ties That Bind/My Love Will Not Let You Down/Something in the Night/Empty Sky/Waitin' on a Sunny Day/You Can Look/Worlds Apart/Badlands/She's the One/Mary's Place/Racing in the Street/Into the Fire/No Surrender


First Encore: Cadillac Ranch/96 Tears (with Garland Jeffreys)/Bobby Jean/Glory Days/Detroit Medley/Born to Run


Second Encore: My City of Ruins/Land of Hope and Dreams/Rosalita/Dancing in the Dark