Welcome to my "What I Did For My Summer Vacation" wrap-up of my time spent following Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.

I attended my first E Street show in Atlanta in 2008 and attended the last one — for awhile — in Nashville on November 18, 2009.  In between those two shows, I caught another show in Atlanta and Nashville and also saw shows in St. Louis and Greensboro, NC.  A seventh attempt in Kansas City was canceled suddenly due to a death in the Springsteen family.

The E Street Band and their management are steadfastly denying that we've seen the last of the band, while rumors abound that we have.  One thing we know is there will be no tour in 2010, nor will there be a new album.  It seems, instead, they'll focus on releasing some archival material. 

Whether this proves to be a temporary stop in the action or a last hurrah, now is as good a time as any to look back and reflect on the stories, statistics, and observations of a pastime that has dominated the past 17 months of my life.

Six shows in four states adds up to more than 3,800 miles of roundtrip driving.  I didn't keep receipts because I refuse to estimate how much money was involved in this odyssey.  Over the course of those shows, I was treated to and/or assaulted by 73 different songs.  Of those, 31 were played only once and five were played at all six shows.  Those five songs?  "American Land," "Badlands," "Born To Run," "She's The One," and "The Rising."

The most surprising in that set to me is "She's The One."  It's a great song and it cooks live, but it's not one I'd have figured I'd get at every show.  The least essential?  The Riverdance reject that is "American Land."  It was fine as something different on the Magic tour.  It really didn't need to come back for Working On A Dream.

 Four songs were heard at five of my six shows.  Those are "Lonesome Day," "No Surrender," "The Promised Land," and "Thunder Road."  The most surprising thing about that quartet is that "The Promised Land" is in there.  I heard it at the first five shows.  It got skipped at my final show in Nashville.  I have mixed feelings about that.  It is one of my favorite Springsteen songs, but there was a notable difference in the energy it had at the Magic shows compared to the WOAD performances.  I love the song, but it lost a few miles per hour in 2009.  It needed the rest it got.  The least welcome of that list?  It's a close call, but I like "Lonesome Day" just a bit more than I like "No Surrender."  Neither song needed to be played as often as they were.  I didn't get these two songs five times because I just happened to be unlucky.  He's been playing them damn near every night for the past few years.  He needed to... not.

Article Author: Josh Hathaway

Josh Hathaway is a Sr. Music Editor for Blogcritics.

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