The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour, Manchester Edition

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band have completed their three-night stand opening the European run of rescheduled shows. (“Land of Hope and Dreams Tour” is a much snappier name.) By now, everyone on planet earth has heard what Bruce has had to say about Donald Trump and his current administration, and so that is not what we’re going to be talking about here. What I had originally planned to write about after Manchester was an analysis of if and how the setlist had changed, and so that is exactly what we’re going to do right now.

We’ll start with the show on May 14th. 

LAND OF HOPE AND DREAMS / DEATH TO MY HOMETOWN / LONESOME DAY / MY LOVE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN / RAINMAKER / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / THE PROMISED LAND / HUNGRY HEART / MY HOMETOWN / YOUNGSTOWN / MURDER INCORPORATED / LONG WALK HOME / HOUSE OF A THOUSAND GUITARS / MY CITY OF RUINS / LETTER TO YOU / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / HUMAN TOUCH / WRECKING BALL / THE RISING / BADLANDS / THUNDER ROAD / BORN IN THE U.S.A. / BORN TO RUN / BOBBY JEAN / DANCING IN THE DARK / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / CHIMES OF FREEDOM

This set is a runaway freight train. I’m not going to say something cute like “no notes” because I always have notes. But any notes I have are trifling, even things like “Lonesome Day” in the cleanup spot – I understand the role that it’s playing, I just think there are better choices. But, leaving that aside – LOHAD is the global, macro view, DTMH is local, while “Lonesome Day” is the personal level.