Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Night Two at PPG Paints Arena: Twice is Nice

Bruce Springsteen with Guitar. (File photo: Bill Ebbesen and Wikipedia)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage at PPG Paints Arena Sunday night for their second concert. Thursday night was the first of the two. It was another amazing concert. Springsteen and the audience were both more animated than Thursday night’s show. It may have had something to do with fans having a little more time for ‘pregame activities” on a Sunday as opposed to a Thursday night.

The setlist was similar to Thursday’s concert with some notable setlist substitutions. One such change was the addition of “Spirit in the Night” representing some of Springsteen’s earliest work from his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Springsteen asked the audience collectively if they had the spirit. The crowd responded back, “Yea, yea.” He then pointed to different audience members in different sections and asked, “Do you have the spirit?” Springsteen had a lot of fun with the audience dialogue and singing the lyrics.

“Darlington County” was a lively tune with some good jams between Springsteen and Soozie Tyrell on violin as well as with Stevie Van Zandt on guitar. “Glory Days” filled in for “Bobby Jean” in the encore set and people were loving it. The rendition featured some fun dialogue between Springsteen and Van Zandt with the well-known lyrics. “Adam Raised a Cain” was a growling, rowdy rocker with the band’s guitar force in full effect. “Mary’s Place” put everyone in a lively party mood. 

Pittsburgh rocker, and F.O.B. (Friend of Bruce), Joe Grushecky has often played with Springsteen the regionally influenced song, “Youngstown” when his good friend tours here. But, when Grushecky didn’t come out for that song, I thought he wouldn’t have a cameo this time. So I was pleasantly surprised when during the encore song “Twist and Shout,” Grushecky was introduced by Springsteen. Grushecky entered the stage to a roar of applause. He played acoustic guitar and sang background vocals with Van Zandt and bass player Garry Tallent. Again, Springsteen teased the audience when he asked if they were tired and wanted to go home. Of course, the fans heartily responded, No!” Yet, after a few more back and forths, Springsteen said he’d ask a Pittsburgher. He called Grushecky over and asked him if his fellow Pittsburghers were tired. Grushecky quickly shot back, “No, let’s rock!” Springsteen then led the band back into the song and continued rocking hard until its end.

Other substitutions to the Pittsburgh setlist for Sunday night’s concert were:  “Candy’s Room,” “Death to My Hometown,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “If I was the Priest,” and “I’m On Fire.” It was wonderful to get two nights of “Backstreets,” “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road” and more.

See our review of night one.

Rick Handler is the executive producer of Entertainment Central.

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