Philly Road Trip!

It's a boys-weekend-out in Philadelphia! The Donk and I got tickets to the Springsteen shows in Philly for October 5 and 6. And it was a great time!
October 5 show

He was running a little late, so we didn't make it up to Philly quite as early as hoped, but nothing major. I was meeting someone who I had a pair of tickets for. As it turned out, we checked into the hotel and they met us on the way into the arena. No fuss, no muss.

And the show was a much better time then in Asbury. Probably for the simple fact that it was air conditioned and the set was a little tighter. Nothing major happened.

A little about the show. The revamped Reason to Believe is just incredible! The crowd really gets into it! In Asbury Bruce got a little chatty about politics and the war. I agree 100% with Bruce, but give me a break for 3 hours. I'm not one of those Republicans who will tell him to shut up and sing, but just let the music do the talkin'. In Philly he did tone it down a bit. This made the songs that reference these things that much better.

Here is the setlist and picture from the show:

Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Candy's Room
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Brilliant Disguise
My Hometown
Darlington County
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
* * *
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Thundercrack
Born to Run
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
American Land

October 6, Philly stuff
We got up a little later then expected, showered, checked out of the hotel and went to IHOP for breakfast about Noon. While at the IHOP, there were a bunch of Bruce fans. A group of women from Florida and some other points in the south, in town for a Girls Weekend. After breakfast, Donk and I went downtown. He wanted to pick up a couple cigars at a tobacco shop that we eventually found.

Then it was off to do the Philly steak thing. If you aren't familiar with this, Philly Cheese Steaks are the big thing in Philly. And two of the best are right down the block from each other. We parked and walked down the street. On the way we asked some locals which one, they recommended Geno's, and that's where we went. This place was very popular! You can see from the picture that folks line up for them. Donk got his steak, we walked down the street and I got pizza at a J&J Pizza and that was dinner/lunch.

October 6, The Show

We arrived a lot earlier then the previous night and checked out the tail-gating scene and all of the other goings on. Pretty typical of what we usually see at a Bruce show. One thing that is being pushed is E-Street Radio that is on Sirius satellite currently, and its a smart thing for Sirius to promote.

Finally the show gets underway! We knew this was going to be special when Bruce opened with Night! This is a great opener, and for the first time on the tour, he opened with something other then Radio Nowhere. And the show just got better from there. When he did Reason to Believe, the crowd really got into it, the energy level really sky-rocketed at this point! Then came Pati's A Town Called Heartbreak. Better known as a Town called Piss-Break. We bolted to the bathroom, and a good timing. We got back just as Incident started! Cadillac Ranch was a total audible, and a good time had by all. At the break for the encore, a lot of people held their cell phones up. And it made for a neat view. This is in contrast with Asbury, where they were practially band from the arena. Bruce even noticed this when he came back out and said something like, "...that looks real nice..." We raced out during American Land and got a jump on traffic to wrap up a fun weekend!

Again, setlist and pictures from the show:

Night

Radio Nowhere

Prove It All Night

Gypsy Biker

Magic

Reason to Believe

The Ties That Bind

She's the One

Livin' in the Future

The Promised Land

Town Called Heartbreak

Incident on 57th Street

Cadillac Ranch

Devil's Arcade

The Rising

Last to Die

Long Walk Home

Badlands

* * *

Girls in Their Summer Clothes

Thundercrack

Born to Run

Dancing in the Dark

American Land