I Believe in a Stronger America... and Cunnilingus
Asbury Park, November 25, 1996

One of my earliest childhood memories is of weekly summer trips from our
home in suburban New Jersey to visit my grandparents.  My grandmother would
pack the kids into the '57 Chevy and drive us all down to the local beach.
We'd get fries at the stand, and stay all day...

On Monday evening we headed down from that same house toward the New Jersey
shore.  We took NJ 36.  After Sandy Hook, this road is better known as Ocean
Avenue.  Past the mansions of all the northern shore towns, down to the
emptiness of Asbury Park.  There's *nothing* there along the shore.  Rounded
a curve, and slammed into Kingsley Avenue -- the circuit!

We parked opposite the Salvation Army building, and ambled over to the ticket
holders line.  Long wait, so I went to the HoJo's a few feet away and got us
a dinner which we could eat while sitting down on the boardwalk.  The fries
were especially good.

Ticket holders didn't start getting in until almost 7:30.  The cocktail party
for the charity donors had gone way long, and the buffet hadn't been cleared.
So, everyone who wanted got free pasta, bread, cheese, roasted peppers, and
whatever else they felt like eating.  Pretzel sales were probably a bit slow.

The Paramount has an outdoor balcony with a spectacular ocean view.  As the
early ticket holders were stuffing their faces on the left-over buffet, I
went out and saw the line still waiting to get in; that the concert started
before 9pm is a minor miracle.

The setlist:
It's So Hard to Be a Saint in the City
For You (with Danny Federici)
Atlantic City
Highway 29 (with Kevin Buehll, off-stage)
Tougher Than the Rest (with Suzi Tyrell and Patti Scialfa)
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Johnny 99
I Wanna Marry You
Wild Billy's Circus Story (with Danny and Suzi)
Red Headed Woman
Two Hearts (with Suzi and Patti)
When You're Alone (with Suzi and Patti)
Shut Out the Light (with Danny, Suzi and Patti)
Born in the U.S.A.
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
Racing in the Street (with Suzi)
Across the Border
 ---
Spirit in the Night (with Suzi, Patti, Danny and Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez)
Rosalita (with Suzi, Danny and Mad Dog)
 ---
This Hard Land (with Danny)
Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (with Danny)

Can there be any more appropriate opening number than "Saint in the City"?
Has the lighting ever been better?  From the harsh white lights of "Atlantic
City" through to the green lighting at the end of TGOTJ, it was perfect all 
the way trhough.  The crowd was mostly good, but we had to shout at the
*ushers* to shut up!

Some highlights:
"Tougher than the Rest":  Bruce changed "another dance" to "another chance";
when it was over he said, "that was nice."  It was.

"I Wanna Marry You":  "Before actualization, there's thinking about it,"
Bruce said in the intro.  Bruce forgot the words to the final verse, and
that only made it sweeter.

"Red Headed Woman":  cunni-what?

"Two Hearts":  This haunting rendition with Suzi and Patti is an
instant acoustic highlight.  Beautiful.

"Shut Out the Light":  great rendition, with Suzi, Patti and Danny.  The first
song with all four on stage, and no camera flashes!

"Born in the USA":  *Much* faster.  The rage and fury of this song are front
and center more than ever.

"Spirit in the Night:  Mad Dog!  And now I understand how he got the name!

"Rosalita":  Mad Dog sang the harmony part perfectly.  Who cares if it was
a bit ragged?  On this night, they're all forgiven and we'll all dance our
silly little feet off.

"Sandy":  Just a few feet beyond the walls, the Atlantic Ocean meets the
beach at Asbury Park.  Inside, Dannay Federici is playing accordian and
Bruce Springsteen is singing "Sandy."  I didn't even hear the last verse,
I just kinda sat there in a trance and absorbed it.

This show can't go on the road, of course.  A show with more material from
1973 than from TGOTJ.  A show which opens with Saint, closes with Sandy, but
still has most of the border suite.  A show in which people go to the bathroom
during "Across the Border".  But, on this night, in this place, it is magic.

We drove home, and I realized, I had to park the car my father had left out
on the curb.  I got in, pumped the gas, and took that '57 Bel-Air for a little
ride through the old neighborhood.  Doesn't sound so great any more, and I
stalled it once, but when I floored it I felt like I could drive all night.

--Matt