Honey, I forgot the tickets (Giants Stadium, July 26, 2003)

Whenever I travel to a Springsteen show, my nightmare is that, having made the plane trip, I discover that I left the tickets sitting on the kitchen counter. Yesterday, this nightmare came true. Passing exit 15W on the turnpike, I reached in my wallet to pull out the toll fare and… no tickets. Lori, I forgot the tickets!

I'm glad to report, however, that after driving in reverse on the New Jersey Turnpike and making an emergency exit onto 280, that I was able to retrieve the tickets, pick up an unexpected bit of sweet corn, discover a much better route to the stadium than what I had been taking, and not even cost myself extra in toll fare.

The lesson learned, then, from last night's show, is this: If you are going from anywhere in New Jersey where you have a choice of the Parkway or the Turnpike to get to a show at the Meadowlands, TAKE THE PARKWAY. Oh, yeah, and don't forget your tickets.

This being a Saturday night, there was a crowd ready to party. The band came out to Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night," and all seemed in order for a wild evening. Bruce turned, counted off, and launched into… "Adam Raised a Cain"? I like "Adam Raised a Cain," and last night's performance was crisp, but if you want to get in the mood for a house party you might prefer to start with something else. By the time the standard duo from The Rising were complete, along with "The Ties that Bind," the seemingly obligatory Saturday evening rendition of "Atlantic City" (recall that this otherwise rarely played song was performed at both Saturday shows during the Madison Square Garden stand in 2000) and "Empty Sky," we'd had a blistering opening of rage, loss and loneliness, and a crowd sitting on its collective hands.

One unfortunate part of recapping a Springsteen show is that the standard for comparison – especially among those of us who have seen a bunch – is other Springsteen shows. Last night, Bruce restricted the slides to one each during "Waitin' On a Sunny Day" and "Mary's Place"; during "Mary's Place" he did not venture over to sections 108 and 134 to sing. Snot rockets were flying, and several songs were ended more quickly than in other shows. No epics were played, and the 3-pack of "Mary's Place" --> "My Hometown" --> "Into the Fire" was among the dullest half hours I have ever experienced at a Springsteen concert. The show clocked in 20 minutes shorter than Thursday's show.

Highlights of the set including a rollicking "Darlington County," accented with Suzi's violin at the end, and a 3-pak of "Badlands," "Two Hearts" and "No Surrender"; "No Surrender" being pushed up in the set list seeming to give it a bit of an extra push. The encores featured "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" played straight through, as well as "Glory Days." Bruce's voice seemed in better shape than in the show two nights earlier, and the band played well. During "Land of Hope and Dreams," Lori announced that she wanted to return tonight. And that's enough for me.