Springsteen Concert Reviews from the 2000 Tour

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Penn State, PA, February 29, 2000
Set List Available
Posted on March 4, 2000 @ 10:00AM GMT

Good news and Bad news from Penn State. For the people hoping to see drastic changes in the show, they will be disappointed. For the rest of us, it's business as usual and the tour is still pure rock 'n roll.

We left South Jersey at 1PM Monday hoping to take the 4 hour ride, grab a bite to eat and off to the parking lot for some merriment. It seemed to me like the people running the show were taken by surprise at the amount of people. We arrived at 6:30 and were within 100 yards of the Bryce Jordan Center when we began an ill-fated quest to park. Every lot we tried was full and the flashlight wavers (part time students, maybe) sent us around the place and back. Once we finally pulled into a garage somewhere in the next county, we had to strap on our running shoes as it was approaching 8PM. I was really disappointed because I wanted to find all the Greasy Lakers and meet and greet. Anyway we found our seats without a minute to spare (I did manage to launch a couple dozen Balloons to start the party) and lights off, the show starts.

Same intro, one member at a time hit the stage. Bruce comes out and starts into Lions Den. It was significant for those there because the Penn State Mascot is a lion. Big hit with the locals. After Ties and Prove It All Night was Two Hearts. At the end of it Bruce and Miami went into "It Takes Two, Baby" old Marvin Gaye style. I hadn't heard that yet. Mansion had Bruce and Patty as usual and it sounded really good, Patty doesn't seem to have any ill effects from the ear problem last fall.

After The River, they went into the "Big 5": Youngstown (gets better every time), Murder Inc. (Miami was fantastic) Badlands, Out in the Street (which had the whole crowd going 'Whoa Ho, Whoa Ho, Whoa Ho, Wo Wo Wo Wo'), and of course, the band intro's during 10th Ave. Freeze-Out. He also added the solo acoustic version of Born in the USA, and a very mellow Backstreets (Maybe I was in the senior citizen section). Miami seemed to struggle with his lines on If I Should Fall Behind, but got through it. His voice was straining some.

The best thing about the show from where I was sitting is that the sound quality was awesome. Far better than any of the Philly shows or Albany.

Unfortunately, none of the tour merchandise has been updated. It all still says 1999 on it.

Yes, we got a standard setlist Still for my hard earned money, I would go see a standard set once a week if the good lord was willing. We should all know by now that Bruce has a show that he wants everybody to see and will not consider the fact that people attending might have caught the act somewhere else.

I can tell you this, in the 6 shows I've seen this tour, I've heard a total of 48 different songs. Look for some surprises here and there but not wholesale changes. I have a great time when I see these shows and I will go again and again this tour.

I've said it before, "Bruce on a bad night is better than anything else I've ever seen."

Written by Jack Anderson