A Meadowlands homecoming

SAED HINDASH/THE STAR-LEDGER
Bruce Springsteen leads drummer Max Weinberg and the rest of the E Street Band in concert last night at the Meadowlands.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Where: Madison Square Garden, Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street, New York. When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Oct. 18. How much: The shows are sold out, but additional tickets may become available prior to showtime. Call (201) 507-8900 or visit ticketmaster.com.

by Jay Lustig, Newark Star-Ledger Staff
Wednesday October 10, 2007, 3:55 PM

"It's really not about magic," Bruce Springsteen said last night about the title track of his new album, "Magic." "It's about tricks."

More specifically, it's about the tricks that politicians play. It's also the lastest in a long line of Springsteen songs that are about getting beyond lies and deceptions, and connecting with something real.

"We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school," he sang during "No Surrender" at last night's show, which took place at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford.

"I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me," he howled during "Badlands," his voice tinged with desperation.

"Is that you, baby, or just a brilliant disguise?" he asked, playing a doubt-filled lover, in "Brilliant Disguise," while during his epic tale of yearning, "Born To Run," he roared, "I gotta find out how it feels/I want to know if love is wild, girl, I want to know if love is real."

Disgust with deception and the search for what's real are recurring themes on the "Magic" album, which provided eight of the 23 songs in yesterday's show.

New studio albums often become afterthoughts to rock artists of Springsteen's stature; at concerts, you'll hear a token new song or two, along with lots of older, more dependable material. Two of this year's biggest rock tours, by Van Halen and Genesis, have not included any new songs at all.

But on the first seven shows of his "Magic" tour, which also comes to Madison Square Garden for a two-night stand next week, Springsteen has played seven or eight new songs, every night. His fans apparently don't consider "Magic" to be an afterthought, either. Yesterday, it debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard magazine's albums chart.



"Radio Nowhere," which has opened most of the shows on the tour, set the tone perfectly last night, with Springsteen lashing out at the droning airwaves, and expressing his desire to hear "a thousand guitars ... pounding drums .. a million different voices speaking in tongues." A line from the song, "Is there anybody alive out there?," became something of a mantra, repeated at various points throughout the show.

"Gypsy Biker" featured a passage where Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt traded blistering guitar solos. "Last To Die" and "Devil's Arcade" -- harrowing tales of war, and its consequences -- were sandwiched around "The Rising," late in the show, and helped bring the evening to its emotional peak.

"Livin' In the Future" was musically upbeat, with echoes of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," but its topical references inspired Springsteen to introduce it with a discourse about "illegal wiretapping," "the rolling back of cvil liberties," and other things that, in his words, "aren't just un-American, they're anti-American."

"We plan to do something about it right now," he said. "We plan to sing about it. It's a start."

Of course, the evening wasn't all about "Magic." Some energetic strumming by Springsteen and Van Zandt made "Dancing in the Dark" sound remarkably fresh, while a gritty new roadhouse blues arrangement helped breathe new life into "Reason To Believe."

"Candy's Room" and "She's the One" were fast and frenzied enough to satisfy even the most demanding Springsteen diehard, while the band showcased its looser, more playful side on songs like "Darlington County" and "Thundercrack."

It wasn't a particularly long show, clocking in just two hours and 10 minutes. But Springsteen shows usually grow in length over the course of a tour. And this one is just getting started.

"We will be back," Springsteen said, late in the show, in a way that implied he wasn't just talking about the second Continental Airlines Arena show, scheduled tonight. It's a safe bet that he and the E Street Band will return for more Meadowlands concerts on a future tour leg.

Remember, Springsteen's last two E Street tours (1999-2000 and 2002-2003) lasted for more than a year each, and included marathon Meadowlands stands. And Van Zandt recently told Rolling Stone that "this whole first 10 weeks (of touring) is (just) 'Hello, we have a new record out,'" and that the band would be "hitting everywhere starting in the spring for real."

Jay Lustig may be reached at jlustig@starledger.com or (973) 392-5850.

The setlist

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed the following songs at the Continental Airlines Arena last night:



"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"
"Darkness on the Edge of Town"
"Brilliant Disguise"
"Darlington County"
"Devil's Arcade"
"The Rising"
"Last to Die"
"Long Walk Home"
"Badlands"

Encores:
"Girls in Their Summer Clothes"
"Thundercrack"
"Born to Run"
"Dancing in the Dark"
"American Land"