The Boss Comes Home to New Jersey, Scores of Fans

The parking lot outside the Continental Airlines Arena here, where Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band began an unprecedented 15-night stint on Thursday, resembled an extended family reunion, with fans mingling and bonding during the afternoon over food, drink and music.

But in fact it was more of a homecoming party, celebrating the return of a local hero and his comrades. The real reunion would begin shortly after 8 p.m. when Springsteen and his storied group--who parted ways in 1989--took the stage to kick off their first American tour together in more than a decade.

Having recently completed a European trek, the Boss and the band were clearly happy to be in their native state. And New Jerseyites--not to mention a number of devotees who had traveled from out of state--were happy to have them.

In the parking lot, one man in his early 20s brandished a sign that read “My only Boss is Springsteen.” A woman in her 40s blasted a cassette of Springsteen’s 1973 debut album and reminisced about seeing the singer at a local club around that time. A slightly younger fellow boasted that he had blown off a business trip to attend the show. “I told my boss I had an important personal matter,” he said.

His sense of urgency was obviously shared by many. Springsteen’s 15 dates at this 20,000-capacity arena, a run that concludes Aug. 12, sold out in 13 hours. Tickets for upcoming concerts in Detroit, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago were also quickly snapped up. (Tickets for his Staples Center show in Los Angeles on Oct. 17 will go on sale Sept. 18; more dates in Los Angeles and elsewhere have yet to be announced.)

Thursday’s selection of songs was similar to the one that Springsteen used to start the European leg in Barcelona on April 9. It began with “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” a 1982 studio outtake that was included on the 1998 boxed set “Tracks,” and concluded with “Light of Day,” a song he wrote for Joan Jett to sing in the 1987 film of the same name. The second of the two encore sets concluded with the new “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

There were plenty of old favorites during the nearly three-hour show, from tender readings of “The River” and “Streets of Philadelphia” to rollicking versions of “Badlands,” “Out in the Street,” “Darlington County” and “Born to Run.” Throughout the evening, Springsteen led the audience in chants and sing-alongs.

He also took turns sharing the spotlight with his old bandmates--keyboardist Roy Bittan, saxophonist Clarence Clemons, keyboardist Danny Federici, guitarist Nils Lofgren, singer-guitarist Patti Scialfa (Springsteen’s wife), bassist Garry Tallent, guitarist Steve Van Zandt and drummer Max Weinberg--and paid homage to them in a saucy, extended version of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” As part of his first encore, Springsteen sang the rarely performed “Freehold,” a hilarious but ultimately poignant tune about his hometown that he wrote for a benefit for his old parochial school in 1996. “It’s kind of me celebrating myself,” he joked. And that made it unanimous.