Springsteen Brings ‘Human Touch’ to His Anaheim Show

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band played Sunday at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim with all the passion and purpose of their heralded 1999 reunion shows.

Yes, the fast-paced three-hour performance was not only a stirring summary of Springsteen’s career, it was also a demonstration of just about everything that rock ‘n’ roll can be: the commentary, the showmanship, the celebration, the rebellion and, ultimately, the self-affirmation.

The only thing missing from the show--which marked Springsteen’s first concert ever in Orange County--was a new song.

Of the 23 tunes Sunday, all but four were also in Springsteen’s opening night set last October at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Three of the remaining songs (“Don’t Look Back,” “Point Blank” and “This Hard Land”) were also performed at least once during the four-night Staples engagement. That left just one addition Sunday: “Human Touch,” a statement of longing that was the title track of one of his 1992 solo albums.

It’s easy to see why Springsteen stuck with the outline of the 1999 shows. He is playing different cities this time on a tour that included another Pond stop Monday, and that 1999 production captured brilliantly both the darkness and the optimism of his message.

In getting back together after an 11-year break, Springsteen and the eight-piece band played with such renewed commitment and desire that the reunion was a rebirth, not just a rehash. The band rearranged some songs, put others into new and revealing contexts and, crucially, introduced a winning new tune, “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

That song, in fact, summarized the optimism and struggle in Springsteen’s music so well that it was for many the moment of truth in what was, by most measures, the best designed and most satisfying arena or stadium tour since U2’s “Zoo TV” concerts almost a decade ago.

Even though the tour expresses Springsteen’s themes well, he has the kind of audience that doesn’t want to see him just once during a tour but as many times as possible. So the chances are that a hefty percentage of the audience Sunday also saw one or more of the Staples shows--and he’s taught them to expect something extra.

For them and for the other fans who sign on to Web sites after each show to learn the set list, Springsteen could have given the show--and this leg of the tour--an extra jolt by previewing at least one new song.

It’s a tribute to Springsteen’s status that his fans even would miss a new song. With most veteran acts, a new song is the last thing that you want to hear. With Springsteen & the E Street Band, it’s the lifeblood.