Bruce Springsteen
Bradley Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
November 15, 2009

Source: Audio Technica AT-899 omnis => Edirol R-09
Transfer: R-09 => WAV => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC (level 8)

Location: Side stage, front row, left (Garry's) side

Track listing:

Disc one (56:33):
(1) Cadillac Ranch (4:08)
(2) Badlands (5:45)
(3) Hungry Heart (4:12)
(4) Working on a Dream (6:30)
(5) BTR intro (1:29)
(6) Thunder Road (5:58)
(7) Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (4:57)
(8) Night (3:18)
(9) Backstreets (8:31)
(10) Born To Run (6:11)
(11) She's The One (5:28)

Disc two (65:21):
(1) Meeting Across The River (3:58)
(2) Jungleland (11:06)
(3) Band introductions (0:41)
(4) Darlington County (5:55)
(5) Waitin' on a Sunny Day (7:48)
(6) Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (5:03)
(7) Loose Ends intro/rehearsal (0:48)
(8) Loose Ends (4:51)
(9) Jole Blon (4:01)
(10) Growin' Up (3:34)
(11) Into The Fire (6:21)
(12) The Rising (4:59)
(13) No Surrender (4:58)
(14) Encore break (1:10)

Disc three (54:26):
(1) Living Proof intro/rehearsal (2:55)
(2) Living Proof (4:56)
(3) Kitty's Back (13:29)
(4) American Land (7:43)
(5) Dancing in the Dark (6:32)
(6) PSA (1:34)
(7) Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (7:56)
(8) Higher and Higher (9:17)

Checksum file is included.

Comments:

The final week of the E Street Band's two-year-long tour kicked off to a nearly sold-out house in Milwaukee, with "Born To Run" as the centerpiece for the eighth time. I have to admit that since it was my third time seeing the album played in its entirety, I was prepared for a bit of a letdown -- his Milwaukee shows are typically good but not outstanding, and I figured that we would get a basic setlist and a decent performance. However, the band was on fire from the opening notes, and the crowd matched (and fueled) the band's enthusiasm. The opening three tracks ("Cadillac Ranch" is always a favorite in Milwaukee) brought the house down, and even the momentum-killing "Working on a Dream" didn't dull the crowd's frenzy. BTR sounded great to me -- on par with the performances in Giants Stadium and Philly -- and the remainder of the show continued to build. The requests brought an early-season "Santa Claus" (with the most creative -- battery-powered -- sign I can remember seeing), a very rare "Jole Blon," and a post-encore sign by a new parent even encouraged Bruce to pull out "Living Proof." (When was the last time he played that? 1993?) Outstanding show from start to finish.

This recording came out far better than I expected. I was front row side stage and fully expecting to have all of the PA sound go over my head; fortunately a small auxiliary speaker was positioned right in front of me and delivered excellent sound. The crew decided to get a jump on breaking down the stage during the encore, and you can hear the speaker get turned off (and the sound get very muddy) during the final notes of "Dancing in the Dark." I cut through the section during the PSA and got to the inner aisle (under the overhead stack) just before "Rosalita," and the sound is as good or better than the main set.

There is crowd noise, but not too distracting. The women on either side of me were screaming like crazy during the first three songs, but tired quickly. The rest of the show is pretty free of audience interference.

This is one recording that needed some EQ to kill the muddiness from the sound bouncing around the room. I cut the 700 Hz band significantly and raised the high end a little in the +3 to +7 bands to make the sound cleaner. The end result, I think, is pretty good.

This is meant to be a small payback for the many tapers who kept us living vicariously with Bruce over the last two years. I'm sorry I couldn't post this at Bossman-like speed (too tired, and busy, for the last couple of days), but I hope it was worth the wait. After Sunday's show, I can't wait for the big finale next Sunday in Buffalo.