First off, Bruce Springsteen has just been added to the 2007 New York Comedy Festival. He'll perform at "Stand Up for Heroes: A Benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund," along with Lewis Black, Robin Williams, and others, hosted by Conan O'Brien. The show goes down on November 7th at Town Hall.

Then, On Friday, November 9th, Bruce will perform a solo show at Chelsea Piers at Joe Torre's "Safe at Home" Fondation Fifth Annual Gala. This is a "high end" benefit event, with tickets starting at $3,500 or table packages ranging from $25,000 to $250,000.

For those who don't make a gazillion dollars, you may have found yourself as one of the lucky folks who got tickets to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's second night at Madison Square Garden.

Throughout the show, the band ignored their setlist and just played their heart out. "Town Called Heartbreak" was on the setlist but replaced by "Tougher Than the Rest" and "Meeting Across The River." "Pink Cadallic" was replaced by "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)." During the encore, "Ramrod" from The River was on the setlist but replaced by"Thundercrack."

While I could have done with a couple less tracks from Magic, I was pretty amazed how much better those songs sounded live. "Girls in their Summer Clothes" and "Livin' In The Future" are two tracks that will definitely be on Bruce setlist for many years to come.

The reworked version of "Reason to Believe" was electric. "Candy's Room" into "She's The One" made me go bonkers. Then the perfect segue of "The Promised Land" into "Tougher Than The Rest" into the tour premiere of "Meeting Across The River" into the second tour premiere of the night, "Jungleland!" The all-white, middle-aged crowd (sorry, I didn't see one black, asian, hispanic, etc) were going absolutely bonkers. Seriously, I've never seen so many folks leave their seats to dance in the aisles. It was an amazing show..............

BRUCE SPRINGSTEN | MADISON SQUARE GARDEN | 10-18-2007
Radio Nowhere / Night / Lonesome Day / Gypsy Biker / Magic / Reason to Believe / Candy's Room -> She's The One / Livin' In The Future / The Promised Land / Tougher Than The Rest / Meeting Across The River ->Jungleland / You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) / Devil's Arcade / The Rising / Last To Die / Long Walk Home / Badlands // Girls in their Summer Clothes // Thundercrack // Born to Run // Dancing in The Dark // American Land

(Photo by TomVu)