From PennLive.com

The Boss connects with Hershey crowd
by KIRA L. SCHLECHTER, THE PATRIOT-NEWS
Wednesday August 20, 2008, 12:09 AM

Eventually, the legends do come to Hershey -- it may take a while, but they come. The Who and the Rolling Stones each took years to get here. Tuesday night, it was the Boss's turn - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, at Hersheypark Stadium for the first time -- and it was so very much worth the wait.
It was a set of both old and new, of obscure tracks and covers. It was, in a word, remarkable. Superlatives are impossible, as they've all been used already to describe a Springsteen live performance. You began running out of them right away, no matter the nearly hour-late start, which began with a pointed cover of "Summertime Blues," followed by a pounding "Radio Nowhere" and a sweetly melodic "Out in the Street." Early on, he was knee-deep in the crowd, slapping hands, grasping fingertips, all with an ear-splitting grin on his face.


He got particularly intimate with the audience on the sexually charged "Spirits in the Night," singing at one point on his back, legs in the crowd, not minding the women who held his legs. He took a little boy's hat off, then returned it, while singing to him, all without missing a beat. For Springsteen, there is no wall between him and the audience -- he thrives on contact with his fans, not just emotional but physical. "Promised Land" was a hopeful hymn, spotlighting guitarists Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt and imposing saxophonist Clarence Clemons. All the while, people waved signs with song titles written on them -- Springsteen prowled the crowd, gathering a pile, then had Van Zandt take his pick. Talk about keeping the band on its toes! First off was a blazing take on "Boom Boom," then a joyously loose "Darlington County," an exuberant "Sunny Day" (with its simple but loaded sentiment), and a potent "Reason to Believe" (with Lofgren on a fierce slide guitar). Then it was back to presumably the regular setlist for an assertive "Prove It All Night," a seething "No Surrender," and an absolutely chilling "Because the Night." Many songs ended in lengthy jams, but not insufferable ones - they only served to underscore the mood. A thunderingly intense "She's the One" led into the more contemplative "Living in the Future," prefaced with a talk by the politically minded artist about the issues of the day. It goes to show Springsteen hasn't converted all his masses -- not hardly.


As he spoke, a man walking down the stadium steps angrily shouted at him to "just play the music." But on he soldiered, leading into "Mary's Place" with rock ¤'n' roll preacher exhortations -- he sang directly to a woman in the crowd midway through, and she was visibly misty by his attentions. "Working on the Highway" was jaunty, Springsteen powering it along on acoustic guitar, and "Part Man, Part Monkey" was pure Bob Marley reggae. "The Rising" was an impassioned call for hope, as was a lovely "Long Walk Home." And the beautifully sparse "Last to Die" was a daggerlike anti-war statement. Classics made up the latter part of the show: a thrilling take on "Badlands" he couldn't bring himself to end, a sublime, easily swinging "Thunder Road" with the whole crowd singing, and an absolutely heartbreaking "Jungleland" -- if ever a song was a religious experience, it's this one. No matter what side his audience might have come down on politically, it's probably safe to say all would agree Springsteen is a national treasure. Ageless, timeless, with boundless energy, he is much of what this country is all about.