My report from Chicago: Show #2

Ok, so show #1 was incredible but we knew the second of back-to-back nights have been barn-burners -- this was no different. In fact, this has been looked upon as the BEST show so far on the tour and I would have to agree (see the setlist here).

Our seats were behind the stage and for those of you who were concerned about those seats, don't hesitate if you are in the lower levels -- WOW, you won't blink the whole show. We had the privilege of watching the Professor, Max and Suzie do their work with quite a bit of attention from Little Steve and the Boss-man himself.

The show started with the standard -- "Is there anybody alive out there" -- but then it went off the rails. 6 different songs from the night before including tour premiers in Tunnel of Love, Spirit in the night and Thunder Road (who would have thought TR wouldn't make an appearance until now).

Tunnel was amazing but nothing compared to Spirit. THE best song of the night easily. His performance was unreal -- as close as those early shows as I will ever see. The entire stadium knew we were seeing something special.

From behind the stage I could see this little kid dead center, front row of the Pit and when Springsteen dove into The Promised Land this boy was singing with him word for word. Each song this boy matched Springsteen in intensity and lyrics (I don't even think the boy needed the teleprompter). Springsteen paid the kid a lot of attention and even flipped him his harmonica after a song. But the big surprise came on the only audible of the night when the band walked out for the encore, ready to play Girls in their Summer Clothes when he noticed the boy holding "an old song for a young fan."

Thunder Road was the audible and, for a song not played in 5 years (not even sound-checked this tour) it had that passion missing during The Rising tour. As Chris Phillips from Backstreets said "Bruce clearly wanting to play it rather than feeling obligated, it was the best "Thunder Road" in recent memory."

22 songs and just over 2 hours, we left spent, hoarse, deaf and wondering if we could abandon our lives and just follow him to his next gig.

He's heading to sunny California, we went home to reality. What a weekend.