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By Dave Miller

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Bruce Springsteen began Friday with a fiery, one-two punch and ended Saturday drenched in sweat and rain. In between, he and the E Street Band played at Wrigley Field what just may go down as their most memorable Chicago stand.

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Since it hit the road in March, the Wrecking Ball tour, the band's first since saxophonist Clarence "Big Man" Clemons died, has emerged as one of Springsteen's best, offering a stream of setlist surprises and guest appearances along with stupefying, high-octane energy from the 62-year-old Springsteen. Chicago didn't have to wait long to see for itself. "Prove It All Night," featuring a lengthy, instrumental introduction that harkened back to the treatment the song received in 1978, opened the show, the only time it's done so in the tour's 65 concerts. The intensity of the opener fed into another inspired choice, "My Love Will Not Let You Down," a 1980s outtake that saw drummer Max Weinberg firing cannon shots in hands-quicker-than-the-eye succession.

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It wasn't long before Springsteen was announcing a "cavalcade of stars," which turned out to be a double-shot of hometown heroes -- Tom Morello, who grew up in Libertyville, and Eddie Vedder, a native of Evanston. Morello walked onstage first, joining the16 people onstage, for "Death to My Hometown" on which he wielded his guitar like a madman with a machete. Soon after that, he shredded in angry, breathtaking fashion on "The Ghost of Tom Joad," a song he covered with Rage Against the Machine. Vedder dueted with Springsteen on "Atlantic City" for the first time.

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Springsteen sent out rarity "None But the Brave" to the diehards. It marked only the third time the Born in the U.S.A. outtake had been played. Other highlights included the gospel lead-in to "Spirit in the Night" and an emotional "Jungleland," which came by way of a sign request. Clemons' nephew, Jake, a part of a five-man horn section on this tour, nailed his uncle's signature solo, a heavy moment for the E Streeters and fans alike. Jake exudes a soulful spirit similar to his uncle. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" naturally followed, as it's become the tour's tribute to the Big Man. Springsteen worked his way to a small platform in the midst of the floor crowd and the band halted after the line "...and the Big Man joined the band." A video montage of Clemons appeared to the ongoing roars of the crowd before the song kicked back in after a minute. "Twist and Shout" ended the show on a blowout with much of the band, including Morello and Vedder, jamming together on a small platform in front of the stage.

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How could the next show compete with all that?

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For starters, with some different songs. "The Promised Land," which hadn't been played in the previous handful of shows, kicked off Saturday's concert. It was the first of 14 songs aired that weren't played the night before (pushing the two-day song total to 42). Morello and Vedder appeared again and performed different numbers. In addition to "Death To My Hometown" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad," Morello played on "This Depression," a heartbreaking dirge that deserves to be heard at every show. Vedder reprised his United Center 2002 duet with Springsteen on "My Hometown" and also contributed soulful vocals on "Darkness on the Edge of Town," a stand highlight. "Because the Night" came next and, as if not wanting to be overshadowed by Morello's two-night residency, Nils Lofgren played a wild, acrobatic solo, one of the best I've seen by anyone. Lofgren was introduced on both nights as being born in 1951 in Chicago. Springstreen pulled an "UNCLE NILS" sign from the audience after Lofgren's mind-blowing heroics.
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For all of the rare songs and thrills provided by Morello and Vedder, the new songs from Springsteen's best album in years formed the heart of the show. Springsteen did not make any political comments, but his new songs combined to deliver a damning state of the union address in "We Take Care of Our Own" ("I've been stumblin' on good hearts turned to stone/The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone"), "Wrecking Ball" ("Hold tight to your anger"), "Death to My Hometown "("Send the robber baron's straight to hell/The greedy thieves that came around/And ate the flesh of everything they've found/Whose crimes have gone unpunished now/Walk the streets as free men now"), "Jack of All Trades" ("If I had me a gun/I'd find the bastards and shoot 'em on sight"), "Shackled and Drawn" ("Gambling man rolls the dice, working man pays the bills/It's still fat and easy up on bankers hill/Up on bankers hill the party's going strong/Down here below we're shackled and drawn"), "This Depression " ("Baby, I've been down/But never this down/I've been lost/But never this lost") and "Rocky Ground" ("You try to sleep, you toss and turn, the bottom's dropping out/Where you once had faith now there's only doubt").

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Rain forecasted for Friday's show never made it, but it exacted revenge Saturday. It started drizzling during "Shackled and Drawn" before the sky opened up on "Waitin' on a Sunny Day." Springsteen tried to work "a little magic" by performing a solo acoustic "Who'll Stop the Rain." It didn't work. A downpour hit the final hour of the show. That didn't stop Springsteen. In fact, he reveled in the rain like a little kid. He ventured out to the unprotected small platform in front of the stage and played there for much of the rest of the night. The crowd followed his lead and a dance party broke out with the stadium lights on for "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," one of the best moments I've seen at a Springsteen concert. While getting pounded by rain, Springsteen turned to his sheltered bandmates and playfully guilted them, eventually shaming Steve Van Zandt to join him in the rain once the guitarist found a Cubs floppy hat to cover his trademark bandana. The good times continued at the soaked ballpark with "Dancing in the Dark" through the closing "American Land."

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The second night ended one song and 27 minutes shorter than the first night, causing some fans to pine for a longer performance. Its length was more than understandable considering how the rain was slamming the front of the stage. On top of that, Springsteen played most of the show with a sliced finger suffered early in the show. (I believe it happened when he threw his guitar high into the air to his roadie after "No Surrender.") Blood could be seen pouring out of the cut and over his hand and guitar. The bleeding seemed to subside, but then started heavily again late in the show. Remarkably, Springsteen never acknowledged the injury and didn't take a discernible break to take care of it. "You're hardcore," he told the soaked crowd at the end of the night. The same could be said of "The Boss." 

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September 7 setlist: