Bruce Springsteen rocks the Spectrum

Big hits (and a couple misses) rounded out The Boss’ Tuesday show

REVIEW. Tuesday night at the Spectrum, Bruce Springsteen told the audience he wanted to build a house with them right there in the room. It would be a house of joy and love and hope, built from music and noise. Philly brought noise, and the earth-quakin’, booty-shakin’, legendary E Street Band brought the music.

The set list had its hits (“The Promised Land,” the fan-requested “Fire” and “She’s the One,” possibly the most perfect four minutes and 30 seconds of music ever recorded) and its misses (especially “Outlaw Pete,” which sounds like Springsteen dressing up as Nick Cave).

But whether you liked a song or not, you couldn’t argue with the band’s picks. Every song sounded like sweat on the brow, dirt on the hands, hunger in the belly, but also hope in the heart. When the desperation and sadness of “Seeds” gave way to Bruce’s call to “Raise Your Hand,” a sold-out crowd stood up to be counted as members in good standing of the E Street Nation.

For the encore, we saw the light of the living in the sidewalks of Tenth Avenue, and finally, even Rosalita came out to hammer home what The Boss was trying to say that night (and really, through his whole career): Times may be tough, but we have a fine house here. It is filled with good friends and the sound of rock ’n’ roll and someday, together, we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.