New Springsteen album of ’92 Meadowlands concert includes some notable rarities

Bruce Springsteen’s July 31, 1992 concert is now available in album form.

A new album in Bruce Springsteen’s Live Archive Series features his July 31, 1992 concert at The Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, which included rarely played songs such as “Pony Boy” and “Cross My Heart” (both from his 1992 Human Touch album) and a stripped-down version of “Spirit in the Night” that is built around his voice and acoustic guitar, and his backing vocalists. You can listen to “Spirit in the Night,” below.

Erik Flannigan writes of “Cross My Heart” in the album’s liner notes, “There’s an earnestness to the studio version which is something of a modern country arrangement, straightforward with touches of twang. The live ‘Cross My Heart’ is a different animal, more down and dirty, even a bit honky tonk, giving it an appealing edge. Springsteen’s vocals are 100% committed, further lifting the caliber of a song that felt constrained on record.”

This was the sixth of 11 concerts that Springsteen presented that summer in the Meadowlands with a band featuring E Street Band members Roy Bittan and Patti Scialfa along with guitarist Shane Fontayne, bassist Tommy Sims, drummer Zack Alford, saxophonist-guitarist-percussionist Crystal Taliefero and singers Bobby King, Gia Ciambotti, Cleopatra Kennedy and Angel Rogers.

Here is the show’s setlist:

“Better Days”
“Local Hero”
“Lucky Town”
“Atlantic City”
“Spirit in the Night”
“57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)”
“Badlands”
“Trapped”
“The River”
“Living Proof”
“Pony Boy”
“My Hometown”
“Leap of Faith”
“Man’s Job”
“Roll of the Dice”
“Downbound Train”
“Cover Me”
“Brilliant Disguise”
“I’m on Fire”
“Cross My Heart”
“Souls of the Departed”
“Born in the U.S.A.”
“Light of Day”

Encore
“Prove It All Night”
“Glory Days”
“Darlington County”
“Hungry Heart”
“Thunder Road”
“Born to Run”
“Jersey Girl”

For more, visit nugs.net.

_________________________________________