Bruce Springsteen has outlasted many of his contemporaries in the music business, and he's on the verge of outlasting yet another venue that he's played at. I got to see his Friday, Oct. 2nd show at Giants Stadium, the second of his five-night stand of shows to close out that cavernous bowl, and for a guy who just turned 60 he shows no signs of slowing down.

He's long been famous for his three-hour shows, but this is the first one I've seen in a long time in which he and the E Street Band didn't even take an intermission. As with other shows on this tour, Springsteen has been playing a different album of his in its entirety, and Friday's was one of my favorites: 1978's "Darkness on the Edge of Town." 

 Below: Bruce Springsteen in concert in 2008; Max Weinberg is behind on drums. Photo: The Boss~Live!/Craig ONeal. Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA

Springsteen started the show with "Wrecking Ball," a new song he wrote about the demise of Giants Stadium, then played five other tunes before launching into "Darkness." (For a full song-by-song chronicle of the show, I'll refer you to Jay Lustig's in-depth review from the Newark Star-Ledger and Stan Goldstein's review from NJ.com.)

I expected a brief post-"Darkness" set of tunes, but Springsteen delivered a generous group of songs, many of them requests from signs held up by audience members. He ended the show with one of his oldest songs, "Rosalita," one of my favorites and a rousing tune that he's used to close many a concert. The end-of-show fireworks were a festive and unexpected touch, but in keeping with Springsteen's pledge to give the Stadium a big sendoff.

All in all, it was a very satisfying show from The Boss and the E Street Band, which was in fine form. There are two remaining shows at "the old girl," as Springsteen called the Stadium, on Oct. 8th and 9th, and tickets are available (if not at the box office, from the numerous fans outside the gates of the Stadium). Springsteen and band seem fired up and determined to deliver great shows to close down the venue, so if you're in the New York/Northern New Jersey area, you're in for a real treat if you go.