Bruce Springsteen Plays His Two Longest U.S. Concerts Ever

(Radio.com) At 66 years old, Bruce Springsteen is still looking for ways to top himself. On Tuesday (August 23), he kicked off a short string of U.S. stadium dates with the first night of a three show stand at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, playing his longest U.S. show ever, at 3 hours and 52 minutes.

And on Thursday night (August 25), he topped that, breaking the four hour mark with an epic show that saw him sharing the stage with new fans, old friends and celebrating a big birthday.

He and the E Street Band--bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, pianist Roy Bittan, guitarist/singer Steven Van Zandt, singer/guitarist Patti Scialfa, and guitarist Nils Lofgren, along with guitarist/singer/violinst Soozie Tyrell, keyboardist Charles Giordano and saxophonist Jake Clemons--hit the stage in style at 8:01 pm, accompanied by a string section, opening with 1973's classic "New York City Serenade" (which they also opened Tuesday's show with). A slow--but beautiful--song that is more classic pop than rock and roll, it clocks in at about ten minutes, and isn't the usual opening song. But Springsteen has conditioned his fans to expect the unexpected at his shows. Which wasn't to say that he avoided the classics at this marathon concert.

From there, he launched into "Prove It All Night" and then reminded the audience that it was the 41st birthday of his breakthrough album, Born to Run; he then launched into "Night" from that record. He then dipped into his other "Born" album--1985's Born in the U.S.A.--with the classic "No Surrender." Read more here.

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