Springsteen Launches Jersey Stand With New "Wrecking Ball"

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band kicked off their five-night Giants Stadium stand last night with a brand new song called "Wrecking Ball" — a tribute to the venue that's months away from being demolished. In the surprisingly poignant track, Springsteen takes the voice of the gigantic concrete structure ("I was raised out of steel in the swamps of Jersey/I've seen champions come and go") but was also clearly singing about his own life just days after his sixtieth birthday. (The best footage is above; full song below.)

Flip through vintage photos of Bruce Springsteen.

The song kicked off a three-hour-and-15- minute epic that featured a complete performance of Born To Run alongside new tracks and rarities like "E Street Shuffle" and "Growing Up." Tomorrow he'll perform Darkness On The Edge Of Town in its entirety and on Saturday he'll do Born In The U.S.A. for the first time ever. Rolling Stone will have a report from Springsteen's final Jersey gig — a U.S.A. show on October 9th — so stay tuned.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

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