The first North American leg of the Working on a Dream Tour came to an end last night at the Izod Center in New Jersey with an energetic show that included tour premieres of "Something in the Night", "Cover Me" and "Incident". The tour has been met with somewhat mixed reactions. The frontpage poll here on Greasy Lake indicates that about 25% of the fans feel that changes are needed. Criticism has mostly been about the lack of songs from the new album and that most of the setlist standards are old war horses that were also standards on the last two E Street Band tours.

What no one has disputed is that the energy level has been incredibly high right from the get-go, that Bruce himself is in top shape, and that the band can still rock the socks off even the last rows of any arena. And that includes whenever Jay Weinberg has stepped in for his dad on drums.

Some concern has been expressed over Clarence's mobility or lack thereof. His dancing days are apparently over and he only rarely moves away from his spot. But as long as he can still blow his horn, hopefully he will be able to continue touring.

As someone who has yet to see a show in person and only has setlists and bootlegs to refer to, I can say that I have joined the more than 60% of the fans who think the tour is fine and dandy. It is indeed a shame that we don't get to hear more of the new album, but overall the tour seems to have taken the spontaneity of the Magic Tour and combined it with the focus of, say, the Tunnel of Love Express Tour. The "depression" theme that  runs through the entire night sets a nice serious tone without which the celebration and exhileration would become meaningless.

The tour continues in just a week when the band does their first European festival gig at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands as the beginning of a two-month European leg.