As I'm writing this Bruce and the band are gearing up for the last show of the tour, in Buffalo, NY. It is also by Bruce's own words the last show with the E Street Band "in a while". Some think it will be the last show with the E Street Band ever.

Whatever the case, tonight feels like the end of an era that started 10 years ago with the Reunion Tour. Even if the E Street Band does return - and both Bruce and Jon Landau have indicated that it could very well happen - chances arethere will be some changes in the lineup that will seriously alter the face of the band. Max Weinberg could be forced to stay with the Tonight Show, and Clarence... what about Clarence? While his playing has been better than on the last couple of tours, he looks fragile and in pain. So could tonight be his last show? And without him, can you still call it The E Street Band?

Well, in order to predict the future, it's always a good idea to look back at what has gone before. The tour started only eight months ago, but if you look at the show as it looks today compared to back then, you would hardly even guess they were part of the same tour. Only half a dozen songs from the beginning of the tour have remained stables in the same positions as where they started out. The Working on a Dream album, while never very prominent in the show, has been completely abandoned. "Outlaw Pete" finally saw his own demise in October (except for a short one-off revival in DC) leaving only the title track to represent the album that gave the tour its name.

Instead the tour was taken over by performances of full albums with the Born to Run album being all-dominating. This may be the first time of his career that Bruce has been being glaringly nostalgic. And not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that at this point of his career, but just imagine how that would have been received in 1999 or 2002. Back then he was on a mission to prove that the band was still vital and moving forward. Playing full albums would have made critics and fans write him off as a has-been. Today, 10 years on, Bruce has proven just about all there is to prove and has cleared the road for himself to do and sing whatever he damn well pleases - and broken all his own rules in the process.

That's why even ending the tour tonight in Buffalo with the album that started it all, Greetings From Asbury Park, could be seen as a last, solemn farewell to the band, but could also just be another impulse by Bruce that we shouldn't attach too much importance to. If it's the last E Street Band show ever, we probably won't know it anytime soon, and if it's just the closing of another chapter in the band's history, well, then that shouldn't be a surprise. A lot of things that seemed impossible 10 years ago have happened. Why not another couple of tours further on up the road?

See you then.

After many rumors, it has just been officially announced that the last show of the tour, in Buffalo on November 22, will see a full performance of the Greetings From Asbury Park album. This is the first time Bruce's debut album from 1973 will have been played ín full on this or any tour. The lucky fans in attendance will be treated to classics like "Growin' Up" and "Lost the Flood" and rarities like "The Angel" and "Mary Queen of Arkansas". With the Greetings album added to the list of full album shows, all of Bruce's classic E Street Band albums will have been played live on this tour. Of course, fans are already speculating if this latest move - the first album at the last show - indicates a full circle being closed and thus symbolizing the end of the E Street Band. While Bruce, or anyone close to him, has never suggested such a thing, it does seem like it could be a fitting end to a long journey, whether it's a permanent end or just the end of this decade of E Street activity.

What fans barely hoped to believe is now official: Bruce will perform The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle in its entirety on the first night of the Madison Square Garden stand and The River on the second. This will be the first time he performs these albums from start to finish. Several of the songs are rarely performed gems and will be sure to make hardcore fans swoon. Songs like "Wild Billy's Circus Story" and "Wreck on the Highway" have not been performed with The E Street Band in the last almost 30 years, so these shows will be two big "holy shit" moments. Oh, to be in New York City this weekend, ya bastards!

As most people will be aware by now, especially those who were going, the Kansas City show last night was cancelled due to a death in Bruce's immediate family. The deceased man was Lenny Sullivan who not only was Bruce's cousin but also an assistant road manager. Lenny Sullivan was only 36 years old and was found in his hotel room shortly before the show. As it looks now the Kansas City show will not be rescheduled, but a statement from the venue says that all tickets will be refunded and that the band is looking forward to returning at the earliest opportunity. So, if you had tickets for last night's show, get a refund. They will not be honored at any new show.

It has just been announced in a press release from Shorefire that each of the Giants Stadium shows will feature the performance of a full album. Born to Run and Born in the USA will be played at two shows each and Darkness at one show. Here's the schedule:

• September 30: Born to Run
• October 2: Darkness on the Edge of Town
• October 3: Born in the USA
• October 8: Born to Run
• October 9: Born in the USA

According to the press release, response to the Chicago show was so positive that Bruce decided to continue the trend. I bet a lot of fans would have liked to know this before they bought the tickets so they could choose the album they wanted to hear, but as with Chicago, the album performance will probably only constitute about a third of the show, so there should be plenty of room for surprises and other favorites.

Another five dates were added to the tour schedule today. According to a press release, the five dates will be the last ones to be included in the Working on a Dream Tour itinerary. Again, the dates are focusing on the North East region with additional shows in Madison Square Garden and shows in Washington DC, Buffalo and Baltimore, plus one in Des Moines, Iowa. In other words, fans in the west and particularly North West who were hoping for a few shows, will have to hope for better luck on the next tour or travel to the east.

The five added dates are:

• 2009-09-21 Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA
• 2009-11-02 Verizon Center, Washington DC
• 2009-11-07 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• 2009-11-08 Madison Square Garden, New York
• 2009-11-20 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, MD
• 2009-11-22 HSBC Arena, Buffalo; NY

Check out the complete tour schedule.

The Nashville show that was originally scheduled for September 10 has been rescheduled for November 18. At the same time it was announced that Nashville, like Chicago, will feature a performance of the complete Born to Run album. The Nashville show allegedly suffered from rather poor ticket sales and the fact that it was very badly arranged logistically. Time will tell if the new date can fix some of that. Ticket holders can of course get a refund if the new date doesn't suit them.

The European part of the Working on a Dream Tour, which started more than two months ago and included 27 shows, was wrapped up last night in Santiago, Spain with a 29-song set that ended with a spontaneous "Born in the USA". As is usually the case with Bruce, the shows have seemed to just gain more and more intensity as city after city was conquered. Although the length has remained more or less the same (2:45 to 3 hours), the setlist has seen some major revision. Gone is the "recession pack", "Kingdom of Days" and "Hard Times Come Again No More" in favor of more good time rock 'n' roll, but also welcome revisits by old favorites such as "Murder Incorporated" and "American Skin" as well as numerous one-off rarities and cover songs.

In return, Bruce has stubbornly stuck to the two Working on a Dream cornerstone songs, the title track and "Outlaw Pete", and rightly so. "Outlaw Pete" to these eyes and ears is one of the biggest hightlighs of this tour and has really resurrected some of the romantic drama that may have been a bit missing from Bruce's live shows since the early Eighties. Bruce is so into this song it's almost impossible not to be carried away.

Other than those two songs, it has almost been the exception to hear anything from the album that named the tour. Half the album was not played in Europe, and several of the songs that were played, were only heard 2-3 times. At this point, it's highly unlikely that this will change. Only one thing is certain: by the time the next American leg is over (probably in November) we will again be looking at a very different show from the one we see now, as the living organism of a Bruce tour continues to mutate into new shapes. The best part is, the next show is only a couple of weeks away.

Thank you, Bruce and band, for another incredibly exciting summer tour.

At least three different news sources are reporting that Bruce's show in Chicago on September 20 will see Bruce play the Born to Run album in its entirety. No official announcement has been made about this, so it may turn out to be a hoax, but at this point in Bruce's career, nothing really comes as a surprise anymore. He's doing lots of things that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And of course, he already did perform the entire Born to Run album (and Darkness album) at a benefit in 2008 so this wouldn't exactly be a first. One can only wonder, why Chicago? Or who knows, maybe this will actually be done in several places and Chicago just happened to have the beans spilled first.

If true, doing a Born to Run show puts yet another nail in the Working on a Dream Tour coffin. Whatever theme the tour had is quickly going out the window, and as the European tour wraps up in Spain this week, only two Working on a Dream songs remain in the set at most shows ("Outlaw Pete" and the title track), just as the "recession three-pack" is down to just one song: "Johnny 99". Instead, Bruce and the band seem to be playing whatever springs to their mind with several tour premieres entering the setlist every night.

Tickets for the Chicago show go on sale this Saturday. With the Born to Run rumors this could be one that hardcore fans will want to plan a pilgrimage to.

In the most dramatic setlist change of the tour, Bruce stunned the hardcore fans in Turin last night, plus the setlist watchers behind their computer screens, with no less than five tour premieres and several other surprises. The "recession pack" turned into a "murder pack" when "Seeds" was dropped from the setlist from the first time and replaced by "Murder Incorporated" and "American Skin" moved to the spot after "Johnny 99". Before that "Loose Ends" had opened the show, and later on Bruce did the first version of "My Love Will Not Let You Down" since 2003 and the first E Street Band version of Fogerty's "Travelin' Band" since the Born in the USA Tour. Time will tell if this was a one-off or if Bruce will continue in this new direction. Tomorrow night when the band wraps up their Italian tour will give us a clue. Check the complete Turin setlist.