Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen continues to deliver one dream setlist after another featuring songs fans never thought they’d hear on the current European leg of his Wrecking Ball Tour. The latest unbelievable moment took place just minutes ago at HK Arena in Turku, Finland. Twelve songs into his set, Bruce and his band offered the live debut of Wages Of Sin.
[Pre-Show Photo by Lef_IV]
Wages Of Sin was originally recorded by The Boss for multiple demos in his Colts Neck, New Jersey home between 1981 and 1982 before he brought in The E Street Band to lay down the track at The Power Station in NYC in 1982. While Wages Of Sin was cut from Born In The U.S.A. it was finally released on Springsteen’s Tracks compilation in 1998.
Tonight marked the first live performance of the song many diehards have been calling for since Tracks’ release. Bruce said this about the tune to Billboard in a 1998 interview, “[‘Wages Of Sin’] was a real find. I forgot I wrote it. It may have been one of those songs that cut close to the bone at the time, so i put it to the side. It was actually cut for Born In The USA. What happens is very often you have your own personal sensitivities about a particular piece of music or you may be uncomfortable with the way you’ve sung or what the song is about and you steer away from that a little bit, and I think that’s what happened on that one.”
The evening started with an acoustic performance of I’ll Work For Your Love and included rarities Atlantic City, Blinded By The Light and Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? all played by request for the Finnish audience.
Here’s the setlist from tonight’s still-in-progress (as of press time) show…
And take a listen to the version of Wages Of Sin that made Tracks…
