I am not sure if many bands can make a show at Madison Square Garden feel as intimate as playing at a local bar, but the E Street Band seem to have that on lockdown. The well-rehearsed fans knew exactly when to sing along, raise their hands and do the requisite Bruuuucccceee chant. The crowd also seemed to cross multiple generations; a fact that wasn’t lost on Bruce as he took note of the Bic lighters that have been replaced by cell phones.

After telling the audience that “what’s true can be made to seem like a lie,” Bruce sang the title track to his current release, Magic, a song he noted was “not about magic but about tricks.” And following a genuinely warm response to some of his new material, Springsteen followed with a trifecta of gems from the vault: a one-two punch of “Reason to Believe” followed by the awe-inspiring “Adam Raised a Cain” and last but certainly not least “She’s the One.” Of course what Springsteen show is complete without a dash of politics; a rant on wiretapping and infringement of the Bill of Rights was followed by “Livin’ in the Future.”

Later in the show, an intimate rendition of “Brilliant Disguise” was followed by a plug for wife Patti Scialfa’s new album, “available at the concession stand” along with some T-shirts and E Street sex toys (”What we use, you can now use in your own home”), and there were some playful references to New York icons (i.e. the Statue of Liberty, New York Giants, New York Jets) and their ties to New Jersey.

The encore consisted of one of the best renditions of “Born to Run” that I’ve heard in years, “Dancing in the Dark” and, in keeping with the set lists from previous dates of this tour, a patriotic closer from 2006’s Seeger Sessions, “American Land.”

See all of Fran’s uploads at yourhere.mtv.com…