He lifted us, and we lifted him.

By TOM WALDRON

     It was a revival, love-in and family affair all in one Friday night, as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took over the Baltimore Arena.

     For his first performance in Baltimore since 1973 (he opened for Chicago and got to play five songs), Springsteen served up a 3-hour, 20-minute masterpiece.

     There were no Holy Grails for the Springsteen fans who live to hear long-lost rarities from his astonishingly broad song list.

     But for the rest of us, there was one high moment after the next.

     (A review, with video.)

      There was a searing performance of “Prove it All Night,” with guitarist Nils Lofgren taking the lead. “Hungry Heart” (“Got a wife and kid in Baltimore, Jack”), with Springsteen crowd-surfing. And Springsteen on the piano to do a haunting solo performance of “For You,” his evocative, Dylanesque tale of a life in distress.

     But the centerpiece and emotional high point of the show was the band’s performance of “Born to Run,” the seminal 1975 album. From the first harmonica notes of “Thunder Road” to the final, primal wails of “Jungleland,” the band nailed the eight-song tale of romance, escape, ambition and Jersey desolation.

     Roy Bittan’s piano kept the music surging ahead and Clarence Clemons’ long solo on “Jungleland” was familiar and breathtaking, his mournful eyes speaking volumes about the poignancy of the music and, perhaps, the uncertain future of the E Street Band. (The only down moments for me were Clemons’ miss-fires during Night, one of the album’s lesser songs.)

     Down in the pit – the floor area directly in front of the band – the joy was palpable. A 17-year-old boy near me was seeing his 79th Springsteen show and sang along with every word. Forty-something women were near tears as Springsteen sang a heartfelt Backstreets, with its allusions to “an angel on my chest”. And “She’s the One,” with its powerful syncopated beat and loving tribute girls in boots, all but ignited the place.

     When it was over, Springsteen gathered the five members of the band who had a hand in “Born to Run” for a bow. It was the last time he will play the album on his two-year-long tour, which concludes Sunday night in Buffalo. Who knows when, or if, we’ll see the E Street Band perform it again.

     Springsteen wisely re-started the concert with a slower-tempo sing-along, “Waiting on a Sunny Day,” and plucked a composed young girl out of the pit to sing along. She reciprocated by giving the Boss her tweed cap, which he wore for the next two songs, dipping back into the 70s for “Spirit in the Nigh”t and “E Street Shuffle.”

     On he went into rockers “Radio Nowhere” and “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” before cruising through the beautiful Long Walk Home, featuring Steve Van Zandt on lead guitar. Back-to-back classics, “The Rising” and “Badlands,” closed out the set with a crescendo.

     Whew. But wait, there’s more.

     With barely a pause to allow Springsteen to dunk his face in a tub of water near the drums, the silly, hard-charging “Ramrod” opened the encores.

     As he does at every concert, Springsteen then called on the crowd to support a local charity, this time the Maryland Food Bank, which was collecting contributions throughout the arena. “They’re on the front lines doing God’s work,” he said. (Is there another prominent rocker who makes a point of supporting a local charity in every city he visits?)

To underscore the food bank’s value, Springsteen offered a sweet and lively “Hard Times Come Again No More,” a Stephen Foster song from the 1850s, which aptly captured today’s economic problems. Clemons fell into a wonderful groove on the sax and Van Zandt played mandolin. (Off to the side of the stage, President Obama’s adviser, David Axelrod looked on.)

The encores kept coming: “Land of Hope and Dreams” (“this train carries saints and sinners”), “American Land,” an Irish jig Springsteen wrote to celebrate the immigrants who built America, “Dancing in the Dark,” one of his breakout hits, and, finally, a raucous “Rosalita,” the ultimate Boss party song.

     By now, the show had gone well past three hours.

The Big Man on Santa Claus is coming to Town.

     “Can we take this thing a little higher?” Springsteen shouted. Why, yes, I think so, with an extended take on “Higher and Higher,” the old Jackie Wilson song, featuring lovely harmonies from backup singers Cindy Mizelle, Curtis King and Soozy Tyrell.

     It felt like the end, but Springsteen pulled the band back onstage and blew through a joyful version of “Glory Days,” his take on those living in the past.

     It was over, 31 songs, an eclectic, marathon performance for the ages.

     Before it was over, Springsteen offered some hope for the future: “We’ll be seeing you! We’ve got miles to go before we’re done.”

Springsteen Set List, Baltimore, November 20, 2009

1.Wrecking Ball
2 Prove It All Night
3 Hungry Heart
4 Working On A Dream
5 Thunder Road
6 Tenth Avenue Freezeout
7 Night
8 Backstreets
9 Born To Run
10 She’s the One
11 Meeting Across the River
12 Jungleland
13 Waiting On A Sunny Day
14 Spirit In the Night
15 Green Onions
16 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
17 E Street Shuffle
18 For You
19 Radio Nowhere
20 My Love Will Not Let You Down
21 Long Walk Home
22 The Rising
23 Badlands

24 Ramrod
25 Hard Times
26 Land of Hope and Dreams
27 American Land
28 Dancing In the Dark
29 Rosalita
30 Higher and Higher
31 Glory Days