MY CITY OF RUINS

Live 31 Jul 2012 version

One, two, three, four

[Spoken intro:] (Says something in Finnish). Quickly running out of my Finnish. (Says something in Finnish). I know one more, I'm saving it for later. Good evening, good evening, good evening, thank you for being with us. And all in the stands. And all in the stands. This is a song that I... originally wrote about my hometown trying to get back on its feet. And it became about a lot of other things along the way. This is been uh... incredible trip, through Europe and Scandinavia and this part of the world for us. We've uh... felt at home here for a long time. And uh... we knew we were coming out with a lot of new faces in the E Street band, and old faces. And, uh, we'd be seeing some new faces in the audience. Yeah. Some of these little guys, there you go. Is this, is this your first show? No? You saw us before? Four times? On other tours? Or this tour? Other tours, whoa. You must've been like a little, a little beanie baby when that happened, thank you mama, alright. So there's new faces, but the E Street Band is dedicated to the same mission. We come out to bring the power and the glory and the joy and the happiness and the foolishness and the deadly seriousness of rock and roll and shoot it right into your heart. We want you to go home with your hands aching and your ass hurting and tour voice sore and your sexual organs stimulated. That's gonna happen later. It's too early for that yet. But uh... there was a tour where we knew we have to come out after losing some big things and somehow find a way to make us and you feel alright about it. So, this is a song about what you lose, what you hold on to, the spirits that remain forever, and the things you have to let go. Let's do it, Max.

There's a blood red circle on the cold dark ground
And the rain is falling down
The church door's thrown open, I can hear the organ's song
But my congregation's gone
My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet bells of mercy drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner like scattered leaves
The boarded up windows, the empty streets
While my brother's down on his knees
My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on rise up, come on rise up
Come on rise up, come on rise up
Come on rise up, come on rise up
Come on rise up

Come on!

Come on Jake

[Spoken:] Oh that's Clark Gayton, Barry Danielian, Curt Ramm, Ed Manion, and Jake Clemons, of the E Street Horns!

(Doo-doo doo doo) Yeah
(Doo-doo doo doo) Oh let that wind blow
(Doo-doo doo doo) Yes
(Doo-doo doo doo) Come on now
(Doo-doo doo doo) Take me higher
(Doo-doo doo doo) Take me higher
(Doo-doo doo doo)
(Doo-doo doo doo)

[Spoken:] Oh that's Everett Bradley, Curtis King, Cindy Mizelle, and Michelle Moore, of the E Street Band!

[Spoken:] Max! Roll call! This is the part of the night where we find out who's with us and who's not. I wanna know who's in the house tonight. I just wanna know who's in the house tonight. I said I wanna know who's in the house tonight. Yeahhh let me know who's in the house tonight now. Oh professor Roy Bittan's in the house! Yes yes. That's right. Sister Soozie Tyrell! Yes yes. Oh brother Charlie Giordano! Yeah yeah. And Nils Lofgren's in the house! And Miss Patti Scialfa sends her love out tonight! She's home so we can be in the house. Little Steven's Van Zandt's in the house. And the mighty Max Weinberg! And Mr. Garry W. Tallent. Oh yeah. Are you ready for a house party? Are you ready for a house party? Are you ready for a house party tonight? That's right, because that's what's gonna happen (chuckles). We used to get in the summer, man I used to have all my favorite records back when there were records, and we'd put the record player out in the backyard and we'd put the grill up and get the hot dogs. But every summer you'd see who was there and who was listening.

And oh time keeps on ticking, taking away
Your time keeps on ticking, taking away
Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking

[Spoken:] Uh hm. I'm gonna stand right here where the time can't get me. Right in this spot. Don't you move either.

Are we missing anybody
Are we missing anybody
Yeah are we missing anybody
Are we missing anybody
Oh it's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
Come on
It's alright, yeah yeah yeah, (it's alright)
Oh that's right now
It's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
I said it's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
Oh now it's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
Yeah yeah now it's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
Oh yeah it's alright, yeah yeah yeah, it's alright
I said now it's alright, (yeah yeah yeah, it's alright)
Ah can you feel the spirit now!
Can you feel the spirit now!
Can you feel the spirit now!

[Spoken:] Because if you're here and we're here and they're here, let me hear it in your voices, come on.

One, two, three!
Yeah yeah!
Come on, come on
Yeah
Yeah

Now there's tears on the pillow where we slept
Then you took my heart when you left
Without your sweet kiss my soul is lost, my friend
Tell me how do I begin again
My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins

Now with these hands, with these hands
With these hands, with these hands
I pray, Lord (with these hands, with these hands)
I said I pray, Lord (with these hands, with these hands)
I said I pray for guidance (with these hands, with these hands)
And I pray for strength, Lord (with these hands, with these hands)
And I pray for understanding (with these hands, with these hands)
Yeah I pray (with these hands, with these hands)
Woah I pray (with these hands, with these hands)
Woaaah I pray (with these hands, with these hands)
And I said come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on (with these hands, with these hands)
I said come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on (with these hands, with these hands)
I said come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on (with these hands, with these hands)
I said come on, yeah, come on, yeah, come on, yeah (with these hands, with these hands)

Come on rise up, come on rise up
Come on rise up, yeah come on rise up
Come on rise up, yeah come on rise up
Come on rise up

(Hooo)

Info

The above lyrics are for the live 31 Jul 2012 performance of MY CITY OF RUINS at Olympiastadion in Helsinki, Finland, during the Wrecking Ball Tour. The song was played in an extended full-band arrangement.

The 31 Jul 2012 Show

During the Wrecking Ball Tour, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed a concert at Olympiastadion in Helsinki, Finland, on 31 Jul 2012. The show was the finale to the 2012 European leg of the tour. It is considered Springsteen's longest concert of all time, clocking at almost four hours and five minutes. In addition to that, Springsteen performed a five-song solo acoustic pre-show for the fans that made it into the stadium early.

Ticket stub for the 31 Jul 2012 show at Olympiastadion, Helsinki, Finland

Handwritten setlist for the 31 Jul 2012 show at Olympiastadion, Helsinki, Finland

In May 2017 the complete 31 Jul 2012 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). The show was recorded by John Cooper and mixed by Jon Altschiller. The pre-show, however, was not included on the release because it was not recorded.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Olympiastadion, Helsinki July 31, 2012

Official Live Downloads

Prior to the High Hopes Tour, Bruce Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single High Hopes Tour show of the purchaser's choice and also functions as a regular reusable USB flash drive. The wristband, which could be purchased online or at the concert venue, was priced at $40. Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly, without the need for the wristband. The shows were available for purchase and download via Live Nation, Bruce Springsteen's concert promoter, priced at $9.99 for MP3 and $14.99 for FLAC. Audio recordings for 31 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, and 03 May 2014) were released as such and they were available until 30 Jun 2014.

On 17 Nov 2014, Live.BruceSpringsteen.net was launched. It's a new addition to the official website, serving as an online store offering high-quality live concert recordings as well as high-resolution digital releases of Springsteen's album catalog. The download store is powered by Nugs.net in cooperation with Columbia Records. Audio recordings for 30 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, 03 May 2014, and 18 May 2014) were re-released on the new download store in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Nugs.net adopted the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format on 24 May 2017. From then on, all Bruce Springsteen live concert recordings, including the previously released ones, became also available in MQA.

Audio recordings for all 75 The River Tour 2016 dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Audio recordings for all 14 Summer '17 Tour dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Archival releases were periodically released on the same site, as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archive Series. These shows were also made available in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless FLAC or ALAC, 24-bit FLAC or ALAC or MQA, DSD, and audio CD-R. So far 90 shows (or sets of shows) were released from the ongoing series.

Available Versions

List of available versions of MY CITY OF RUINS on this website:

Page last updated: 25 May 2017