Bruce Springsteen, HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY, July 18, 2005

By Erik Flannigan

In June 2026, the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opened its doors in Long Branch, NJ and became a must-visit for any fan. Hundreds of fascinating artifacts (e.g., the radically different alternate cover mock-up for Nebraska) and curated displays tracing the roots of American music up through the present day appear, and in the James F. Allen In Concert Gallery, you can watch videos of live performances. One particularly striking clip captures Springsteen at Max’s Kansas City in 1972 performing “Lost In The Flood” on piano.

Springsteen graced small stages in New York City and elsewhere as a solo performer between his formative years in bands like The Castiles and Steel Mill and the start of touring with the E Street Band following the release of his debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. As the “Lost In The Flood” footage spotlights, he was as riveting on keys as was on guitar. 

Twenty-three years later, on his first solo tour behind 1995’s The Ghost Of Tom Joad, Springsteen exclusively played acoustic guitar (with subtle support from an offstage keyboard player). It wasn’t until the Devils & Dust tour ten years on that he returned as a dual threat on both instruments.

The addition of keyboards expanded Springsteen’s solo sonic landscape compared to the Joad shows. It also served as a catalyst to unlock deeper musical possibilities: setlists in 2005 were among the boldest of his career. Over the course of the 72 dates, Springsteen played 140 different songs, 31 of which appeared for but a single show.

Buffalo 7/18/2005 thrives on the Devils & Dust tour’s experimental genius. The 25-song set includes an impressive six tour premieres (three of which only feature this night), and showcases Springsteen across an array of stringed instruments and keyboards.

Several of the stripped-down arrangements are revelatory, starting right from the jump with “Prove It All Night.” From the 1978 tour prelude renditions on through today, band versions of the song soar. But this show-opening, solo slow burner is downright hushed, like a whispered legend. Desolate harmonica subs for Clarence Clemons’ iconic sax solo in a radical reimagining that grows more compelling with each listen. The song has never been played this way before or since. The bluesy, bullet-microphone “Reason to Believe” follows, drawing spooky power from Springsteen’s disembodied vocals and the low hum of keyboards. 

As different as the first two songs of the evening are from their recorded selves, tracks from what was then Springsteen’s new album are relatively faithful in their solo forms. Is it time to consider “Devils & Dust” underrated in terms of songwriting? The title track is captivating, bearing somber harmonica work in an excellent performance. The Rising’s “Empty Sky” starkly ruminates on senseless loss, before “Long Time Comin’” restores a bit of hope. “Black Cowboys” stands as the least-played tune from Devils & Dust; Buffalo is one of just 16 performances, and it’s a keeper.

On electric piano, muted low tones give “Sandy” a wistful quality to start. At “Now the greasers,” the keys step up to calliope range and the images of the Boardwalk rise nostalgically. Springsteen delivers this tour debut with “its rarely performed original third verse.” From strength to strength, “Leap Of Faith” stays on electric piano to delightful effect, in the only solo airing to date of the Lucky Town track. Springsteen introduces it as a “hidden love song” and it flows like a welcome summer breeze. 

Sadly, summer never lasts: “State Trooper” brings a Lynchian end to the season. Peculiar chords and reverberations set the stage for the most unsettling song in the canon, made even more angsty by falsetto vocals. “Nebraska” sustains the dark tone, but here the matter-of-fact reading is what has always made the song chilling. 

Three storytelling showcases are next: “Maria’s Bed,” a paean to how a woman can change a man; “The Line,” a Nebraska-style, cinematic script with fine keyboard enhancements; and “Reno,” a gritty sexual tale that would fit neatly on Western Stars: After Dark Edition. 

“When You’re Alone,” a gem from Tunnel Of Love, is the fourth tour debut on electric piano. Springsteen’s resonant vocal suggests he is singing from life-lived experience. This true rarity has only been played a dozen times; "When it goes, it's gone, gone….”

Another perspective on loneliness comes not from the loss of love but of a life taken too soon in the heartwrenching “You’re Missing,” where grand piano brings gravitas. “The Rising” arrives as a fitting followup, and Springsteen taps a heartbeat on the body of his acoustic guitar at the end reminding us that life goes on.

With “You’re Missing” being the fifth, the sixth and final tour premiere of the night is “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” in its stunning Christic Institute arrangement. A near-every-nighter on the Joad tour, this was the first of 15 in 2005.

Wrapping the D&D selections, Springsteen’s introductions to “Jesus Was An Only Son” and “Matamoros Banks” further enhance their storytelling bonafides; the former deeply relatable given his Catholic upbringing, the latter a keenly observed sequel to Joad’s “Across the Border.” The evening comes to a Dylanesque denouement via “The Hitter,” with its stirring falsetto vocals and rich narrative detail, and a warm, emotional rendition of “If I Should Fall Behind” that owes a musical debt to the Man Behind the Shades.

The Buffalo summer night winds down with a nod to the aforementioned coffee-house days in a tight “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?,” followed by “My Best Was Never Good Enough” (a kindred spirit to “Perfect World” from The Lost Albums), and finally the closing mantras (one rhythmic, one chanted) of “The Promised Land” and Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream.”

Buffalo 7/18/2005 continues to make a strong case for the artistic triumph of the 2005 tour, one beloved for its adventurous spirit and a return to those enchanting white and black keys.