The Boss still relates to the workingman

On their new tour, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band expand on the concepts developed on the "Wrecking Ball" album -- highlighting the problems that come from economic hardship and then offering some hope to weather the storm.

This idea isn't new to Springsteen, however, as his ability to pull songs from throughout his 45 years of performing to fit his overall theme shows. Here's a look:

* "Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything."

* "I believe in a promised land . . . I've done my best to live the right away, I get up every morning and go to work each day."

SEE PHOTOSBruce Springsteen through the years

* "At night my daddy'd take me and we'd ride through the streets of a town so silent and still, park on a back road along the highway side, look up at that mansion on the hill."

* "Come back home to the refinery / Hiring man says 'Son, if it was up to me' / Went down to see my V.A. Man / He said 'Son, don't you understand."

* "Welcome to the new world order -- families sleepin' in their cars in the Southwest. No home, no job, no peace, no rest."

* "Well, my daddy come on The Ohio Works when he come home from World War II. Now the yard's just scrap and rubble. He said, 'Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do'."

* "Tell me how do I begin again? My city's in ruins."

* "I'm waitin', waitin' on a sunny day . . . Hard times, baby, well they come to us all, sure as the tickin' of the clock on the wall."

* "The banker man grows fat, working man grows thin. It's all happened before and it'll happen again."

* "Hard times come and hard times go, yeah, just to come again . . . Bring on your wrecking ball."

SET LIST

The "Wrecking Ball" set changes nightly, but here's what the band played Tuesday at the Izod Center:

* "We Take Care of Our Own"

* "Wrecking Ball"

* "Badlands"

* "Death to My Hometown"

* "My City of Ruins"

* "So Young and in Love"

* "The E Street Shuffle"

* "Jack of All Trades"

* "Seeds"

* "Prove It All Night"

* "Easy Money"

* "Waitin' on a Sunny Day"

* "The Promised Land"

* "The Way You Do The Things You Do"/"634-5789"

* "American Skin (41 Shots)"

* "Because the Night"

* "The Rising"

* "We Are Alive"

* "Thunder Road"

* "Rocky Ground"

* "Out in the Street"

* "Born to Run"

* "Dancing in the Dark"

* "Land of Hope and Dreams"

* "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"