Bruce Springsteen sings for Obama in Michigan

By Gary Graff

YPSILANTI, Michigan (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen concluded his three-day barnstorming tour in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday night with a 50-minute acoustic set for about 5,000 people in Ypsilanti.

"Hello, Michigan. Hello, Ypsilanti -- glad to be here. I don't know how to spell it, though," Springsteen told the crowd at Oestrike Stadium on the campus of Eastern Michigan University.

The blue-collar set kicked off with "The Promised Land" and also included "The Ghost of Tom Joad," "Thunder Road, "Devils & Dust," "Used Car," "No Surrender," "The Rising" and Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."

Earlier in the show, Springsteen said: "I was on the campaign trail four years ago. This time we're winning." And before "The Rising," he made a long speech similar to those he delivered Saturday in Philadelphia and Sunday in Columbus, Ohio (the text is posted on his official Web site (here)).

Springsteen finished the show leading the crowd in a rhythmic chant of Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes we can."

He isn't finished with his Obama activism yet. On October 16, he will join Billy Joel and John Legend for a fund-raiser on behalf of the candidate at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

Reuters/Billboard