Video Spotlight - SNL Dress Rehearsal 2002 "You're Missing"

I came across this video while meticulous researching my Joe Piscopo posts for this blog.  Both of them.  I remember this episode of Saturday Night Live airing, it was the season premiere with Matt Damon hosting.  Bruce sang this song, as well as "Lonesome Day".  There's actually a great skit of Matt Damon and Jimmy Fallon as drunk guys with strong Boston accents at a Springsteen concert who keep fighting the people around them for ruining the concert. Specifically the line "I did nawt pay $200 for flawr seats and hear you singing Thundah Road in my ear!  So shut up!"  I can't find that skit anywhere, so this will have to do for now.

This was the beginning of Bruce's comeback.  It's not really fair to call it a comeback, when he never really went away, but he was about to reclaim his title as "The Boss", just in case anyone had forgotten.   The Rising had just been released, and Bruce was about to make his first appearance on SNL in approximately a decade.  I'm pretty sure these two appearances were Bruce's only  times on the show.  Pretty crazy to think they didn't have him on during the Born To Run or Born In The USA phases of his career when he was arguably the biggest name in pop and rock music.  Actually even now, he'd do great on the show.  But this show was to prove to the audience, he wasn't back to just play his greatest hits.  "Lonesome Day" showed Bruce and The E Street band still knew how to rock, while this piano solo ballad, showed Bruce was still the foremost songwriter out there.  And this dress rehearsal just shows Bruce at his most raw and concentrated, and must have been amazing for the cast and crew to watch.