Text by Valerie Paschall

As if Bruce Springsteen playing at a baseball stadium in our nation’s capital wasn’t enough of a giant American hamburger topped some “USA! USA!” sauce and fries, the Boss’ entrance music was an organ playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

“I hear there’s some pretty good baseball being played here,” Springsteen said roughly one-eighth of the way through his marathon three-hour and thirty-five minute set. He followed up with a polite “Good for you!” (Hey, his Yankees are number one in their division, too.) It was a politeness that a handful of fanatical football fans in the crowd didn’t return when he referenced the New York Giants in his performance of his newest album’s title track, “Wrecking Ball.” Then again, what’s more American than trash talk, I suppose.

Bruce played most of the songs from Wrecking Ball, which allowed him to fully utilize the small choir (and every other member of the E Street Band) during most of those songs’ dramatic arcs. We saw many facets of The Boss, from the sublime (he held a child up on his shoulders who sang part of “Waiting on a Sunny Day”) to the bizarre (he took a bite of a fan’s jumbo slice pizza).

We experienced both shock (he did a backbend on his mic stand that would have made Channing Tatum jealous) and awe (too many moments to name), but the most consistent facet of this set is the hard work that Bruce and the E Street Band put into the show. Every member of this band gets a workout—none more so than Bruce himself, who ran through the crowd multiple times and did some impressive pirouettes, guitar in hand. He feigned exhaustion at the end of the show, jokingly having Steven Van Zandt to hold him off the ground.

The beauty of a Springsteen show is that he’s emotional without being overwrought. He can start a sing-a-long without asking for crowd participation. And regardless of the three-and-a-half hours on our feet, it doesn’t take much effort at all to enjoy and appreciate a Bruce Springsteen show.