BOSTON (AP) – Green Monster, meet The Boss.

For the first time in history, Fenway Park, a shrine to the Red Sox faithful, may be used as a venue for a major rock concert – and the featured performer is Bruce Springsteen.

“We know what Fenway means to the people of Boston and are very appreciative to the Boston Red Sox for the opportunity to play at this great symbol of the city of Boston,” Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau said in a statement.

Also announced Monday were concerts in three other major league ballparks: Chicago’s Comiskey Park; Detroit’s Comerica Park and Milwaukee’s Miller Park. Concerts at stadiums in Chapel Hill, and in Buffalo also were announced.

Springsteen is in the midst of a tour that began in August 2002 and will extend to the end of September. Nearly three million tickets have been sold, according to Springsteen’s publicists.

Red Sox officials appeared Monday before the city’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing to ask for permits for concerts at the park on Sept. 6 and 7, when the team will be away on a road trip. Springsteen’s publicists say the show is scheduled for September 6.

“I’m very optimistic. I think it’s an appropriate show. It’s a good venue for the show,” said Larry Cancro, senior vice president of Fenway affairs for the team, who said the show would combine an “iconic ballpark and an iconic rock act.”

Cancro said the only other time in the history of the park that a concert has been held there was in the 1970s, when the Newport Jazz Festival needed temporary quarters.

A handful of residents from nearby neighborhoods testified at the public hearing, with some expressing concerns about the noise that might be generated by a rock concert.

Richard Orareo, who has lived in the Fenway neighborhood for 30 years, said, “Is this amplification going to be controlled by some roadie? When the Red Sox play the national anthem, I stand up in my living room. … I don’t want to hear Bruce Springsteen in my living room.”

Cancro said the idea for the concert at the 36,000-seat park “fell into our lap” and wasn’t likely to turn into a regular thing because it simply wasn’t practical to do in a baseball stadium.

He declined to say how much the Red Sox would make from the deal, but said, “It’s a nice way to pick up a little extra money.”

Patricia Malone, director of the licensing office, said she believed residents were “willing to give the Red Sox a try,” but noted their reservations about the noise. She said the city would be working with the team and promoters on the noise level.

Malone took the request under advisement. She has 30 days to rule.

AP-ES-06-23-03 1845EDT