I think they've played it at all three shows I caught, haha. Yet again, they do have a unique way of doing their set list. Black Francis just calls out random songs and they go right into them. I think maybe the final song or two are ever the only ones set in stone? Otherwise, they're one of the few gigs I go to where I genuinely don't know what to expect 90% of the time.
I would think something like Born to Run would be the equivalent of Streets for a Springsteen show? Not sure exactly since I’ve only seen him the one time (and yes, it was fantastic… didn’t hurt that he played all 20 songs from The River either, which let this “casual fan” of his know what to expect for 2/3 of the show, lol).
I think for any band or show, being disappointed in a song not being played just comes down to what type of fan you are and where you’re expectations are, depending on what songs you know. I still remember hearing a morning DJ saying how Pearl Jam disappointed her because the show kind of dragged on (ie, 3-hour set with many songs she didn’t know) and how Jeremy wasn’t played. So one way isn’t really the be all, end all.
I guess you can fault people for not knowing what to expect or only being a “casual” fan. But for me, there’s probably only 3-6 bands out there that I follow closely enough to know just about every song to some degree. And I go to a lot more shows than just those bands in recent years too. It probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if I didn’t hear one particular song for any act I see, but I’m probably not going to see the show in the first place unless I know at least a few.