BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

 

See this iconic album cover, I stared at it for hours and hours, daydreaming about dancing in the dark with the singer, Bruce Springsteen...and you know, perving at that bottom!

 

I was 13.

 

Now almost 30 years later, I finally got to see him perform at Allphones Arena at Sydney Olympic Park.

 

Whenever you (I) go to a gig, there is anticipation, the bigger the gig, the more beloved the artist, the larger the anticipation. Then, there is expectations, will they play this song or that? And I, as for most things in life, have high expectations!

 

It is very easy to be disappointed. 

 

I was not only not disappointed, but the evening exceeded my expectations...quite significantly.

 

Our seats were in the nosebleed section, back row to the right of the stage, looking down to the stage. They were incredibly steep, and my Vertigo set in immediately. I could barely move, let alone dance, but in time it disappeared...phew!

 

He started at a little after 7.30 and finished at nearly 11pm. He was on stage the entire time, bar maybe 2 mins before the encore. That is 3hrs and about 15mins of sheer entertainment! Oh, and the man is 63!! No mean feat!

 

So the lights went down, the crowd got excited and out came Bruce...the crowd roared. Brooooooce...which kinda sounds like booing, but of course it wasn't. As he walked out he already had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He was solo, in black with a vest. He played an acoustic version of Devils and Dust as a tribute to 10 years since the Iraq War. It was powerful and haunting, and along with my overwhelming excitement I got a little bit emotional...ok, I blubbered.

 

Once the brilliant E-Street Band joined him, things started to rock. I don't think I have ever seen such energy on stage before, with the exception of Prince and possibly The Rolling Stones. And whilst the band were on fire, mostly it came from Bruce, he put every fibre of his heart and soul into the evening, and the crowd loved it. And the more the crowd loved it, the more he loved it, and the more he put into it. I've NEVER seen anything quite so outstanding before. 

 

 

A huge range of songs were played, 27 in total, and there was a perfect mix of new tracks, hits, and album tracks. Of course he can't play everything with a back catalogue such as his, but by god, he gave it a pretty good go! I really wanted him to play Badlands, Born to Run, The Ghost of Tom Joad, Atlantic City and Hungry Heart. I got the first three, but there were some surprises. I love Because the Night, I just never thought he would sing it - but he did and it was magnificent. A song written for Darkness on the Edge of Town, he was never satisfied with it, so excluded it, and then spent time with Patti Smith (another hero) and rewrote it with her, it became her song. I thought he would shy away from Born in the USA tracks, but we got 5 and then there was the fabulous Detroit Medley, a heady mix of covers from the 50s...awesome!!

 

 

Of course, there's also The E-Street Band, a great band, some who have been with him forever, some brand new. For me it was bittersweet, without the presence of Clarence Big Man Clemons, Steve Van Zandt and Miss Patti I was worried. I have no idea where Patti and SVZ were, and why they were not touring. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, took over guitars. He is a great guitarist, and whilst no SVZ, he added a bit of an extra rock appeal to the evening, with a sublime nod to Hendrix with some teeth gnawing plays!!

 

Since the passing of Clemons I worried about his replacement, how would they find someone good enough (forget great) to do all those sax solos. Well, they have, in the name of Jake Clemons, Clarence's nephew, a hulking, funky, young dude, who more than easily pulled off those sections. It gave me chills, he obviously spent a lot of time with his uncle learning the ropes. In the last song, Tenth Avenue Freeze out, there was a lovely tribute on screen to Clarence and to Danny Federici. The love Bruce has for his band is equal to the love he has for his music and his audience.

 

And speaking of the audience, this show was really all about us! Some artists put on a great show, and sound fantastic but there is heart and soul missing, this was never going to happen here. However, I was completely unprepared for how gobsmackingly joyous he would be, and how much he interacted with us, the  audience, the crowd! He was genuinely loving every moment, the more the crowd went wild, the more he gave. He came out into the crowd early, 7 songs in at Out on the Street, along the side of the GA section, and to a slightly lifted corridor in the middle, singing, and hugging and shaking hands of his adoring fans. Then he turned his back on the GA, and flipped backwards into them to be crowdsurfed back to the stage, singing as he went...it was to be seen!

 

 

He took signs off the crowd, and played their song requests. One lady, had used an art flipchart to request her song with some other funny things written within, Bruce read it all out and promised her she could dance in the dark with him later...the crowd went wild! She, I imagine, almost fainted!! Later, towards the end of Dancing in the Dark, she was escorted onto the stage to dance with him. The Courteney Cox moment all us girls wish we could have. It was brilliant, he always does this, but presumably with younger, model types. She was lovely, but neither of those, a true fan and we all beamed for her experience!!

 

Then later in the evening, I think during Waitin' on a Sunny Day, the cameras panned to a young boy, about 12 I'd reckon, on the shoulders of his father, jigging and singing along. Bruce plucked him out of the audience and handed him the mic, he shyly sung some lines and Bruce encouraged him to dance along, he then took him up to the back of the stage and danced and chatted, then they went down to the front section again and ran along the stage to do a knee slide...so much fun, the kid was old enough to get it, but young enough not to be phased. Bruce was loving every minute of it.

 

This love and interaction, with the audience and band including using every part of the stage to address every part of the audience, was what really made the show. Such energy and spirit lifted everyone through the roof of the stadium. It was a natural high, one everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. I realised that night, he is called The Boss for a reason, a reason you don't wholly realise until you see him live. 

 

As he left the stage at the end of the final song, he was drenched in sweat and water, he looked like there was nothing left to give, although he looked happy, satisfied he had given it all. We all left on a high, with countless earworms going round in our heads, thankful and appreciating the experience.

 

 

Setlist, Wednesday, 20 March, 2013

1. Devils & Dust (solo acoustic) (Devils and Dust)
2. Last to Die (solo acoustic) (Magic)
3. The Ties That Bind (The River)
4. Darkness On The Edge of Town (Darkness on the Edge of Town)
5. Wrecking Ball (Wrecking Ball)
6. Death To My Hometown (Wrecking Ball)
7. Out In The Street (The River)
8. Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ)
9. The Promised Land (request) (Darkness on the Edge of Town)
10. Cover Me (request) (Born in the USA)
11. No Surrender (request) (Born in the USA)
12. I'm On Fire (request) (Born in the USA)
13. My City Of Ruins (The Rising)
14. High Hopes (Blood Brothers, cover - The Havalinas)
15. Because The Night (Co-written with Patti Smith)
16. Open All Night (Nebraska)
17. Shackled & Drawn (Wrecking Ball)
18. Waitin' On A Sunny Day (The Rising)
19. Lonesome Day (The Rising)
20. The Ghost of Tom Joad (The Ghost of Tom Joad)
21. Badlands (Darkness on the Edge of Town)
Encores:
22. Jungleland (Born to Run)
23. Born To Run (Born to Run)
24. Bobby Jean (Born in the USA)
25. Dancing In The Dark (Born in the USA)
26. Detroit Medley
27. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (Born to Run)