Wednesday 19 June 2013

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

I've spent the past couple of days mulling over just how many superlatives I can get away with using in a piece on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's concert at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Whatever my allocation, though, it could never be enough.

Overcoming a personal antipathy of the 'stadium experience', this was my first Springsteen show in ten years, my first show since the band suffered the devastating losses of Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons and was a joyous and moving celebration of those who are gone and those who remain. 




We got 'the hits'. We got newer songs, in vastly superior versions to their recorded counterparts. We got audience requested fan favourites. But what those of us lucky enough to be there will always remember, is that we got a quite staggering performance of 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' - the whole LP, start to finish.

From the many shaky clips of the show available to view on YouTube, here is the intense reading of 'Lost in the Flood', an audience request, originally released on 'Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.', Springsteen's 1973 debut.


6 comments:

Old Pa's Corner said...

Oh you lucky guy...Bruce, Dylan and the best I can get out here are Juke box Legends Bert and Carole sing your favourite 50s and 60s hits...oooh! help Bert has just lost his teeth.

Concert sounded great but you always get your moneys worth from the Boss!

The Swede said...

Bruce and the band were astounding. I saw them a lot in the 80's and then a couple of times after they regrouped at the end of the 90's and I'd forgotten just how much emotional commitment Springsteen puts in. He's 63! It took me 3 days to get over it and I was only in the audience!

Bert & Carole? Oh dear. Surely some big names must pass through from time to time though?

Anonymous said...

Oh my...this is what I'll be missing! I'm shattered. 'Darkness' is my all time favourite Bruce album. Why me?

Anonymous said...

Just ranted to family about your review. Could this be the catalyst that gets me back to Cardiff to see The Boss? We'll see...

The Swede said...

They seem to be rotating full performances of 'Born to Run', 'Born in the USA' & 'Darkness' throughout the tour. I'm ecstatic with what I got! Having said all that, last night in Glasgow (the anniversary of Clarence's death) they appear to have done an almost all request show - 'Jole Blon', 'My City of Ruins', 'E Street Shuffle', 'Tougher Than The Rest', 'Murder Incorporated', 'It’s Hard To Be a Saint In The City' etc - 14 different selections from Wembley!

I hope you manage to get to Cardiff, but be warned - if you do go, and you get 'Roulette'....I'll probably sulk for a month!

Anonymous said...

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed on all counts.

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