June 21st – The Stadium Of Light, Sunderland
Have you ever been to a concert and subsequently read the review out of curiosity only to shake your head in disbelief at the pretentious rubbish before you? Many times I guess, for it seems it is the role of the rock critic to try to make the rest of us mere mortals feel somewhat unworthy of appreciating the act that we have forked out our own good money for whilst they sit, sheltered from the elements, in their free seats. The obvious conclusion, having read most of this rubbish, is to wonder: “were they actually there?”
Bruce Springsteen is one of my few heroes, indeed, possibly the only one. Admittedly, it has not been a lifelong devotion; I stumbled across him rather late having wasted the Glory Days of the Eighties listening to the likes of Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran; fine bands as they were neither had the breadth of appeal, nor the relevance or durability of Bruce. Each time I see him perform, he does so as if it were his last: I am always left wondering whether I will ever get to witness his genius one more time.
I am almost fifty and I hate the idea of standing in some vast arena for hour after hour waiting to watch anything. Bruce is the only performer I have suffered this soul-destroying waste of life for as the crowd gets closer and closer, the ridiculously expensive beer takes hold and the inevitable British weather has to have its say. And so it was that on Midsummer’s Night I was there again, some fifty metres away from The Boss, surrounded by all ages in thrall to arguably the greatest living performer.
The Legendary E Street Band
Well into his sixties now, Springsteen maintains an appeal across generations and he knows exactly how to keep all constituent parts of the flock completely devoted. In recent years, despite the changing face of his legendary backing group, The E Street Band, he has been able to refresh the band and the show and, arguably, take both to new heights despite losing the prodigious talents of both Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici.
Whilst some of the Seeds of replacement personnel were sown with the Seeger Sessions period, replacing Clarence has turned into a family affair with nephew Jake establishing an uncanny similarity in stage presence and instrumental impact to that of his late uncle; in truth it was somewhat eerie. There will be some who will sneer at the tributes in the current set to Clarence but this was not American schmaltz and, down at floor level, the emotion was raw; Clarence mattered to all of us.
Showtime
And so it was that just after the stipulated time of 7pm the band arrived to rescue who knows how many thousands of us – fifty, sixty maybe – from the grey skies and the incessant summer rain to begin another unbelievable three hour plus set spanning the generations and take us to The Promised Land.
Latter day Springsteen concerts have struck a tried and tested formula; the opening salvo (usually but not this time including Land of Hope and Dreams) of some old standards gets things going – fast – and no better than Badlands to start this house party. Then it’s time for the new stuff for, as committed to his fan base as no other, Springsteen is here to sell and his management team is renowned for their commercially savvy approach.
Songs from the new album, Wrecking Ball, were particularly well received in a blue collar, Northern town, albeit the audience came from far and wide. The topics of social and economic injustice allied to a desire to “shoot the bastards” referring loosely to everybody’s favourite target, bankers, were well understood, powerful and, in many ways, refreshing for their perception.
Party Time
After due reverence to some old classics from the archive to get the silver set reciting lyrics in a word perfect homage to The Boss it was now time to party with over an hour of roof blasting music that had children and grandparents dancing and singing in their own ways, unabashed and oblivious to the rain.
The Boss typically forgot a line; was this showmanship or proof that he does need the auto-cue nowadays and who really cares? Suzi forgot her violin, Nils jigged a birthday dance, Stevie played as he always does to the crowd and young Jake Clemons suggested he was born for this stage just as his famous uncle was.
In a world where we constantly get used to being short changed, victims of the pursuit of Easy Money, Springsteen reaffirms our natural instincts that the family is powerful; it is good to laugh and life is far too short not to try to enjoy the party. Life was never meant to be lived Shackled and Drawn. Thank you Bruce, for another magical night.
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