- Music
- 20 Jun 03
What a fucking show!
“You’re a rock ‘n’ roll fan and you’ve never been to a Bruce Springsteen gig?” the fortysomething bloke who’s seen him 45 times says to me incredulously.
Yup, despite ‘Born To Run’ being second only to ‘London Calling’ in the All Time Clarkian Top 10 (You can’t beat having hands strapped round your engine), I’ve never felt the need to worship at the Church of Broooooce. I know he says more about the American condition than any other singer alive but it’s his reality not mine.
Until tonight, that is. Two songs into his marathon three-and-a-quarter-hour set and it feels like I’ve crossed the New Jersey Turnpike as often as the Liffey. It speaks volumes about the depth of his back catalogue that Springsteen opens with an acoustic version of ‘Born In The USA’ that reclaims the song from the warmongering patriot brigade. There’s nothing stripped down or understated about ‘The Rising’, though, which gives the E Street Band the first chance to flex its muscles – bloody great big ones in sax player Clarence Clemens’ case! Normally I spurn hyperbole like I spurn a rabid dog, but the chemistry between Bruce and his Asbury Park beer buddies is awesome. So much so, in fact, that I spend most the set watching what’s going on around Springsteen rather than the main man himself. Who has to be the least wrinkly, most charismatic 53-year-old on the planet. Bastard!
All the 24 songs that follow are highlights, but if you were to hold an AK-47 to my head I’d go for ‘Atlantic City’, ‘Badlands’, ‘Thunder Road’, ‘Glory Days’ and a worth every second of the 28-year wait ‘Born To Run’ as the stand-outs. The hardcore Bossophiles are rewarded with the first European performance of ‘Kitty’s Back’ since 1975 and a barnstorming cover of Moon Mullican’s ‘Seven Nights To Rock’ which underlines just how essential Patti Scialfa, Nils Lofgren and Miami Steve are to proceedings.
A final encore of ‘My City Of Ruins’, ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ and ‘Dancing In The Dark’ later and it’s off into the New Jerse…, sorry, Dublin night fully sated. What a fucking show!