Are we excited about not one, but two nights rocking out to The Boss and the gang this weekend? Darn tootin’ right, we are! To celebrate, we’ve a generous serving of Bruce-ly goodness to go with our usual Free Music Friday selection of downloads, streams, vids and trailers. If you see us dad dancing (in the dark) make sure to come up and say “hello”.

Striking while the Bruce iron is hot, here’s a hi-def recording of his recent Washington D.C. show, which underlines the fact that him and the E Street Band are on fire at the mo.

The Artist Formerly Known as Antony Hegarty, Anohni, talks about life, love, politics and her remarkable new Hopelessness album in this downloadable NPR interview.
"I was beginning to feel like my work was too passive and my participation was too passive," she says. "I wanted to raise my voice. Because I feel like raising your voice is the antidote to a sense of powerlessness. I mean, hopelessness is a feeling, not a fact."

Snoop re-launches his Doggy Style Records label with a mix that includes two previously unreleased tunes and 28 other tracks which, in the immortal words of Phil Lynott, are so hot they're steaming!

From the steams to the streams now and the man who's re-written the bluegrass rulebook, Robert Ellis, is in top form on his self-titled new album; Xenia Rubinos flies the flag for New York’s alt. Latino scene with Black Terry Cat; Fantastic Negrito conjures up blues with a punk attitude on The Last Days Of Oakland; William Tyler’s Modern Country does exactly what it says it does on the tin, and Fear Of Men come across like a darker version of The Sundays on the exquisite Fall Forever.

Tom Odell dropped by the Live Lounge this week and treated BBC Radio 1 listeners to a gorgeous take on Mike Posner's 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza'.

There will be a Clarence Clemons-shaped hole on the Croker stage this weekend. Here are him, Jackson Browne and Darryl Hannah tearing through ‘You’re A Friend Of Mine’. We miss you, Big Man!

Moby is giving away four hours of “really, really, really quiet music” he’s made as a soundtrack for his yoga and meditation. Add some Zen to your life at [link]moby.com/la1[/link]

Charlene McGuinness treated Matthew E. White fans to this gorgeous version of ‘Dancing In The Dark’ when she opened for him recently in The Button Factory.

Louisville, Kentucky’s Forecastle Festival looks forward to this year’s July 15-17 shindig with a monster mixtape that includes the likes of Dr. Dog, Speedy Oritz, Brandi Carlile, Seratones, The Suffers and Gary Clark Jr.

DJ Paypal’s ‘Dose’ is the first of the weekly series of free [link]adultswim.com/music/singles-2016[/link] singles. With Die Antwoord, HEALTH, Earl Sweatshirt, Flying Lotus, Run The Jewels and Against Me! among the 24 future offerings, there’s good reason to check in every Wednesday.

Former JJ72 woman Hilary Woods self-directs the sensuous video which accompanies her new tune, ‘Bathing’. Its parent Heartbox EP drops on June 10, and is a must-have for those who like their pop blissed-out.

The current issue of Hot Press includes an exclusive interview with Steve Van Zandt in which he talks about working with the fabulous Darlene Love, his narration of BANG! The Bert Berns Story and Pearl Jam adopting his song, ‘I Am A Patriot’, as their anti-bathroom law statement.

Lest Nils feel left out, here are two of his big solo hits. Now, go off and download the parent albums!

Registering at [link]forms.umusic.com/4316/form/3726[/link]
gets you David Nail’s very fine countrified cover of Adele’s ‘Send My Love (To Your New Lover)’.

Despite – or perhaps because – it’s in bootleg-y black and white, this 1978 live Bruce concert is one of our all time faves.

We also love this fan footage of Bruce cosying up to Patti on ‘Brilliant Disguise’ a few months back.

And because it is and always will be our favourite Boss tune of all-time, here’s ‘Born To Run’ as belted out in 2009 in London with The Big Man blowing up a storm.

If you’re Croker-bound have a ball, and keep those links coming to @stuartclark66