After an almost six-year break, the mighty E Street Band were back in action last night for the first night of Springsteen’s 2023 (and probably 2024) tour. Kicking off, maybe a little surprisingly, with ‘No Surrender’, the fairly tight 28 song set came in well under 3 hours suggesting that the days of epic shows may have gone the way of crowd surfing, knee slides and leaping off of pianos. Which is probably not a bad thing really. A good bit of ‘new’ in the set too – although nothing from Western Stars which is a bit of a shame.
Anyway, as we all know, our heroes aren’t going to last forever so it’s nice to see Bruce and the band back together doing what they were put on earth to do. Long may they run.
Bruce? He’s still The Boss, that was great!
Thanks Johnny
That is triff. I’d have been hoarse by the end of the first number. The gig it’s ok to sing along at.
From Setlist FM. Must have been a real thrill to hear BS cover Patti Smith!
No Surrender
Ghosts
Prove It All Night
Letter to You
The Promised Land
Out in the Street
Candy’s Room
Kitty’s Back
Brilliant Disguise
Nightshift (Commodores cover)
Don’t Play That Song (Ben E. King cover)
The E Street Shuffle
Johnny 99
Last Man Standing (Live debut; acoustic)
House of a Thousand Guitars
Backstreets
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
ENCORE:
Burnin’ Train (Live debut)
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
(Followed by band introductions)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
I’ll See You in My Dreams (acoustic, solo)
That looks a nice setlist, and a fine version of “No Surrender”.
As regards “Because the Night”… Bruce co-wrote the song with Patti (Patti Smith, that is, not Patti Scialfa!). Bruce and the E-Street Band have been performing “Because the Night” live since 1978.
Yeah Bruce basically wrote the initial song and Patti Smith made some changes to the lyrics
@duco01
I was being a tad ironic
Not a Bruce fan really (I have The Rising and Streets of Philadelphia) but intrigued he covers Night Shift.
He did it on his recent covers album. I thought it was a dull, uninspired cover of a great song. But as mentioned before, I very much liked the suit he wore for the video.
@gary
You’re right, not as good as the original.
Wow…you are not sitting down at that gig !
Ticket prices for him are mad and too rich for my blood nowadays but I still have the memories from Wembley Arena May 1981 when I had a ticket for the first gig and bunked in on the second night ( I was 19)
He did way over 3 hours in them (Glory) days!.29 songs in 1981 Setlist FM tells me and that’s only one more than the setlist above
@Razor_Boy
Saw him twice on that tour, too. The Thurs night at Manchester Apollo (still one of my top three gigs of all time) and at Birmingham NEC at the arse end of the tour. Didn’t get to see him again until the Dec show he did in the O2 in 2007/08
He was doing 4hr shows some nights on the last E St Band tour (2016-17). I also saw him first May 1981 (Stafford), I think still the best gig I ever saw
I read the OP title and clicked the link.
Imagine my surprise that the thread wasn’t about Nadir”s Big Chance…or The Ramones…or Thin White Rope…
Or Bachman Turner Whassisface
Too soon…😿
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/13/bachman-turner-overdrive-drummer-robbie-bachman-dies-aged-69
Nice clip – but do they really need six guitar players on stage? Ol’ Graham Parker had the same sound (and power) with just Brinsley and Martin… 😉
@fatima-Xberg
A classic example of GP&tR’s full-throated roar from one of the best (and most criminally under-appreciated) albums of the late 70s
I was thinking exactly the same thing. I suspect at least 2 of them don’t actually emerge from the PA. 4 is still too many though.
Could possibly justify three at the most. Twin leads plus rhythm.
Twin leads are excellent.
I’m seeing him in May, in Edinburgh. I’m a Bruce live virgin, so of course I’m really looking forward to it, though I am hoping that he alters the setlist a tiny bit to incorporate at least one Western Stars song, even without the orchestra. Also hoping that 28 songs in less than three hours means less of the between-song ‘bantz’/raconteur schtick which I must confess isn’t my favourite aspect of his performances by a long chalk.