Bruce Springsteen Live in Sydney (18/3/2013) - Wrecking Ball Tour

It's 7:15p.m. and I’m watching Bruce’s foot tap rhythmically against the smooth concrete of Allphones Arena. Wasn’t it Bob Dylan who famously sat at press conferences and tapped up a storm? I thought to myself before being interrupted by the sound of a guitar on stage. There’s something nerve-wracking about sitting in an arena and waiting for a performer to come out. Tonight’s act is none other than Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Misfit Springsteen fans.

The Bruce I'm with isn’t the Bruce Springsteen but he might be the most knowledgeable fan I’ve ever come across. My Bruce rode with The Boss from Asbury Park, through the rise and rise of Born to Run and into the Red, White and Blue days of Born In The USA. He stuck around for the bubblegum-pop-hits of Hungry Heart and Dancing In The Dark, and he chuckled when The Rising brought Springsteen into the 21st century. Bruce’s wife, Jan, sits next to her husband and wears the kind of gentle smile we all seek in a partner.

Mum and her "Springsteen baby".

Then there's Mum and I. Mum has always seen Springsteen as the triple threat - the artist, the performer and the bum! If you ask Mum about my birth she'll tell you about the nine months leading up where all she listened to was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. And so I was the 'Bruce Springsteen baby' - indoctrinated from my first breath.

By now I’m taking deep breaths and contemplating pushing out a stress baby right here in Allphones arena. Bruce senses my nervous energy, and like the Bruce who will hopefully soon take the stage, asks, 

"What do you think the dark horse is gonna be?" 

"Dark horse?"

"The song which they could do but has an outside chance."  

I stop pushing out my stress baby and have a think... "What was that last bonus song on Wrecking Ball?"  

"Oh yeah, umm..." 

"American Land - that will be it."

"You reckon?"

Sure enough when Springsteen hit the stage, he welcomed us with a - “Happy St. Patrick's Day, Sydney!” - and then broke out into his first number, American Land.

Instantly we knew The Boss was going to give us a show. The E Street Band was 16 deep, and I don’t think I could name all the instruments on stage. The fiddle came alive in American Land and didn't die down until they all took their final bow. Clarence Clemon's nephew, Jake Clemons, took up the thunder sax solos - and while he doesn't have the physical presence of the Big Man, he still held his own up there. I felt tingles the first time Jake raised the sax in the air! 

There was a beautiful moment where we saluted Clarence Clemons. This is the E Street Band's first tour without the Big Man.

It was a show of unparallelled joy. I thought getting tickets two years ago to Dylan would've become my cherished, "I remember the time I went to the Dylan gig in..." line, but Springsteen showed that up. And while it’s true that Springsteen is a good 10 years younger than Dylan (remember Springsteen was touted as the "next Dylan") there's a key difference in how the two prolific artists perform. Dylan wants to be a stripped down, raw musician, whereas Springsteen wants you to jump out of your seat (as he said, "Your ass is going to tell you to jump up!") and shout the words with him. And Springsteen, like Dylan, has an unorthodox voice which makes us want to sing along.

At 63 you might expect Springsteen to be a bit numb to it all. If he sees a poster in the crowd you might expect him to pass over it – but it looked as if he actually searched the crowd during the show to find some signs he could put up on the stage. He's a people person, hence why President Obama asked him to play at the inauguration in 2009. Actually, Springsteen has something of a following with politicians. Reagan, Bush, McCain, Obama, Gillard, Wayne Swan – there’s been a number of politicians who have wanted Bruce to punch their ticket... perhaps to serve as a less than sincere political ploy?

Bruce at President Obama's inauguration.

Not willing to just leave his crowd participation at sign gathering though, Bruce took off a few times into the audience to greet his fans and have them finish songs. A noteworthy moment came during Hungry Heart (which Bruce probably didn't feel the need to actually sing as passionately on because it’s, well, Hungry Heart) when Springsteen took off into the crowd, greeted the audience and then was carried back to the stage! 

Where's Wally Bruce? Crowd surfing at 63!

You get the feeling as the show rolled on that the only way Bruce and the band are able to do a three hour show day is because of the crowd. They feed off us as much as we feed off them – and as the audience we walk out feeling exhausted. Yes, here is the master of the crowd! Some performers have great stage presence, and Bruce has that, but what Bruce possesses is a power over the crowd. He'll show you when to stand, he'll influence when you sit, heck he'll direct the tears, laughter and shouts throughout the night. 

The set list was not what I expected - but they do have enough material to go for over 6 hours. Darkness on the Edge of Town got a lot of attention, and the forceful playing of Badlands shocked me, and proceeded to take me way, way back to another time.

I could hear it again - I could hear my alarm clock ringing, and I could see myself leaping out of bed in a quiet rage. I grabbed my backpack, loaded the stolen money in my wallet and took off for the frostbitten streets of Amsterdam. 

A few hours after I reached Centraal I felt myself sliding down the back alleys of the red light district, off my head and wondering if "these badlands would ever treat me good". I was tired of school, fed up with the bullying and wanted to say "fuck you" to the 4-periods of mindless droning. When I crashed on a bench next to a canal, I pulled my disc man out and chucked the Springsteen Greatest Hits album in. Badlands came blazing out at me and I recall yelling the words down at the ducks in the canal. When the sax solo broke out I left the cold bench of Amsterdam and found myself back in Allphones arena clapping unashamedly. 

The band was electric - as good as the Hammersmith days (the 1975 live album in Hammersmith, London continues to blow my mind). And I'm bold enough to say that Spirit of the Night sounded the exact same as it did in '75. Even the new guitarist, Morello, earned his stripes standing across from Nils and delivering a masterstroke on The Ghost of Tom Joad!  The interchange of verses between Bruce and Morello was worth the price of admission alone. And if the remix to Tom Joad was worth the admission price then Morello’s guitar solos had you ready to fork out another 185 bucks for the next show. 

After Thunder Road and Born To Run, Bruce had a dance...

Sadly, we didn't hear anything from Nebraska - nor anything from The River. It just wasn't that kind of night. It was up-tempo to the max, and while they did mix in a couple of slower songs (My City Of Ruin), there just wasn't going to be enough time for the blues.

What took the prize though, was when they turned on the arena lights and we all sang Born To Run together. Most of the concert was sung as one voice, but Born To Run felt  like the crescendo.

She sang the chorus perfectly!

 It was a show - in every sense of the word. Bruce was all class, even allowing a 10 year old girl on stage to sing the chorus to Waitin’ On A Sunny Day. He chatted with us, made rounds of the arena, celebrated signs in the audience, played his heart out, and he even had his celebrated shower! (Since Bruce runs around so much, he's been known to have a bucket of water on stage so that he can towel off.) 

It doesn’t matter how old they get, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are – The E Street Band is always going to bring it.

Thanks Bruce.