Gig review: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND – British Summer Time Hyde Park, 6 July 2023

A regular visitor to these shores in recent years, Bruce Springsteen had not been in the UK since ‘The River’ tour seven years ago. So when a pair of dates were announced at Hyde Park- his first there since the infamous time the curfew plug was pulled mid-duet with Paul McCartney- expectations were high with tickets instantly snapped up.

Not that he has been letting the grass grow under his feet in the meantime with the Springsteen on Broadway shows, three albums in fairly quick succession and even a book with Barack Obama.

His solo shows traditionally have no support, leaving the BST organisers the task of finding vaguely mutually compatible support acts, and main stage proceedings were therefore opened by Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls.

A substantial concert draw in his own right, he shared some of the charismatic earnestness and intensity of The Boss even if the indie melodies on the likes of ‘Recovery’, not to mention the matching white shirts and use of an electric banjo at one point, led me to Mumford and Sons comparisons. However some of the rockier numbers would not have been out of place on a setlist from the Gaslight Anthem or other Springsteen-approved American acts of their ilk.

He was also an engaging character, talking about mental health struggles when introducing ‘Haven’t Been Doing So Well’ and dryly stating he had no idea ‘Be More Kind’ would prove to be so relevant in our troubled political times when he wrote it. I found myself pleasantly impressed by his set.

The Chicks, who have shed the Dixie moniker since the only other time I saw them, supporting the Eagles in 2006, shared the liberal political views of Springsteen and I suspect the majority of those present. They opened in lively style with the hoedown like ‘Sin Wagon’, distracting attention from Natalie Maines’ radical pompadour meets mohawk hairstyle, before the title track from comeback album ‘Gaslighter’ was instantly catchy while the lyrics of ‘Julianna Come Down’ equally seemed about empowerment in the face of abusive relationships.

Their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ showed the beautiful harmonising by the three ‘Chicks’ while the musicianship was exquisite. A crack band including a fine pedal steel supported Emily Strayer on banjo and Martie Maguire on fiddle and occasionally mandolin or guitar, and there were brilliant musical climaxes to ‘Sleep At Night’, in the form of a violin duet, and ‘Ready To Run’. Other highlights for me were ‘Wide Open Spaces’, a great story song in ‘Travelin’ Soldier’ and ‘Daddy Lessons’.

The gig then took a totally different tone with the protest song ‘March March’, to a sparse military beat with Natalie banging a drum, and a political video backdrop in support of Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and various other progressive causes. It showed they have nailed their colours firmly to the liberal mast and are not going to be trying to win back those MAGA-type fans they lost two decades ago any time soon. Talking of which, the autobiographical ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ was the closest to a mainstream classic rock sound, after which one of their signature songs ‘Goodbye Earl’ seemed quite lightweight in comparison. Nonetheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable set and even as a country agnostic one I’d be more than happy to see again.

The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band stage set was boldly simple: with not a light show or video graphic in sight, this show had to stand or fall on the music. One by one the band members came on stage, culminating in Steve Van Zandt coming on in what looked like a ladies wedding hat before revealing his more familiar headscarf, then in less flamboyant fashion, the Boss himself, trim, dressed in black and with a severe haircut with grey flecks. Kicking into ‘No Surrender’, his voice seemed somewhat more weathered compared to the original but was in excellent fettle throughout what was to be a long night.

We were inevitably going to get some stuff from those new albums and ‘Ghosts’ has to be a latter day classic, an absolutely huge anthem, especially its ‘I’m Alive’ chorus and ‘la-la-la’ climax, yet also looking back on days of youth with departed comrades – a theme we were to return to. ‘Prove It All Night’, with the intro featuring Roy Bittan’s piano and Charlie Giordano’s organ in the best tradition of American heartland rock and Bruce playing one of the best guitar solos of the night in ragged fashion, sandwiched a second ‘Letter to You’ number in the title track.

‘Promised Land’ saw a harmonica playing Bruce descending the steps of the stage to go into the front of the crowd for the first time and during ‘Out On The Street’, where the expanded E Street Band was first used to its full 18- player complement, saxophonist Jake Clemons- the biggest visual presence alongside Little Steven- joined him perched on the steps.

‘Darlington County’ again engaged the crowd and featured some fine interplay between Jake and violinist Soozie Tyrell before Bruce did ‘Working On The Highway’ solo. However the one difference from his old shows was that for whatever reason the old tradition of spontaneously responding to requests on cards held from the crowd has all but gone.

The conclusion I drew was that this was a more tightly drawn set – if you can say that about a show that lasted three hours! – to please a varied audience and not just the Springsteen diehard. Hence the heavy emphasis on ‘Born In The USA’, his breakthrough commercial album worldwide including on these shores, but not necessarily the favourite of Springsteen elitists.

However, a lengthy ‘Kitty’s Back’ turned into a full on sixties soul revue with the horn section, Charlie, Bruce, Roy and even the backing singers coming out front, all taking a solo turn. Then, during a cover of the Commodores ‘Nightshift’, in which Bruce and backing singer Curtis King traded vocals with a great conclusion as each sang higher, it suddenly made sense why a guy in front of me had been holding up ‘Marvin’ and ‘Jackie’ signs all afternoon and that he hadn’t been indicating to his friends where they could find him in the crowd.

‘Mary’s Place’ turned into a lengthy participatory set piece before some more subdued moments with instrumentation stripped right back in ‘My Hometown’ with Roy forsaking his usual piano for a synth intro, and Bruce’s harmonica solo leading into a moving delivery of ‘The River’ complete with a falsetto vocal coda.

It was tribute to the mutual respect between this artist and his fans that you could hear a pin drop as Bruce told his one lengthy story, of the passing of a friend who formed the first band he played in, rendering him the eponymous ‘Last Man Standing’, played solo other than a haunting trumpet solo from Barry Danielan. Indeed midway through ‘Backstreets’ he returned to the theme of paying tribute to lost friends.

However, ever the masters of pacing a set, from then on the E Street Band’s fare became increasingly up tempo as darkness gradually fell (on the edge of London town?) ‘Because The Night’ gave a rather subdued Nils Lofgren, looking a little like Elvis Costello in his hat and glasses, his biggest spotlight with a superb solo, ‘She’s The One’ featured prominent piano, sax and harmonica, and ‘Wrecking Ball’ built momentum as it went on.

The anthems and the singing along got even bigger with ‘The Rising’ and my own favourite ‘Badlands’, before a rendition of probably the Springsteen connoisseur’s song of choice, yet one not always played, in ‘Thunder Road’. Even a girl singing loudly and tunelessly right behind me could not spoil the moment.

E Street Band encores are legendarily long and this one began with a full on rock version of ‘Born In The USA’, complete with a mini drum solo from Max Weinberg, then the wall of sound on ‘Born To Run’ just could not have seemed any more huge. It left a danger of anti- climax but that was offset by more ‘Born In The USA’ material- ‘Bobby Jean’ with the crowd swaying as one; a ‘Glory Days’ extended to allow Bruce and Steve to lark about Including making reference to the famous curfew incident; and a riotous ‘Dancing in the Dark’.

After the band intros – and how does Bruce remember that quick fire E Street Band rap every night? – came another example of that big band style ensemble with ‘10th Avenue Freeze Out’, video footage rightly paying tribute to Clarence Clemons as well as Danny Federici.

At this point I wondered if one final encore might see Bruce and Paul McCartney resume their unfinished business from 2012. Instead by way of total contrast, the evening ended with just him on guitar and harmonica singing ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’, another new song meditating on the passage of time and losing friends along the way.

Indeed that rather sobering perspective was a recurring theme of the show, yet it was matched by a vibrant performance of youthful energy from these (mainly) seventy somethings, celebrating the joys of live music and the interaction between musicians and audience. For me, there is no better live act than the E Street Band, and that unique combination made this show special even by their standards.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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AFM Records [release date : 07.07.23]

We distinctly remember reviewing All For Metal’s trailer single, ‘We were Born In Valhalla’, back in December last year, and referring this dubious claim to a Fact Check website.

Well, they never got back to us. What we can say with certainty is that ‘Born In Valhalla’ is an irrestistibly catchy Viking anthem, and might remind you of the approach taken by Lordi… heavyweight guitars, over the top theatrics and great tunes.

The band’s twin vocalists, the muscular giant Tim “Tetzel” Schmidt and the charismatic Antonio Calanna, are joined here by a rare combination, two outstanding female guitarists, Ursula Zanichelli and Jasmin Pabst, with Florian Toma on bass and Leif Jensen on Drums.

The band’s impressive and exceedingly popular first heavy metal single, ‘All For Metal’ opens proceedings. Calanna’s powerful, quasi operatic tenor mixes perfectly with Schmidt’s visceral growl. As a rousing call to heavy metal arms, it’s the ideal opening.

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And that’s what they do here. AFM (get it?) are no Manowar copycats. They write a mean and memorable melody, then add a grab-you-by-the -throat chorus, then overlay that with intelligent references to Viking Metal myths.

Experienced producer, Hardy Krech plays it smart, allowing the band the freedom to flex their highly melodic, highly metalised muscles.

A marriage made in…well, Valhalla. ****

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