Less than 13 months after his pair of Hyde Park shows and fortunately recovered from an ulcer complaint that led to autumn gigs in the USA being cancelled, Bruce Springsteen was back on a longer European tour with the E Street Band.

Ireland must have a special place in his heart as that relatively small country has as many shows on his itinerary as the whole of England, the biggest of them being at Croke Park, home of Gaelic legends and, as my fellow sporting stattos will tell you, among the top five largest stadia in Europe.

Being unable to make the Wembley shows in July, I decided with friends that a long weekend in Dublin was a perfect opportunity for an ‘away gig’ and for once the weather across the Irish Sea was also unseasonably warm and sunny that day.

There was no support slot, and as usual no gimmicks or stage show as such, just the ever-expanding E Street Band coming on one by one slightly later than billed, with Bruce the last one to appear, looking dapper in a no nonsense shirt, tie and waistcoat combo.

‘Lonesome Day’ was a lively opening with a forest of hands shooting up to the ‘it’s alright’ line and a violin solo from Soozie Tyrell. Indeed the opening pace did not let up with ‘Night’ , ‘ No Surrender’ with a massive waving of hands at the front making me wish I was down there and not in the grandstand, and ‘Two Hearts’, driven on by Max Weinberg’s brisk and unfussy drumming.

‘Ghosts’ is a modern day live classic and I was loving the music with solos from Roy Bittan on piano, Charlie Giordano on organ and Jake Clemons on sax epitomising the best heartland rock tradition, and the crowd clapping along and singing to the ‘na-nas’. A similarly rollicking ‘Darlington County’ saw Bruce venture into the crowd, but there was a different side to him on the unusually bluesy ‘Reason To Believe’ as he played harmonica and the wizened Nils Lofgren some slide guitar.

There was more harmonica on another classic in ‘The Promised Land’ then, preceded by a rap in which Bruce said ‘let your spirit in’, ‘Spirit in the Night’ was altogether lengthier and looser with a jazzy feel, Jake joining him perched on the steps between stage and crowd, and the horn section prominent.

Perhaps to fit the demands of such a huge stadium show, this felt by his standards a relatively straight down the line ‘greatest hits’ set with relatively few rarities and no audience requests, and ‘Hungry Heart’ got a great reception, notably when he again worked the front of the crowd and during Jake’s sax solo. With an archetypally eighties synth intro from Roy, ‘My Hometown’ saw an old boy in front of me get quite emotional as he struck a pose with his hand in the air all song long, and the classics kept coming thick and fast with his harmonica intro to a somewhat stripped back ‘The River’.

‘Night Shift’, where singer Curtis King joined him going into the audience, represented a change of gear- some might query why play a cover, but as well as being a beautiful song, it proved the band, especially with its expanded horn section and backing singers, has got enough soul for anyone, a fact proved by the delivery of the extended set piece of ‘City of Ruins’ being almost gospel in its fervour.

After the same soliloquy as last year about the passing of the last of his first bandmates, Bruce delivered ‘Last Man Standing’ with just his acoustic guitar and trumpeter Barry Danielan for company.

Being masters of pacing however, that was just a lull before a run of E Street Band classics, each one a bigger crowd pleaser and slowly building the atmosphere. Starting with Backstreets, with Roy’s piano prominent, ‘Because The Night’ was the hardest rocking of the night especially with Nils’ extended solo as he performed his party piece of spinning around, and ‘She’s the One’ boasted some particularly clever ensemble musicianship.

The huge wall of noise of ‘Wrecking Ball’ and ‘The Rising’ with its ‘na-na-nas’ were rousing and stadium ready, and more and more of my fellow devotees in the Cusack Stand were rising to their feet and that reached a peak with ‘Badlands’, as usual the crowd taking over the ‘who-oah’ chant as the song seemed to have about four different endings.

There was a final treat as a blast of Bruce’s harmonica heralded the connoisseur’s choice among all his classics, ‘Thunder Road’, and he again wandered into the crowd while the horns section played a significant role at the end.

Inevitably though there would be a generous encore, in fact more a mini set which opened in slightly surprising fashion with ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’, another with a gospel feel and even a closing snatch of ‘People Get Ready’, before the sound could not have been any more huge for ‘Born To Run’ and at last every single person was on their feet.

As darkness (on the edge of Dublin town) slowly fell the atmosphere was finally a bit special and ‘Bobby Jean’, with the whole crowd swaying from side to side, avoided any anticlimax before another signature song in ‘Dancing In The Dark’ to a joyful atmosphere, notably during Jake’s sax solo.

Preceded by his traditional fast talking tribute to the E Street Band, ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’ will always be a tribute to Clarence Clemons so it was no surprise that it was the ‘the big man joined the band’ lyric that got the loudest cheer. By now Bruce was sporting an emerald green beret and ‘Twist And Shout’, only brought out for special gigs, saw him joking that the band were not ready to go home and would outlast the crowd.

In fact the three hour marathon was coming to a close – he always seems to pick out an appropriate song to match the moment, and in this case paying tribute to the home crowd and Shane McGowan’s recent passing with a cover of the Pogues ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’.

I was starting to believe ‘The Boss’ had superhuman properties. Unfortunately even he is not immune to everyday ailments and subsequent concert goers were not so lucky as his voice gave out and he had to cancel some shows in the tour.

For the 80,000 here though, this was another wonderfully absorbing and engaging show from a man with remarkable energy, considering he and most of his protagonists are well into their seventies. The E Street band remain the most Incredible live experience there is, and the shows may even be getting better!

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)