Bruce Springsteen, London

Last night I went to see Bruce Springsteen play at the O2 Arena, in London. And what a mighty concert it was too. There’s been so much talk of various bands reuniting in recent times, and with all the hype you forget sometimes who the truly great musicians are. Then you get talk of the next big thing, commercial hype, and sure you might get good albums out of them, but until they can prove it live, it’s just talk in my opinion. Last night, Bruce came along and showed everyone how it should be done. He worked the crowd into a frenzy, had true charisma. A pro who’s been touring for decades, always thinking of the fans, and showing a love of musicianship. I saw the tour for the Seeger Sessions last year, an album of folk songs and roots Americana, which was also great fun. A talented musician doing something totally different, never afraid to experiment. And back to the more traditional songs last night, you still saw a band who were on top form. The set list was a mixture of new and old, with the killer riff at the beginning of Radio Nowhere getting 23,000 bums off seats right away, to the harsh, raw blues of Reasons to Believe, from the lo-fi album Nebraska. And there was the anti-war, anti-George W speech that was backed up by quality lyrics to hammer the point home. How many modern bands can cope with the complexity of such lyrics? None spring to mind. Reckon I’ll be looking for tickets for the stadium tour next Summer…There’s a reason this man keeps selling out across the world with the same demand for tickets that reunion gigs get.

There’s also a great blog posting here on why the Boss still rules. And better reviews of the O2 concert here and here. Both full of praise, I note.