August 9, 2024
EDITOR'S NOTE: London-based journalist and Letters To You contributor Herpreet Grewal attended both of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's concerts on July 25 and 27 at London's Wembley Stadium, wrapping up their 2024 Tour's European leg, with the next North American leg of the tour scheduled to kick off next week in Pittsburgh, PA. We're pleased to present below Herpreet's reflections on both of London's shows, accompanied by the superb photography of René van Diemen.
Night 1 - 25 July, 2024
It’s a bit surreal going to a Bruce Springsteen show on a weekday work night. Usually I am queuing for days or combining a holiday with a tour stop. I got to Wembley Stadium twenty minutes before he took to the stage. Oddly, as I rushed through the turnstiles I bumped into a friend who was sitting in the exact same section as me, albeit ten rows apart. Halfway through the show, I saw him standing on the pitch and wondered how he had got there. He later told me he’d left the show to do the roll call for the second show's queue, and had to buy a second ticket to re-enter the gig after he was done! I was flabbergasted at the latest queue politics; apparently this has been the norm recently in the U.S., as well as in Europe. It made me even more glad to have a no-stress seat ticket.
As soon as Bruce bellowed an enthusiastic greeting to London, he got right down to business, launching into "Lonesome Day." "Seeds," a dark tale - featured on Springsteen’s Live/1975-85 collection - of a homeless man looking for work and trying to care for his family, was next. The gig’s seamless and fiery start only built as the show went on, with Bruce’s full-throated affirmations of “London!!” in between "My Love Will Not Let You Down," "No Surrender," "Ghosts," "Letter to You," and "The Promised Land." But it was during "Hungry Heart" that crowd participation went up several notches, with the approximately 90,000-strong audience singing the entire first verse, leading Bruce to make several approving sounds. Performer and audience were in sync.
It was exactly the right moment for Bruce to take a spiritual temperature check in his preacher-like way. As the band segued into "Spirit in the Night," Bruce roared, “Can you feel the spirit? I want you to answer! Let me see your hands!”
Then we got the existential and pensive chain of "Reason to Believe," "Atlantic City," "Youngstown" - as politically relevant today as they were decades ago when they were written - and then "Long Walk Home," which he said was a “prayer for my country."
The mood became lighter and more party-like with "The E Street Shuffle," which spotlighted the differing drum and percussion talents of Max Weinberg and Anthony Almonte. This was perfectly followed by the most popular soul cover from the Only the Strong Survive album: "Nightshift."
The two upbeat tracks led into a majestic "Racing in the Street," which had hundreds of people holding up their phones as torches while dusk started to fall, truly creating the peak enchanted moment of the show.
"Last Man Standing" was next, preceded by the always touchingly told story of Bruce’s late former bandmate George Theiss. Many speak about how grief has been on Bruce’s mind recently, and no doubt it has been, since he lost his mother only this year, but he was also talking like this at shows ten years ago when dealing with the deaths of bandmates Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici. It’s a fact of life that you lose people as you age. The magic of Springsteen is always in embracing this lesson, even before these more explicit explorations of grief and death in his own life. As he says, death gives life a clarity and “grief is the price we pay for having loved well." Unlike the show in Dublin, though, his meditation on death was shorter, which made the show slightly less somber and more balanced but without lacking any of the depth.
"Backstreets" and "Because the Night" were next. (I wondered if Patti Smith, who is also on tour at the moment, had been in London this weekend instead of last weekend, if she would have joined him on stage.) "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," and "The Rising" segued into "Badlands" in a powerhouse quartet of songs.
The usual show-finishers such as "Thunder Road" followed, which also included an audience singalong of the entire first verse with Bruce cooing as it happened, softening him into the idealistic "Land of Hope and Dreams" and the communal jamboree of "Born to Run," "Bobby Jean," "Dancing in the Dark," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," and "Twist and Shout." He brought the crowd back to earth (and mortality) with "I’ll See You In My Dreams," an uplifting paean (as is the rock ‘n’ roll way) to loss, with hope we will see our loved ones once again. As Bruce was left by himself on stage with his acoustic guitar to sing the bittersweet number, night had fallen and so had a hush, but peoples’ phone-torches were out again, lighting up Wembley like fireflies in the dark. There was definitely magic in the night, right until the end.
Night 2 - 27 July, 2024
The last show of the European leg had more of a relaxed, post-working-week feel. Maybe Bruce was feeling that vibe as he came out and greeted the crowd. “Hello, London! It’s Saturday night!” he bellowed, before kicking off with "Lonesome Day," just like on Night 1.
I was attending with a friend who was seeing Bruce for the first time, so it was certainly interesting to see some aspects of the show through the eyes of a more recent fan. My friend pointed to some of the band members as they came on stage at the start, asking if one of the women was Patti Scialfa. I said "No," and explained that she hasn’t been on this tour much.
Bruce’s choice to play a double-whammy from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, "Candy’s Room" and "Adam Raised A Cain," sent me into a frenzy. His guitar work on the latter was especially passionate and powerful. Those early songs are imprinted on the band.
"Death To My Hometown" and "The Promised Land" were next, followed by another "Hungry Heart" with strong audience participation, but the timing and spontaneity were not as impeccable as the first night.
After "Darlington County," Bruce announced, “What better treat on a Saturday night than to have the entire E Street Band with Patti Scialfa," and then she appeared, almost like out of nowhere, wearing a sparkly black top and ready to sing "Tougher Than the Rest" with her husband. I turned to my friend to say what a surprise her appearance was; she hadn’t been onstage with the band for months.
Her presence brought a tangible, heartfelt softness to the rendition, which they both performed standing face-to-face, almost touching, with the microphone stand between them. Some fans said she looked like she had missed him, and the tender hugs and kisses held this observation to be true.
After the soulful performance, and with one more kiss and hug, she left the stage. Bruce launched into "Darkness on the Edge of Town," "Youngstown," and "Long Walk Home," a trio slightly different from the first night’s show, but still powerful and with the same political message. "Youngstown" spotlighted a fierce Nils guitar solo to screams and applause. I have to mention that I had been sitting in the deaf section, and I was amazed at the energy of the two women using sign language. They were almost as energetic as Bruce, as they took turns signing the intricate Springsteen lyrics. I’d never seen that at a show before.
"The E Street Shuffle," "Nightshift," "Mary’s Place," "The River," "Last Man Standing," "Backstreets," "Because the Night," "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," "The Rising," "Badlands," and "Thunder Road" followed in the standard barnstorming way. Before he started to play "Last Man Standing," Bruce gave his usual rap about the nature of death and the meaning of life using the memory of late friend George Theiss, with whom he was in his first band, The Castiles. That band lasted for three years. "For teenagers, that’s pretty incredible,” Bruce noted, as he often does. Then came something not usually stated so explicitly, though clearly heartfelt and lived up to at every single show. “Now the E Street Band... We’ve been here for fifty fuckin’ years!” The crowd applauded, to which Springsteen quickly responded, “And we ain’t going to quit, either!”
A friend had told me "Jungleland" had been on the setlist for Thursday but was not played, so it was expected on the second night. During Saturday night, a core contingent of diehard fans in the pit started chanting for it and Bruce reportedly said, “Okay!" But it never came, and instead we got "Born in the U.S.A." in that slot. Springsteen was visibly more tired than Thursday night, and this was later confirmed by those close enough to see his face. (Perhaps having more than just one day off between shows, which has been the case for most of the 2024 touring schedule and seems to have had an overall positive impact, should be "the new normal" moving forward.) As a result, on Night 2 he played a somewhat shorter show and one less song than Night 1. It also was not quite as flowing and majestic, but still a great show with amazing surprises. And that "we ain't going to quit" moment was priceless.
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