“Can you feel the spirit?” Bruce Springsteen yowls with preacher-like fervour as “Spirit in the Night” sets out once more on its wild Saturday night down on Gypsy angel row with G-man, Killer Joe and that temptress Crazy Janey. It’s a sleaze rock rumble from Springsteen’s 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, but over 50 years later, in the hands of a 74-year-old veteran of blue-collar heartland anthems, that spirit remains miraculously undimmed.
He may have recorded his thought-provoking album about death and aging (2020’s Letter to You) and his hat-tipping covers albums (The Seeger Sessions in 2006; 2022’s soul and R&B set Only the Strong Survive). He may have written his memoirs, produced a Broadway production, and made hundreds of millions of dollars selling his catalog. Peptic ulcer problems may have even forced him to postpone performances on this two-year world tour, as they posed a permanent threat to his singing voice. Every sign along the final stretch of the Rock Legend Road. However, when Springsteen clocks in for another three hours of blazing, high-octane rock ‘n’ roll at a party-ready Wembley, dressed in a waistcoat and tie but with his sleeves pulled up for the evening’s main business,
Springsteen moans, “Hun, hoo, hee, haw,” as the E Street Band launches into “Lonesome Day,” a song taken from The Rising (2002). This song perfectly captures the depth and brilliance of his post-millennial work as well as the way he’s consistently strengthened and revitalized his canon of best setlists to deftly move past any one specific albatross era. For example, the fact that gospel rockers “The Rising” and “Wrecking Ball” are becoming such fan favorites lets him forgo tonight’s performances of “Born in the USA” and “The River” knowing there would be a short line for refunds.
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