Bruce Springsteen Kicks Off North American Tour with World-Class Performance in Chicago: Review
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Oh, you thought Bruce Springsteen was done?
When the applause began, the chords of his first song, “No Surrender,” were still ringing through Chicago’s Wrigley Stadium. Of course Springsteen was done. On the opening night of his North American tour (get tickets here), after the 73-year-old had played through the usual two verses and choruses, his longtime comrades in the E Street Band paused. Isn’t that what it sounds like when a song finishes — a pause? But as the clapping of some 40,000 people reached its crescendo, The Boss raised his hand, and “No Surrender”came roaring back to life. It was the first of many false endings, as Springsteen thumbed his nose at the very idea that the music should stop.
From “No Surrender” the E Street Band launched straight into “Ghosts” and “Prove It All Night,” while Springsteen never ceased moving. He raised his hands when they weren’t strumming a guitar, paced when he wasn’t rooted to the mic, and rocked his knees rather than stand flat. The first time he even briefly stood still came moments before “Letter to You,” when he swapped guitars with a roadie — an interaction as smooth and well-rehearsed as anything else on stage. The disruption lasted mere seconds before he was back at it. Many artists one-third Springsteen’s age would be gasping for breath, and here he was bounding into his fourth song.
We know younger artists can struggle with their stage stamina because last weekend Chicago hosted Lollapalooza. We watched bands wilt in scorching heat and fight to rouse rain-soaked audiences. We also saw the many tricks musicians use to catch their breath — the video clips, the audience banter, the clever ways to disguise a pause. But all of these things stop the music, which is a problem for Bruce Springsteen. So he avoided the problem by never needing to catch his breath. He may not move a spryly as he did five years ago, but his endurance is world-class.
Springsteen did talk to the audience but in very short bursts, such as asking, “Are you ready for a road trip?” before “Darlington County.” He gave a harmonica to an 11-year-old boy, and a lot of his communication with the crowd was nonverbal. During “Kitty’s Back,” after the E Street Band had taken turns with solos, Springsteen began his guitar part by holding a single note for a comical length of time, all the while wiping his brow as if dying of hard work — a guitar hero dad joke.
He’s clearly having fun even after some 50 years with the E Street Band, shouting “Max!” or “Steve!” to get the audience’s attention before Max Weinberg or Steven Van Zandt did something impressive. As drummer, Weinberg acted a bit as Master of Ceremonies, helping transition between songs and setting the tone with his body language. And Van Zandt remains a delightful ham, shredding on his paisley guitars and mugging for the cameras. Jake Clemons, who has been touring saxophonist since the death of his uncle Clarence Clemons, has emerged as a fan favorite, and got loud cheers at the start of every sax solo.
The E Street Band took one break that might have been longer than all of Springsteen’s little rests combined. In the second half of the set, he gave a longer speech about auditioning for his first band around the age of 15 with his sister’s boyfriend, a boy named George. Many years later, George died of lung cancer, and Springsteen realized that he was the last surviving member of that first band. Before playing “Last Man Standing,” he told the crowd, “Death’s final gift to the living is an expanded awareness of the possibilities of right now.”
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The main set ended with a torrid run of “Wrecking Ball” into “The Rising,” “Badlands,” and “Thunder Road.” Springsteen and the E Street Band all joined together and took a bow, but they didn’t leave the stage; didn’t even pretend that the music was over.
The first encore was the wildest portion of the whole night. Things kicked off with a full-stadium rendition of “Born to Run” sung at a volume that was surely audible in Indiana. During “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” Bruce and most of the mobile members of the E Street Band, including Van Zandt, Clemons, Nils Lofgren, and Patti Scialfa all danced around a mic stand like it was a maypole.
“Hey Stevie,” Springsteen repeated during “Glory Days,” “Hey Stevie, hey Stevie, hey Stevie, I think it’s time to go home.” Both men soaked in 40,000 or so “Boos!” and got the audience on their feet again for “Dancing in the Dark.” Oh, you thought Springsteen was finished? Crank up the volume for “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out!”
Three hours, 26 songs, no breaks. But the music must stop for all of us, eventually, as Springsteen acknowledged during the second encore: a rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams” dedicated to Robbie Robertson, legendary co-founder of The Band who had passed away earlier that day. “Up around the river bend,” Springsteen sang, “For death is not the end/ And I’ll see you in my dreams.”
The Wrigley Field concert ended soon afterwards, though to paraphrase the man himself, the end is not the end. Today, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are one of the most electrifying shows in the world. And the music isn’t stopping any time soon.
Setlist:
No Surrender
Ghosts
Prove It All Night
Letter to You
The Promised Land
Out in the Street
Darlington County
Kitty’s Back
Nightshift (Commodores cover)
The E Street Shuffle
Mary’s Place
Johnny 99
Last Man Standing
Backstreets
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Encore:
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Second Encore:
I’ll See You in My Dreams
Bruce Springsteen Kicks Off North American Tour with World-Class Performance in Chicago: Review
Wren Graves
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