Bruce Wrecks Coventry

Bruce Wrecks Coventry

I have been to see Bruce Springsteen before in 2008 at the Emirates Stadium in London. That was my first time I had seen him and to be honest I was not really much of a fan then, but my friend offered me a spare ticket so I went along with him. I did not really know a lot of his songs apart from the classics, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark etc. The whole event past in a flash and it was over quite quickly which was surprising as it was nearly 3 hours long. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Since that day I have been converted Bruce fan.

So forward to 2012 Bruce announced the Wrecking Ball tour with a date near where I live. So I thought I would repay my friend and get some tickets. I got really good seats in the second row at the side. The audience was a real mix of people from the young to the older generation which was nice to see a new generation of Bruce fans.

After a bit of a rush getting there we just made it to our seats and on comes Bruce who starts off with an acoustic solo of The Ghost of Tom Joad.  This was a fantastic opening. The rest of the E Street band came on stage and started with Long Walk Home from the Magic album one of my favourite tracks from that album.

As per usual Bruce took a few requests from the crowd. One of which was "I would look good playing your guitar" to which Bruce responded with " I bet you would we may check that out later" another few highlights was when a chap got a man hug of Bruce and when a chap handed him a card celebrating a new born child Bruce said "don't fuck it up now the heat is on" as if he was a preacher.

Bruce and the band played a few requests before dedicating the Born to Run album to their good friend James Galdolfini who passed away less than 24 hours earlier. Starting out with Thunder Road and ending with Jungleland which is my favorite Bruce Springsteen track. I had seen Clarence Clements play it ay the Emirates and with Clarence passing away Jake Clements his nephew did the big man justice.



A few tracks later Bruce performed Waiting On a Sunny Day with the help of this chap.

For the encore Bruce played six songs staring with We are alive and ending with American Land. When the synthesized intro of Born in the USA started the crowd went wild.This is an iconic Bruce track and is instantly recognizable just from the intro. During the encore he invited the lady who would look good playing his guitar to the stage for a go on his guitar during Dancing in the Dark.

synthesized

synthesized

synthesized

 

The main difference between Bruce and many of the other acts that tour is that each night you will get something different. The majority of other acts will play the same set each night without any variation and you would going and see them a few times during a tour and see exactly the same set but with Bruce you don't get that, what you get is partly a set and part requests. Bruce may well be in his sixty's but the energy that he has still got to do nearly 3 hours each night of his tour with a different set and no warm up acts. 

While most of the population of the world is thinking about retiring around Bruce's age, he is showing no signs of stopping. If you have never been to a Bruce Springsteen gig before then make sure you put it on your bucket list. Other artists come and go but Bruce has stayed strong for over 40 years giving his fans the ultimate show ensuring he remains the boss.