Who wouldn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day with Bruce Springsteen? This week, the citadel of rock and roll has temporarily relocated to Brisbane, Australia. The last time Bruce and the E Street Band played this venue they performed The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle in its’ entirety… so anything was on the cards.
The set opened with New York City Serenade, augmented by an eight piece string section. Spellbinding, this has become one of the signature moments of the tour. The full house were in a particularly joyful mood as Bruce and the band kicked into a rousing and rare Lucky Town. Reaching for a sign, Janey Don’t You Lose Heart was next. Delivering a ‘Valentine’s Day triple’ Bruce offered some sage advice on what can be ‘the third loneliest day of the year’ … ‘Get the flowers on … one shitty rose is all it takes.’
Rendezvous was stunning and was followed by an equally uplifting, Be True. Next was another sign request, Back In Your Arms. Professor Roy kicked it off and Bruce and the band followed. As the song twisted and turned, Bruce gave it his all … before confiding … ‘the band has this all fucked up’. Bruce steered the E Streeters to focus on Nils as the ship was turned around.
‘We’re gonna (get) our asses into this thing if it kills us’, announced Bruce. To say Springsteen’s singing in the final furlong was magnificent would be underselling it. The song was saved, and Bruce, with great humour added ‘Before you commit suicide, let me play you this next one’.
Better Days, The Ties That Bind and Out In The Street made a mighty triumvirate. Hungry Heart got the collective house singing. Brisbane might have to sharpen up its’ skills in the pit – but the fans got a crowd surfing Bruce back to the stage and in one piece eventually.
Leap Of Faith made its’ tour debut and was followed by a hypnotic reading of The River. Watching Bruce on harmonica and Little Steven on acoustic guitar, as the song’s narrative unfolded, was one of the night’s many highlights.
With a setlist already littered with rarities and ‘tour debuts’, Bruce moved the intensity up a notch with Youngstown, Candy’s Room, She’s The One and Because The Night. Springsteen, as a lead guitarist, is one of this writer’s favourites. The bite in his lead lines, coupled with a mix of sparsity and (that word again)’Intensity’ has few peers. His playing on Candy’s Room was stunning, while Nils left us in awe during breakout pieces on Youngstown and Because The Night. Bruce fell to his knees during She’s The One. If the mosh pit wasn’t so packed we would have followed suit in salutation.
The Rising and Badlands were followed by Rosalita (complete with Three Stooges’ mugging). Still in Valentine’s mode Bruce pulled out a jaw dropping Secret Garden that swayed until the band hit a groove. Talk about ‘you complete me’ … what a setlist!
The house lights were up for Born To Run, which was followed in the encore by Dancing in The Dark and Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. By this stage the night was into interstellar overdrive. We know the Isley Brothers wrote Shout, and it’s been played by a million bands since. But tonight Queenslander’s saw the most incredible version of the song performed in this country since the Godfather of Australian rock and roll, Johnny O’Keefe, tore it to shreds with the Delltones, back in the mid-1950’s.
Tonight delivered pretty much everything you’d expect at a Springsteen gig. Hits, rarities, requests and a man and his band who are prepared night-after-night to go out on a limb and create magic. With his James Brown style cape at his feet Bruce urged us to to join him on Thursday night for ‘another spectacular’. Thank you brother. We’ll be there.
Words: Sean Sennett
Photo: Bill Donohue
