BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : Baltimore 2023

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : BALTIMORE 2023

Disc One (65:12)

No Surrender
Ghosts
Prove It All Night
Letter To You
The Promised Land
Out In The Street
Lucky Town
Kitty's Back
Nightshift
Hungry Heart
pay me my money down

Disc Two (51:15)

The E Street Shuffle
Last Man Standing
Backstreets
Because The Night
She's The One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands

Disc Three (42:28)

Thunder Road
Born To Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Glory Days
Dancing In The Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
I'll See You In My Dreams

Label : Live.BruceSpringsteen.Net

Venue : CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Recording Date : April 7, 2023

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Concert Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Before the first leg of the 2023 International Tour concludes with three shows in New York-New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band arrived in Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena this past Friday night with their sights set on delivering another thrilling show. The first three shows of this final month on the first North American leg saw the performances pronounced and the surprises sweet in New York, Brooklyn and Cleveland, and fans were hoping for more of the same here, even with the knowledge that the setlist would most likely be the same. It was indeed a typical start to this show where it concerned the opening six-pack, however the quality of these performances was more than enough to assure Baltimore that Springsteen and the E Street Band weren’t taking an easy route in repeating their setlist. “No Surrender,” “Ghosts,” “Prove It All Night,” “Letter To You” and “The Promised Land” stupefied the CFG Bank Arena with an overwhelming amount of intensity and passion from all onstage – Bruce, Little Stevie Van Zandt and Jake Clemons especially – resonating throughout the venue to set the scene for a night of damn good music. The triple-shot of “Ghosts,” “Prove It” and “Letter To You” was a truly special example of the energy those onstage were bringing to the show, and they really raised the bar for the rest of the night to touch. Saying that, it wasn’t all damn good during the opening half-hour, as “Out in the Street” came with a misstep (it’s been a while!) that saw Bruce and Stevie out of sync. A rarity. As has often been the case with this song on the 2023 tour, though, the drawback was jovially received by Bruce and those onstage found their footing in the end to make for an almost perfect rendition, and six-pack. Although the twenty-second tour performance of the River rocker was flawed, there were thankfully no faults in the song that followed: a 2023 tour first. That’s right, in what must be the biggest surprise of the tour so far, “Lucky Town” replaced “Candy’s Room” – an appropriate selection in Charm City – and with an equal amount of intensity, fire, joy and defiance to the Darkness gem, it served as a superb substitute, while managing to magnify the mood that the previous six songs had established in the arena on account of the sensational reaction it fostered. It wasn’t just comparable to “Candy” either, as not only did the guitar playing in the coda compare with “Prove It” for the excitement – and sheer amazement – that it evoked, but with lyrical ties to “Last Man Standing” (“coat of fine leather and snakeskin boots”) and “Letter To You” (“that coat always had a thread hangin’ loose”) this one came across as more thematically important in the story Bruce has been telling us with the unyielding setlist. It was a shame for Baltimore to miss out on one of the tour’s stand out songs, but what they got in its place was something to remember. Ferocious guitar led us out of the title track of one of Bruce’s 1992 LPs, and it nicely led into “Kitty’s Back” for a resounding conclusion to a staggering start in Baltimore. Buoyed on by his spontaneous audible (the handwritten setlist showed “Lucky Town” pencilled in to be played later, while “Candy’s Room” remained in its usual spot) the WIESS show stopper felt much looser on this night than usual, as Bruce evidenced in his fluid interrogatives of “What can I do?” before the E Street Band took a similar approach in their instrumental break. That looseness transcended these sequences, and with the E Street Horns and E Street Choir at the forefront of the music in their first performance of the night – Lisa Lowell’s backing vocals stood out on this occasion even more than they did in Cleveland – if anyone in Baltimore was ruing the absence of “Candy’s Room” as much as they were celebrating the addition of “Lucky Town,” these twelve minutes ensured there were smiles on every face inside the CFG Bank Arena. The joyous atmosphere was momentarily subdued next, with the equal parts solemn and inspiring “Nightshift” supplementing the setlist’s themes of mortality, legacy and living right now as another solid showcase of our Horns and Choir – Curtis King Jr. primarily – with additionally notable efforts from Bruce, Stevie and Anthony Almonte on percussion. Anthony would further make his presence felt in “The E Street Shuffle” about twenty minutes later, but there were two more songs in-between, and I mentioned last time out that the post-“Nightshift” slot is being referred to by fans as ‘the wild card’ where any song can pop up, however it seemed pretty obvious what was going to follow the Commodores cover and Only The Strong Survive track on this night. So much so that when Bruce said “Oh yeah what did I want to say, erm, oh yeah I’ve got a wife and kid in-!” his audience showed absolutely no hesitation in finishing the line off for him. This led into a fun version of the River rouser, “Hungry Heart,” highlighted by the Choir’s stellar harmonies and Jake’s flawless sax outro, and I must say that while fans can negatively look at songs such as this one being a ‘surprise’ outing in relation to the static setlist, for me it’s a pleasure to listen to them and have them sound fresh after so many performances over the last two decades. The same can be said about the song that followed, “Pay Me My Money Down,” which continued the fun and gave the Horns another opportunity to shine. Shine they did, and that was also the case for Soozie Tyrell and Charlie Giordano, who delighted the enchanted audience with breezy instrumentals of their own. Then came “The E Street Shuffle,” my stand out song performance of the tour, and this version showed why I feel so strongly about that. Flooring Baltimore, Anthony’s aforementioned percussion powerfully blended with Max Weinberg’s drumming in an “anything you can do…” battle to help see the song out, and that wasn’t all, as this one saw more enthralling Horns riffs as well as extra vigorous guitar playing from Bruce who sang with as much dedication as I can recall hearing in any other show. I’ve commented in the past that when Bruce is enjoying himself, his energy greatly influences the enjoyment of those in the house and those of us listening to the audio, and that was most certainly the case here. On the other side of that coin, when Bruce contrasts songs of joy with songs of sorrow, the emotional expressivity he puts into those performances has a similar affect on the audience. On this tour he’s been expertly playing songs such as “The E Street Shuffle,” “Pay Me My Money Down” and “Johnny 99” before “Last Man Standing,” his tribute to the legacies of George Theiss and The Castilles, and the shift in emotions has been palpable. That was no less the case on this night as it has been on any other, and as he celebrated his time in his “first real rock and roll band,” he called it his “greatest adventure,” stressing the significance by noting it was only three years, and that the E Street Band have lasted for fifty in comparison. The sadness of knowing The Castiles’ story has ended, and that it can’t be relived was felt by all inside the arena during this solo performance, but nobody felt it more than the man onstage, and as Bruce stated “I’m the last man standing now,” the sigh with which he sang “now” was as profound as anything else on April 7th. Gutting. The power of “Last Man Standing” was amplified by the song that followed, and while “Backstreets” was without those evocative guitar riffs I spoke so highly of in my Cleveland review, that wasn’t a problem because the song soared without them. Thanks to stellar playing by Charlie, Roy Bittan, Stevie and the passion of Bruce – “you can blame it all ME” – there was so much to appreciate here, and the guitar that was played was equally as gorgeous as the riffs that have complemented the keyboards during the intro, if not even more. Bruce’s guitar solo allowed to him let just about all of his pain out, before evoking the rest in a cleansing interlude that saw him borrow lines from “I’ll See You in My Dreams” in further tribute to George Theiss, and in a thunderous finale that was best evidenced in his raging “on the backstreets toniiiiiiight!”. Euphoric. The song Bruce took lines from during his “Backstreets” interlude concluded the show as per usual – or rather the second set as it can be strongly argued “Backstreets” was the finale of a unique first – but before it came eleven more driven song performances. Yes, there was no change to these eleven songs that have anchored the remainder of the setlist since opening night in Tampa, but the consistency only allowed us to measure the changes and the improvements made since February 1st. Following hard-rocking renditions of “Because the Night” and “She’s the One” that re-established an uplifting atmosphere, “Wrecking Ball” and “The Rising” brought more emotion with the extra inspiration that they’ve been played with lately, before “Badlands” restored the joy once more. Concluding the set with the extra fervour that Springsteen and the E Street Band have added to its performances through tightened playing, this version of the Darkness titan also saw Bruce soulfully sing “badlaaaands!” during the coda, and I absolutely loved this moment of passion to go alongside the fire of the music! This blend of soul and fervour was found in the encore, also, with Bruce’s final shouts of “to ruuuun!” a fantastic example of the former in the magnum opus, and his frenzied antics with Stevie, Jake, Soozie and Nils Lofgren in “Rosalita” covered the latter in abundance. Defiance also flowed through the final sequence of the night, with a desire from everyone to stay inside the arena made clear during “Glory Days” ultimately giving those onstage a second wind. From the moment Bruce declared “let’s rock this thing, Steve!” the E Street Band’s playing became all the more delightful, and after Bruce gained extra assurance from Baltimore with declarations of “Does anybody wanna go home?! Does anybody wanna keep on rockin’?!”, the music remained delightful as “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” brought the E Street Band’s night to an emphatic end. Before the tour started Bruce said he wanted to give fans a “rock show,” and though “Dreams” brought the night to an end in sentimental fashion, I’m sure fans left the CFG Bank Arena with the same exhaustion that only an E Street rock show can bring. As they reach the end of their first North American leg on the 2023 tour, Springsteen and the E Street Band raised a high bar in Baltimore, delivering the thrilling performance they were hoping to play in front of an inspired audience. Led by an opening six-pack highlighted by awesome versions of “Ghosts,” “Prove It All Night” and Letter To You,” the CFG Bank Arena were soon witness to what may end up being the leg’s biggest surprise, as “Lucky Town” took the place of “Candy’s Room” and lived up to the standard set by the Darkness track with searing guitar at the forefront of an exciting performance. Not long later, “Hungry Heart” made its second outing of the tour as an apropos selection in Baltimore (Jack!) and it helped establish a joyous tempo along with “Pay Me My Money Down” and tour essential “The E Street Shuffle” before the tour essential pairing of “Last Man Standing” into “Backstreets” stole the show away with the emotional expressivity reaching a high point. Excitement anchored the second half of the show, as best evidenced in the likes of “Badlands,” “Rosalita,” “Glory Days” and “Dancing in the Dark,” before the song Bruce borrowed lines from in his special “Backstreets” interlude, “I’ll See You in My Dreams” closed the night out as a final tribute to the memory of George Theiss, and a final love letter to Baltimore for the kindness they’ve always shown Bruce, the E Street Band and their music. It’s a love that we know will have no end.