BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : CARDIFF JULY 23, 2013

 

Disc One (72:42)

  1. This Little Light of Mine
  2. Long Walk Home
  3. Adam Raised a Cain
  4. Prove It All Night
  5. TV Movie
  6. Cynthia
  7. Roulette
  8. Death to My Hometown
  9. We Take Care of Our Own
  10. Wrecking Ball
  11. Spirit in the Night
  12. Hungry Heart

Disc Two (73:51)

  1. My City of Ruins
  2. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (with Eric Burdon)
  3. Boom Boom
  4. Cadillac Ranch
  5. Summertime Blues
  6. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
  7. Pay Me My Money Down
  8. Shackled and Drawn
  9. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
  10. The Rising
  11. Badlands

Disc Two (62:33)

  1. Tougher Than the Rest
  2. Born to Run
  3. Ramrod
  4. I'm a Rocker
  5. Dancing in the Dark
  6. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  7. Shout
  8. This Little Light of Mine
  9. Janey Don't You Lose Heart
  10. Thunder Road

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Recording Date : July 23, 2023

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Twenty-four hours before they played Leeds and Bruce Springsteen gave the First Direct Arena his blessing with an essential 2013 performance, he and the E Street Band rolled into Cardiff for their second show ever in Wales – following a fondly remembered outing in 2008. Now, thanks to the Archive Series, we’re one step closer to answering the question that has divided fans since July 2013: Cardiff or Leeds? Since the Archive Series began in the year 2014, it’s really prioritised the first year of the Wrecking Ball World Tour with eight shows from 2012 to the now-three from 2013. Although no fan has ever argued against it, this prioritising has certainly indicated that 2012 is viewed as the stronger side of the tour. Make no mistake though, Springsteen and the E Street Band brought it in 2013, too, even if the leg wasn’t as consistent. On one hand, this year brought about many full album shows that many fans saw as safe, somewhat predictable affairs; and on the other they brought shows that served as a sublime extension of what made 2012 so glorious. Even if thematic focus had been lost in favour of spontaneity, 2013 wasn’t without nights filled with thrills and outstanding performances. Of course, Cardiff falls into the latter. There were thrills from the off on this night, kicking off with a righteous reading of “This Little Light of Mine,” a Cindy Mizelle anchored anthem that may seem out of place at the top of a rock show, but a song that was very nicely conveying the spiritual, joyous atmosphere that arguably only E Street shows are capable of evoking. Then, a dream of a setlist that only the E Street Band could deliver during this period. “Long Walk Home” was without a Little Steven Van Zandt spotlight akin to what we can hear on the recently released October 14th, 2009 show from Philadelphia, but that was fine here as the song was equally soulful and passionate without it, perplexing us once again as to why the song isn’t a setlist regular ten years later. Where Stevie’s spotlight is absent, the Magic cut stunned on this night thanks to incredibly punctuated efforts from the E Street Horns as well as a strong, gritty Springsteen vocal – check out when he sings about the “flag flyin’ over the courthouse…”. It was a sharp contrast in tone to the joyful hymn that started the show, but aptly followed as another example of dedication from the men and women onstage. “Adam Raised a Cain” continued this delicacy of an opening as another example, and this one also received the Horns treatment (an acquired taste for some, but an addition not without effect), complementing an inspired Springsteen reading in which the man also brought it on guitar beside Stevie and Nils Lofgren. More guitar goodness followed as “Prove It All Night” made for a Darkness duo, and to fully appreciate this one we must take into account Bruce’s pre-song comment of “an easy one first!”. To hear him take this nonchalant attitude and then go on to deliver vocals and guitar of that quality is perhaps as good a testament to the level he and the E Street Band were playing at in 2013 as anything else in this show. Bruce’s pre-“Prove It” comment came about from a sign request he’d taken in-between the two Darkness tracks. As was often the case during this timeframe, it was for a rarity, but on this night the selection was a rarity in the form of the “ridiculous” “TV Movie,” which here made its world premiere as a one time only performance. In 2024, as every other artist gets a film made about them, it’s all the more funny listening to Bruce sing about the experience – or low rate experience, rather – that he hasn’t yet received, especially with his lyrics about changing his ethnicity and story outright. All the while he was backed here by rambunctious, rockabilly music that ensured this “you heard it first, you heard it last!” experience for Cardiff was a near-spotless one. With “TV Movie,” joining “What Love Can Do” and that enthralling “Where the Bands Are” from the December releases, the Archive Series is on a barnstorming run at present. More Tracks cuts followed the world premiere, with one of Stevie’s favourites, “Cynthia,” next to continue to the dazzling atmosphere, before the arguable highpoint of the 1998 boxset, “Roulette,” concluded the trio with Max Weinberg anchoring a towering, scathing rendition. Although “Roulette” concluded the run of Tracks songs (for the time being), those onstage didn’t relent with the scathing music as touring track “Death to My Hometown” was next, fronting a trio of Wrecking Ball material including “We Take Care of Our Own” and a highly passionate reading of the title track – Bruce’s cry of “TURNED INTO PARKING LOTS!” very indicative of that passion. This stretch of the show can be viewed as interesting because while the tour had titled well into spontaneity by this point, the crux of Wrecking Ball was visible in Cardiff with these three songs, “Spirit in the Night” afterward, and “My City of Ruins” not far behind. The latter two songs were only broken up in fact by “Hungry Heart” in-between, which we could say summed up the shift in structure. The two lengthy songs stand out in this sequence on account of the monologues Bruce interpolated into them, with “Spirit” seeing Bruce speak about his guitar, a “totem of possibility,” depending on “what you did with it” – the famous story that he’d later take to Broadway with him – and equal parts laud and lament the fact that “next July, for me fifty years from that first July. F*ck!”; while “Ruins” overpowers in emotion as a song about “people we’ve lost, miss, and the scars they leave.” Bruce acknowledged the song’s power in helping strengthen us through many contexts, but its purpose in strengthening on this night, and tour outright, was made clear in his declarations of “they made that change uptown!”. The song performances that Bruce’s words support are undeniably stellar, having been perfected over the last year and a half, but it’s the words that take them to another level. When Bruce calls to take us back in for the home stretch of “Ruins” with “alright let me hear ya,” it’s a pure goosebumps moment. With emotions very high, Cardiff were given an especially joyous moment next as Bruce brought out Eric Burdon of The Animals for “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” A highlight of the great shows of the mid-70s, for Springsteen and the E Street Band to sing this song with Burdon, one of their idols, was surely just as special for them as the audience watching on inside Millennium Stadium. Musically, it isn’t a performance fans who weren’t in the house may revisit often. Of course, the E Street Band were spotless playing a song they know like the back of their hand, and Burdon also gave his all, but this is an instance where the significance of the moment outweighs the quality of the performance. Its significance is one of many reasons why this show is so fondly remembered, too.