BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : DUBLIN 2023 FIRST NIGHT

 

Disc One (55:21)

  1. No Surrender
  2. Ghosts
  3. Prove It All Night
  4. Letter To You
  5. The Promised Land
  6. Out In The Street
  7. Candy's Room
  8. Kitty's Back
  9. Nightshift

Disc Two (61:53)

  1. Mary's Place
  2. Johnny 99
  3. The E Street Shuffle
  4. Last Man Standing
  5. Backstreets
  6. Because The Night
  7. She's The One
  8. Wrecking Ball
  9. The Rising

Disc Three (54:04)

  1. Badlands
  2. Thunder Road
  3. Land of hope and dreams / people get ready
  4. born in the u.S.A
  5. Born To Run
  6. Glory Days
  7. Dancing In The Dark
  8. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  9. I'll See You In My Dreams

Label : live.brucespringsteen.net

Venue : RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland

Recording Date : May 5, 2023

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Concert Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Following their opening two shows of the 2023 European leg in Barcelona, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band arrived in Dublin for three shows in the RDS Arena. Would these shows break new ground on the tour and see the setlist really open up? Or would they make it fully apparent that the unyielding setlist we’ve had since February 1st is here to stay? As was the case with night one in Barcelona, fans weren’t expecting this May 5th show to provide an immediate answer, but they were hoping for a strong follow up to two enjoyable nights in Catalonia. Meanwhile onstage, Bruce was surely wanting to play a strong show, himself, one that would set a high bar in a week that was more of a pilgrimage for him than it was your typical tour stop. In his 2016 autobiography, “Born to Run,” Bruce talked a fair amount about his Irish heritage – his great-great grandmother would leave Ireland aged fourteen in 1852 and settle in Freehold – and photos since released of his time in the country have shown him visiting graveyards, walking with the ghosts of those who fell to the famine his great-great grandmother survived, and the ghosts of those who stayed, and tried their best to start anew after the devastation. While in Ireland, Bruce also visited other local establishments and landmarks, taking in a few drinks along the way, and he also took the time to meet up with a local hero, Shane MacGowan. Three years – to the day – before this show, the fourth episode of Bruce’s From My Home to Yours was released, while we all tried our best to survive our own generational crisis, and in that episode he spoke as highly about Shane MacGowan as anyone else I can recall hearing him talk about. Recalling a memorable evening in which he had dinner with Shane and Joe Ely in Dublin, he told us that “Shane’s voice is nearly undecipherable in a loud restaurant, but I was such an admirer, and I love him, and I was happy just to sit across from him. And all I know is with the exception of Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry, I’m not sure about the rest of us, but I know we’ll be singing Shane MacGowan songs one hundred years from now.” With that quote in mind, it can be said that this standard affair in the sunshine on night one inside the RDS Arena brought to Dublin the set Bruce crafted to represent the legacy he and the E Street Band wish to leave behind, so that their work may be best exemplified a hundred years from now. On paper, it’s a setlist that may seem uninteresting having been played many times now, but as was the case with other shows on this tour that have been without major surprises (Kansas City, Denver, Washington), this one saw an excellent performance. It was a performance kicked off by “No Surrender,” which regained its place after the tour debut of “My Love Will Not Let You Down” on April 30th, and it fronted a string of songs played with great purpose, particularly “Ghosts” and “Prove It All Night” that saw animated backing vocals from Little Steven Van Zandt (“bones!”; “home!”) in addition to his sweltering guitar playing beside Bruce in both songs, the latter even more so. In fact, Bruce’s midpoint solo in the latter was so heated on this night, that I’d dare say the song was back to the fiery levels of late-on in North America! Further fire followed in “Letter To You” (regardless of its shift in tone) and “The Promised Land,” which saw Stevie shine again with stunning harmonies, before a very animated “Out in the Street” complemented the Darkness track prior by bringing more joy into the RDS Arena. Upon the end of the River rouser came another cut from the 1978 LP, and while the tone of “Candy’s Room” isn’t quite as joyous, there surely wasn’t a sad face in the house during this one. With the mesmerising efforts of Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg anchoring before Bruce and Stevie’s guitars took control, it was a great return to the setlist for this song that was left out on night two in Barcelona, and Bruce was evidently feeling its potency as evidenced when he vividly sang lines such as “we go… driving!” and “no no nooo!”. Then, as “Candy’s Room” ended and Bruce searingly segued into “Kitty’s Back,” Dublin soon realised that the Darkness track was just the first of several successive songs Bruce would be feeling on the night. The twelve minute titan from The Wild and Innocent saw him complement a vigorous vocal with vicious guitar, and even when he wasn’t singing or playing, he was directing the stage to ensure Charlie Giordano and the E Street Horns particularly stood out, with Curt Ramm playing some damn good riffs in-between Ozzie Melendez, Barry Danelian, Eddie Manion and Jake Clemons, before they all combined to show Dublin what magic is released when they mesh their instrumentals together. The E Street Horns carried their strong playing into “Nightshift,” but on this occasion the stars of the show were the E Street Choir, and while this song has typically seen Curtis King Jr. spotlighted solely on the tour, here all four members – Ada Dyer, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore – got a post-song shout out. In addition to the stupendous efforts of the Choir, this reading of the soul cover featured some delectable guitar licks played by Little Stevie, and it also saw Bruce sing with so much vocal conviction, from his joyful assurance of “oh I bet you’ll pull a crowd!” to his final cry of “I knooow you’re not aloooooone” that has now become a regular aspect of the song – and I can’t be happier about it! Even better is that Bruce’s sublime vocal nuances on the night weren’t done upon the end of the Commodores’ track. An exuberant “Mary’s Place” was best highlighted by the chemistry he shares with his drummer (“What’s supposed to happen… Max… no!”), and the “Johnny 99” that followed saw him stunningly declare “when an off duty cop snuck up on him from behiiiind!”; before adding to this revamped Nebraska track (complete with “More cowbell!” and some sumptuous Horns-led false finishes) in “The E Street Shuffle,” where he took so much glee in stating “sweeeeeet sixTEEN!” and later singing some falsetto during his harmonies prior to the frenzied coda of guitars, horns and percussion. The setlist may have been more standard than a third show in Europe normally is, and there may have been more pressure on Bruce in relation to his mission statement of leaving behind a good legacy on this night, but with that said, the delight shown and exuded in these songs surely outweighed the unsurprising nature of the setlist for the fans in the house, and when you’re making people happy, that is as good a legacy to leave behind as anything else. Bruce echoed those sentiments in the song that followed, as it was the song that speaks most of legacy in the setlist, “Last Man Standing.” His nightly tribute to George Theiss, The Castiles and the way their youthful passion transcended fifty years, here Bruce used the song to not only tell Dublin how important George Theiss was to his life, but how his passing helped him look at the positives of life as much as it made him reflect on the limited time we’re allotted more than he ever did prior. He stressed to Dublin the importance of being alive in the moment, and outright said to his audience that this is “why we meet like this.” It could be said that after fifty years of live performing, it was George Theiss’ passing that truly made Bruce understand what it’s all about. As always, Bruce’s monologue led into a stark rendition of the song he told Dublin is “about the passion we follow as children, not knowing where they’re gonna lead us” and its equal parts sorrow and beauty made for what was at this point the most emotional moment of the show. Upon its conclusion came the song that would take its position, “Backstreets.” A strikingly good version of the epic in Dublin was best highlighted by a true stunner of a guitar solo, and the force in Bruce’s voice as he sung so passionately beside his finely tuned E Street Band, with the nightly interlude grabbing his audience’s attention more than usual, because it quite possibly meant more to Bruce than usual on this occasion. Standing in the country where his ancestors’ spirits roam, it could be said that his words, borrowed from “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” weren’t just spoken to George Theiss on this night, but those he never met also. Promising to carry the physical and the spiritual memories “right here” with a hand on his heart, Bruce followed this up with an atypical approach, singing a ghostly, falsetto harmony for a few moments before he started to repeat “until the end…”. During his pilgrimage Bruce took the time to visit a local graveyard, and upon hearing this unique harmony it seems that the spirits he walked with then were also with him here. With emotions in the RDS Arena incredibly high, in the songs that followed Springsteen and the E Street Band sought to evoke more catharsis, first with hard-rocking, rousing versions of “Because the Night” and “She’s the One,” before “Wrecking Ball” and “The Rising” allowed all inside the house to release themselves of any more emotion. With the emotional themes of those two post-Reunion anthems served, it was then time to rock and rouse again with a thunderous version of “Badlands” flooring Dublin by way of emphatic drums, guitars and chanting sung by everyone – onstage or off. “Badlands” was followed by a strong “Thunder Road” that saw the main set out by enhancing the feeling of community inside the arena, but quite incredibly, that feeling was about to enhance even more at the top of the encore. Added to the setlist on this night was “Land of Hope and Dreams,” a song that many fans were expecting as they were aware Irish journalist Charlie Bird would be attending this show, and fans had come to understand the importance of this song for him in his fight against Motor Neurone Disease. Charlie had two wishes: to hear this song played on May 5th, and to meet Bruce before it. He got both! With a dedication from Bruce to his friend, Max rumbled everyone in for a mesmerising intro to a likewise performance, one that would overwhelm without the added context behind it, and one that more than breaks us when we know it. There was such a beauty to this, with the conviction in Bruce’s voice immense when he promised, “I’ll stand by your side! You need a good companion now, for this part of the ride!”; and the passion in those calls of “come on this train!” was also stunning during a spiritual coda. If there was one performance on the night that could unseat “Backstreets” as the most emotional moment of the show, it was this one! Fittingly, “Land of Hope and Dreams” was followed by “Born in the U.S.A.,” the solider story, a song for those who have been dealt a bad hand but continue to fight. Those onstage echoed that fight with a relentless performance, driven by Max’s towering drums, Bruce’s towering vocal and the striking keyboard riffs played by Roy and Charlie. The untiring commitment brought to this titan flowed into another, “Born to Run,” which nicely complemented the themes of the two songs prior with its promise of walking in the sun, someday, before the night drew out with a celebratory atmosphere. “Glory Days” is typically joyous, but with its added declarations of “That settles it… nobody wants to go home!” on this tour, it’s reaching new euphoric heights, while “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” once again shone on this night as tighter arrangements rid of any excess, evoking exhilaration from the audience to end the E Street Band’s night with spirits as high as they could possibly get. Bruce and the audience’s night then ended with him playing a song to complement those high spirits, “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” A song to leave the audience reflecting on the show they’ve just experienced, the message expressed through it, and to also leave them knowing that their relationship transcends a trio of near-three hour shows in the RDS Arena, Bruce put as much soul into this one as any other on the night, resulting in a very emotional finale on an important night for him. With the ghosts of family and friends by his side, he shared with Dublin a lovely reading for all of their ghosts too, and it was one that concluded a night centred around legacy with that theme at the forefront. A performance to remember. It was an unsurprisingly straightforward first night of three in Dublin, but as we’ve come to expect on the 2023 International Tour, it was one that saw several very strong song performances from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, who were playing with much purpose. For Bruce, this sojourn in Ireland was something of a pilgrimage, and his legacy set was highlighted by a man giving it his all, revelling in the joy of songs such as “Out in the Street,” “Johnny 99,” “The E Street Shuffle” and “Glory Days,” whilst showing a lot of emotion in songs including “Nightshift,” “Last Man Standing,” “Backstreets,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams” and the night’s stand out performance, “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which was dedicated to Irish journalist Charlie Bird as he fearlessly battles illness. Fans would leave this show excited as to how night two would shape up, but they wouldn’t be forgetting this one in a hurry.