BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : EAST RUTHERFORD 2023 THIRD NIGHT

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : EAST RUTHERFORD 2023 THIRD NIGHT

Disc One (56:08)

Lonesome Day
Night
No Surrender
Two Hearts
Prove It All Night
Something In The Night
Letter To You
The Promised Land
Spirit In The Night
Kitty’s Back

Disc Two (59:50)

Nightshift
Atlantic City
Mary's Place
Last Man Standing
Backstreets
Because The Night
She's The One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising

Disc Three (61:37)

Badlands
Thunder Road
Jungleland
Born To Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Detroit Medley
Dancing In The Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Jersey Girl

Label : live.brucespringsteen.net

Venue : MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA

Recording Date : September 3, 2023

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Concert Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Night three in New Jersey, oh what joyful words to write. Seven months into the 2023 International Tour with two largely unchanged three-night stands already behind us, it could be said that a third show in one city isn’t that big of a deal. This is a MetLife #3, however, and despite how much the shows in Dublin and Gothenburg meant to Bruce, a truly triumphant finale on home turf is of much more importance. As I came to the end of my night two review, I talked about the determination with which he, Little Steven Van Zandt and the E Street Band were performing, pondering whether they’d be able to up the ante for September 3rd. If seven months of stellar, but similar shows had us thinking that wasn’t possible, this night was a true reminder that Springsteen and the E Street Band are still capable of anything. Of course, this would turn out to be the last night of the 2023 International Tour as Bruce, suffering from peptic ulcer disease, would be unable to play the remaining shows from September 7th onwards. Those shows have since been rescheduled to 2024 (more on all this at the end of this review) but as for September 3rd, Bruce willed himself on despite his illness to deliver a damn good one – there’s that determination! Perhaps going into this night he knew very well that this would be the tour finale; perhaps he simply wanted to create another special night in New Jersey, but what’s for certain is that this tour ended on a high, with surprises from beginning to end. Let’s get stuck into it! The first surprise of the night was the opening two songs, and the fact they were no different to what kicked off nights one and two. Yes, it’s very rare that a multi-night stand in New Jersey sees no variation from the off, but if we wanted another typification of the 2023 Tour, this was it. As was the case on August 30th and September 1st, though, “Lonesome Day” and “Night” were a class way to kick off proceedings, giving MetLife an immediate serving of themes and electricity. The “No Surrender” that followed added to that, and the determination was rife throughout this one with Bruce’s soulful declaration of “I’m ready to grow younnng again!” being my favourite moment amidst a barnstorming E Street Band performance. The next song was barnstorming, too, but it wasn’t the song we’re used to hearing after the Born in the U.S.A. fan favourite, oh no, because for the first time in the year 2023 “Ghosts” was out, and in its place was “Two Hearts” for its tour debut. With Max Weinberg launching the Band in, this River rocker saw an exuberant effort from the pairing of Springsteen and Van Zandt, who seamlessly picked up where they left off in 2016 where this song was a nightly feature. Their animated vocals combined superbly with their striking guitars – Nils Lofgren’s too – and when it came time for their duet of “It Takes Two” at the finish, it was almost cathartic after so long without hearing it. Bruce’s declaration of “Little Steven! Don’t he look great?! He lost a lot of weight!” afterward (another statement fans haven’t heard in a while) was simply a bonus! After the River rocker came one from Darkness, and we could call “Prove It All Night” the 2023 Tour rocker as well given how consistently class it’s been, particularly where it concerns its guitar playing. Bruce and Little Steven didn’t disappoint in that area on this night, and neither did Jake Clemons who set the tone for a performance of punctuated solos by giving New Jersey blissful saxophone. “Prove It All Night” was the first of thirteen songs played here that would ultimately feature every night in the year 2023, and while the combination of “Last Man Standing” into “Backstreets” served as the tour’s most important songs, I think hearing “Prove It” evolve as it did in every show was the greatest privilege. As the sweltering guitars of “Prove It All Night” came to a halt, Bruce counted in another Darkness track, just as he did on September 1st. However on this night it wasn’t the title track that followed, but rather a song we’ve been less accustomed to hearing since February 1st. One of those songs that is just perfect for a late summer night in New Jersey, “Something in the Night” added to the growing excitement and special atmosphere inside MetLife, bringing evocative drums, guitars and a potent vocal – “Yeah yeah yea-eaaaahhhh woaaaahhh-ohhhhhhh!” – in abundance as a magical performance of a true gem in the catalogue. It was followed by a story about what Bruce arguably found on those long drives in “Letter To You,” and the passion that anchored the tour’s unofficial title track certainly seeped into an extra cathartic version of “The Promised Land,” before “Spirit in the Night” wrapped up this special opening portion in equally liberating fashion. Amplifying the already immense feeling of community inside the stadium, this second outing for the Greetings track was a very strong follow-up to its tour debut forty-eight hours prior, with an awesome hold before kicking into the song-proper standing out to me early on; and Bruce’s solid vocal showing standing out also. This wasn’t without a lyrical stumble either, but any missteps were much less noticeable than on night two, and with the sensational efforts of Jake and the E Street Band to go alongside Bruce’s positives, this was more or less spotless. A delightful opening forty-five minutes was followed by “Kitty’s Back,” which just about wrapped up the first hour, and the WIESS titan – another song to feature in every show this tour, which is an insane statistic, no matter what your stance is on it in October 2023 – fronted a lengthy portion of songs that have held firm in position for most, if not all of the tour. More surprises would follow in the home stretch, but for the next hour and twenty-five minutes this was all about playing strong versions of songs that have shaped the tour’s thematic core, such as “Nightshift,” “Mary’s Place,” “Wrecking Ball” and the aforementioned “Last Man Standing” into “Backstreets.” The exception to this was “Atlantic City,” which followed the Commodores cover – again in its typical full band arrangement – as an appropriate and all-enthralling addition to the setlist in New Jersey. Led by Bruce’s ardent vocal (“trouble bustin’ in from outer state!”; “with you forever I’ll stay!”) and nicely punctuated by the E Street Horns’ riffs and sparkling mandolin of Little Steven, this performance was good enough to make you rue it not featuring nightly on the tour entire, but grateful that in the end we got four fantastic versions to listen to over and over. The four-and-out “Atlantic City” would soon be followed by seven songs that we did hear every night of the tour (I agree, it should have been eight as “Thunder Road” should be an ever-present) and at the finish line, whether planned or not, it impressed me how Springsteen and the E Street Band retained their passion for each of them. Of course, the imperative tribute to George Theiss in “Last Man Standing” and “Backstreets” was never going to see Bruce without immense emotion, and I’m very pleased this show saw faultless readings of both, but for songs such as “Because the Night,” “She’s the One” and even “Wrecking Ball” that many fans saw as expendable during the tour, their importance to Bruce and the story he wanted to tell shone through here with each played with that determination I talked about earlier. For as good as these songs and the main-set ending duo of “Badlands” and “Thunder Road” were, though, it was a similar story to nights one and two with “The Rising” standing out above all as a magnificent performance made all the more so by the way Bruce’s vocal resounded throughout MetLife Stadium. Just like with “Prove It” at the top of the show, “The Rising” has been a revelation on this tour, and it’s very fitting that on what would be its final night, the song stood out once again in this post-“Backstreets” sequence. To determine the stand out song of the encore isn’t as easy. A fascinating aspect of this tour that many fans noticed is that, as it went on, Bruce would tinker with the opening portion as he did on this night, but keep the shows very consistent from “Kitty’s Back” onwards give or take a song or two. The twenty-one songs above seemed to suggest this show would follow a similar script. For night three in MetLife, though, the final seven songs flipped that script on its head, and an encore of changes was fronted by “Jungleland.” I love those song performances where the cheers of the audience get louder with the realisation of what is happening, mainly because you don’t get them too often – think about Clarence Clemons’ appearance on June 24th, 1993 or Little Steven’s on November 26th, 1996 – and this was one of them. A triumph for a triumphant finale on home turf, this was as emotionally charged as you could expect a second tour outing of this song to be, and the performance from all onstage was mesmerising, even if Jake’s recitation of The Solo was one that won’t stand at the top of his past efforts. When we listen (4:11 on the recording), we hear a man playing with such enthusiasm that he evidently loses himself in the music, nearly continuing the solo as the E Street Band bring it back down for the finale! It was something that made for a slightly less polished solo, but where not a soul in that stadium cared about an imperfection, for those of us listening to the Live Download recording, we get a “Jungleland” driven by pure love for music. That’s alright with me. Incredibly, “Jungleland” was only one surprise in this final sequence, and after riveting renditions of “Born to Run” and “Rosalita” further roused up the New Jersey audience, those onstage took it a little higher by bringing out the “Detroit Medley”! I suppose after that superb version of “Glory Days” on night two, there was no way Bruce and Stevie could follow that song up, so the best approach was to rollick the house in a truly retro fashion! Oozing with cool vocals and rampant instrumentals, “The Medley” mightn’t have been the key to making this night as special as it was, but its presence most certainly didn’t hurt. The same can be said about the song that followed, and ultimately ended the tour after equally rollicking versions of “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” the New Jersey staple, “Jersey Girl.” Yes, for the first time in the year 2023, a song other than “I’ll See You in My Dreams” sent fans home – and of course “I’ll See You in My Dreams” was absent from a show – but for a night as unconventional in the grand scope of the 2023 International Tour as this one, that really made a perfect finale, didn’t it? Bruce may have been struggling with what he’d later call “a bitch of a bellyache” here, but in listening to this song, you’d struggle to believe it as he sung with such conviction and with such soul, while the E Street Band backed him with gorgeous harmonies and likewise music – Jake Clemons sending us out with another stormer! The significance of the absent “I’ll See You in My Dreams” that I’ve been talking about since February leads me to believe that Springsteen, the E Street Band and MetLife Stadium may yet meet again in 2024, but for now, where “Dreams” typified the 2023 International Tour show, this “Jersey Girl” finale typified what truly felt like an old school Springsteen and the E Street Band experience. And that’s the 2023 International Tour! As mentioned at the top of the review, the remaining dates in the United States and Canada were postponed on account of Bruce’s illness, and soon rescheduled for 2024. Dates for the European leg are due, well, any minute now, and I’m looking forward to reviewing (and hopefully attending) these shows, starting with March 19th in Phoenix, AZ. Until then, I want to give a massive, massive thank you to everyone who has read a review this year. It’s meant the world to me that fans have taken an interest in my thoughts on the tour, and I hope these write-ups will continue to serve you all well going forward! Roll on the 2024 International Tour!