BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : LILLE 2025 SECOND NIGHT

 

Disc One (54:45)

  1. Land Of Hope And Dreams / People Get Ready
  2. Death To My Hometown
  3. Lonesome Day
  4. My Love Will Not Let You Down
  5. Rainmaker
  6. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
  7. The Promised Land
  8. Hungry Heart
  9. The River
  10. My Hometown

Disc Two (64:46)

  1. Youngstown
  2. Murder Incorporated
  3. Long Walk Home
  4. House Of A Thousand Guitars
  5. My City Of Ruins
  6. Because The Night
  7. Wrecking Ball
  8. The Rising
  9. Badlands
  10. Thunder Road

Disc Three (33:28)

  1. Born In The U.S.A.
  2. Born To Run
  3. Glory Days
  4. Dancing In The Dark
  5. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  6. Chimes Of Freedom

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France

Recording Date : May 27, 2025

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Although I had a great night in the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy, night one in Lille sadly wasn’t for everyone. Concerns about Bruce being ‘off’ was the talking point for most coming out of May 24th instead of any and all strong points from the night, and with that came some concern for May 27th, as well as the remainder of the tour. I can’t even begin to think about how nervous fans with tickets for Marseille will have been. Nevertheless, night two in Lille was to go on and a much smaller attendance than Saturday – there was seemingly a discrepancy of forty-thousand, with behind the stage tarped off and the front of stage railing also altered – excitably and curiously waited for Springsteen and the E Street Band to appear onstage. Would Bruce be in even better form tonight? And knowing his history of playing to an unsold-out venue, would he up the ante to ensure it wouldn’t happen again? If we were to judge a show based on setlist alone, which a lot of fans have being doing over the last two years, the latter would be answered with a ‘no,’ as the night shaped up almost identically to night one of the tour in Manchester – “The River” and “Glory Days” in; “Letter To You,” “Human Touch” and “Bobby Jean” out – but in doing that we wouldn’t be answering the question correctly. This was an exceptional performance, led by a man showing no sign of fatigue. The twenty-six song set opened in custom fashion, Bruce’s sociopolitically charged call to arms leading into a sensational “Land of Hope and Dreams.” He immediately spoke and sang here with more vibrancy, and that made for an invigorating start to proceedings – “for this part of the ri-ide!”; “let me see your hands!” – as the E Street Band: Charlie Giordano, Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan in particular commanded Lille’s attention with their efforts along with the E Street Horns. This was what everyone needed to ease concerns right from the get-go. Equal parts raging and rallying performances of “Death to My Hometown” and “Lonesome Day” followed to further showcase the step up in energy from Springsteen and the locked-in E Street Band, but as was the case on May 14th, the sociopolitical themes were briefly put on hold by “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” a wonderful affirmation of purpose and dedication. Bruce sang with as much ardency – if not more – as he did in the “Land of Hope and Dreams” opener to really drive his point home, and the E Street Band played with similar inspiration. The separation of instrumentation on the Download is particularly notable during this song, as we can blissfully hear the efforts of those beside and behind Bruce so clearly: the striking guitars of Little Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren; Max’s thunder; Garry Tallent’s driving bass, and the Horns’ gloriously punching riffs; listen out for their punctuation of Bruce singing “hold still now darlin’!” Stunning! “For our dear leader,” “Rainmaker” then stood out – which speaks volumes – in a towering trio that also featured “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “The Promised Land.” The blending of a soft and raging vocal was again so impactful to instil the song’s message into the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy audience’s systems; I love the way he recited the ultimate “they come for…” verse with daunting guitar and keyboards adding to the finale build, which further saw Max and Roy very impressive in-between that scathing guitar solo. Never did I think “Rainmaker” would translate as well in a live setting as it has, and this was another fantastic example of that. The live essentials that followed were also impressive on this night, with Little Steven’s pronounced guitar a stand out aspect of the mighty “Darkness” and a more polished “Promised Land” (no instance of Bruce missing his cue for the harmonica solo) turned out immense by way of Bruce’s highly passionate declaration of “I feel so weak I wanna explode!” and a stunning Jake Clemons-led coda. “The Promised Land” wasn’t the only song different in execution to May 24th, as “Hungry Heart” was back to usual. With nobody behind the stage, there was no reason for Bruce to uniquely halt the music and call on those frenzied fans to sing as he’d done on the Saturday night. Thankfully this one still had its positives, however, with the fans in front of the stage singing along very well, and of those onstage, it was Charlie with stunning organ riffs throughout that caught attention, before Jake’s powerful sax sent out a second successive song in style. The tempo then lowered for the wonderful pairing of “The River and “My Hometown,” which again called on Lille to sing, and make for a beautiful, extended moment of intimacy in the house. The former was the first instance of vocal ‘fragility’ from Bruce on the night, but he sang focused and with meaning just like he did on May 24th – listen out for Soozie Tyrell’s violin during the midpoint harmonica solo, and as Bruce sang “or it something worse?” too. Stunning. The only drawback here was the seemingly sudden end to the song, which is a shame, but nobody in Lille was deterred and a lovely reading of the Born in the U.S.A. closer followed, with the E Street Horns nicely punctuating chorus declarations and the audience arguably even louder than they were during “The River” at its end. The core stretch of sociopolitical songs followed as we’re becoming well accustomed to, and this night mostly saw more of the same, which isn’t a bad thing. “Youngstown” was magnificent in its mountainous atmosphere and “Murder Incorporated” continued to shine with its thrilling spotlight for Charlie and scorching guitar duel between Bruce and Stevie. The only aspect of this sequence I’m put off by were the Choir harmonies during “Long Walk Home,” as they were too out of sync with the song’s actual tone. Of course, it may be for others in the same way I find Stevie’s vocals soulfully superb, and it’s no doubt nice to see the E Street Band trying different approaches, but in this show those Choir vocals weren’t it for me. A nonetheless driven “prayer for my country” served as a fine finale to the first half of the E Street Band’s night, but there was no rest for Bruce who took on “House of a Thousand Guitars.” Maybe the song has been dealt a bad hand being placed in the spot held by “Last Man Standing” for the last two years, but outside of my two experiences seeing it live the song hasn’t had much meat to it. This performance was an optimistic exception. A most tender harmonica introduction instantly impressed and the reading that followed was of a similar mould to make the song’s stand out performance to-date on this tour. As it went on the wear in Bruce’s voice following that smokin’ trio of songs prior could be noted, but that was no drawback and the yearn with which he pleaded “meet me darling!” was potent. That vocal wear didn’t let up too much as the rest of this show shaped up, and it was evident in the imperative opening monologue for “My City of Ruins,” but the second half of the show’s central pairing wasn’t without mighty moments. From a “WILL YOU JOIN US?!” interrogative early on to that mesmerising “WOA-OAAAAHHH I PRAYYYY FOR LOVE LO-ORRRRD!” towards the end. And with outstanding efforts from Roy, the Horns and Choir to boot, there’s plenty to chew on. There were no song changes to the home stretch of the main set following “Ruins”, but this night did see improvements in regards to “The Rising” and “Thunder Road” – following a big misstep at the top of the former that called for a restart – and a stand out “Badlands” with Bruce really stretching out those declarations of the title in the later moments. It’s always nice to hear these pronounced aspects from Springsteen and the E Street Band during the most concrete sequence of the last two years. Of course, the encore hasn’t been much varied either, but it did see one change with the aforementioned “Glory Days” and its fun finale where Stevie took to the centre mic as Bruce led “Bobby Jean”-esque waving. “Steve Van Zandt! On improvisations and musical direction!” was the call upon the song’s end. Luckily for Lille, “Glory Days” wasn’t even the highlight of the home stretch, as “Born in the U.S.A.” was once again with those sensational, searing guitar riffs that can be heard on the May 24th Download also; the force of them making up somewhat for a Bruce vocal lacking maximum power to go with his commitment. The latter could be found elsewhere in this encore, too, especially in the “Chimes of Freedom” finale that saw Springsteen and the E Street Band’s time in Lille end triumphantly. Spurred on by delectable organ and piano, and inspired vocals from Bruce, Stevie and the Choir (no concerns here), this was one for the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy audience to take home and never forget. Having experienced the same three nights earlier, I can attest to that. Next up on the 2025 Land of Hope and Dreams Tour: Marseille finally get their show.