Review: Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band @ Principality Stadium, Cardiff
The Boss kicks off his 2024 tour to a sold-out Cardiff crowd
Bruce Springsteen is no stranger to a UK crowd. Whilst his previous visit took place a mere 10 months ago as a headliner of the annual American Express presents BST Hyde Park event in London, Springsteen made his return to British soil in Cardiff last night and displays no intention of slowing down.
Kicking off his signature three hour set with So Young and In Love, the New Jersey native and his E Street Band immediately present a quality of live music that is difficult to come by within the tours of their younger contemporaries. Following the opener with Lonesome Day from the 2002 album The Rising and No Surrender from 1986’s iconic Born in the U.S.A., every musician on stage makes two very clear points from the outset: the longevity of their careers has only intensified their love for what they do and the presence of every individual is an absolute necessity.
Roy Bittan on piano assists in shaping several stand-out moments of the set, playing the unmistakeable introductions of She’s the One and Because the Night with contrasting ease and complexity. Yet Springsteen’s consistent desire to celebrate the respective mastery on stage does not allow for audience focus to remain on one single band member. Whether its life-long collaborators Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, or more recent additions such as Jake Clemons, every player has their moment to shine whilst simultaneously exhibiting that they have no point to prove when it comes to their craft. What is most remarkable is seeing the ensemble come together on hits such as Wrecking Ball and Bobby Jean, allowing fans to experience the sheer enormity of collective talent and brilliance.
By Springsteen’s own description, this tour is a demonstration of the “joyous power of rock and roll” yet the set took a temporary dip as he went on to perform an unnecessary cover of the Commodores Nightshift as well as something of a sermon for what felt like a few minutes too long. This was punctuated with spontaneous thoughts centred around death which - although a necessary topic of conversation - brought about a sense of overwhelming morbidity.
However, the same sense of spontaneity is what causes The Boss’ live productions to be so quintessential. As no stranger to taking audience requests through retrieving their hand-crafted banners, Cardiff was subject to the live debut of If I Was The Priest along with the first performance of Better Days since 2017. Witnessing the former evokes an appreciation for Springsteen’s off-the-cuff approach to live performance; not only does he provide a sense of exclusivity to the crowd, but suggests that what happens tonight may never happen again.
The penultimate full-band effort Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out pays touching homage to the late Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici with a poignant visual illustrating their ever-established seat at the E Street Band’s table. Such sentiment was carried through to the final song of the set, where Springsteen played I’ll See You In My Dreams with the intimate accompaniment of an acoustic guitar and a spotlight. Such simplicity consolidated two overarching principles of the night: the importance of friendship and that youth only leaves you if you let it.
Setlist
So Young and In Love
Lonesome Day
No Surrender
Prove It All Night
Darlington County
Ghosts
Better Days
The Promised Land
Spirit in the Night
Hungry Heart
If I Was The Priest
My City of Ruins
Nightshift (Commodores cover)
The River
Last Man Standing
Backstreets
Because the Night
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Born in the U.S.A. (Commencement of Encore 1)
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (The Top Notes cover)
I’ll See You In My Dreams (Encore 2)
Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s hit Thunder Road here: