The Boss’ triumphant return to Boston

As a child of Springsteen superfans, this was my tenth time seeing “The Boss” live, and this time was just as spectacular as when a 10-year-old me saw him for the first time at Gillette Stadium in 2012. Bruce’s set on this tour showcases some of his most popular songs over the years, and there’s certainly something that every fan will recognize and love. The arena was packed to the brim all the way around, including behind the stage where I was watching the show. However, there’s no such thing as a bad seat at a Springsteen show, and Bruce and the band spent plenty of time acknowledging the dedicated fans who were seated behind him for the show.

With no opening act, Springsteen took the stage right at 7:45pm, opening with “No Surrender” off of Born in the U.S.A. Alongside him onstage was the E Street Band, whose members any Springsteen fan will know and love. There were guitarists “Little Steven” Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, drummer “Mighty” Max Weinberg, pianist “Professor” Roy Bittan, bassist Garry Tallent, violinist “Sister” Soozie Tyrel, and of course saxophonist Jake Clemons, who has filled in for his late uncle Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons since his passing in 2011, among many others in the percussion and horns sections.

After this spectacle of an opening, Bruce played two songs off his newer album Letter To You, released in 2020. Sandwiched between these was “Prove It All Night,” a Springsteen concert staple. Next up were some classics, starting out with “The Promised Land” and “Out in the Street,” which ends with the iconic “yeah yeah yeah yeah” call and response with the audience. “Candy’s Room” off of Darkness on the Edge of Town, a personal favorite, truly highlights Springsteen’s guitar skills during the solo in the second half of the song.

The talent of the E Street Band was highlighted during “Kitty’s Back,” which featured solos from several members and sections of the band. Bruce then broke into a cover of “Nightshift” by Commodores, which he has been playing pretty regularly on this tour. Following this song, the lights were turned off before you could hear the recognizable intro to Springsteen’s version of “Trapped” by Jimmy Cliff, an exciting surprise as he had not been playing it at every show on this tour so far. After this, Bruce and the band pulled out some older songs like “Johnny 99” off of Nebraska and “Backstreets” and “She’s the One” off of Born to Run. And before launching into the main set closer, he made sure to include a few newer songs, like “Wrecking Ball” and “The Rising” off of their respectively titled albums.

Anyone who has been to a Bruce Springsteen concert knows that “Badlands” is an intentional closing song to the main set. Yet another equally iconic moment of a Springsteen show is the audience’s cheer to the melody of “Badlands” during the silence between the main set and encore. Bruce and the band returned to the stage for a seven song encore, opening up with a cover of “Dirty Water” by The Standells as an homage to Boston. He followed this up with “Thunder Road,” which he dedicated to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute employees. After these two songs, the house lights came on as Springsteen and the band launched into the rest of the encore, playing their huge hits like “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark.” During “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” a photo tribute, now an ongoing tradition during the song, was paid to late band members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici after Bruce sang about how “the Big Man joined the band.” With that the band exited the stage and the lights went down, with Bruce returning alone to play an acoustic rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams” before the show officially ended.

Even at 73, Springsteen is still performing with the same energy as he did when he first gained fame decades ago. Although shorter than the 4 hour and 4 minute set I saw of his at Gillette in 2016, he put every ounce of energy into this over 2 hour and 30 minute long set, still much longer than the average concert today. Bruce continues his tour in North America until mid-April before traveling to Europe and the UK for the first half of this summer. He then returns to North America in August to play stadiums, as well as some rescheduled arena shows after canceling due to illness. You can catch him and the (heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, etc.) E Street Band on August 24th or 26th this summer at Gillette Stadium!