The other thing that strikes you is the level of dedication from Springsteen fans, who arrived decked out in Springsteen tour merchandise from across the decades, sharing stories and outdoing each other with the number of times they had seen the Boss — one guy, three times; one woman, 47 times; and another fan boasted that he was attending his 189th Springsteen concert.
While Springsteen has recorded music with The E Street Band since the ‘70s, what made Letter to You special was that it was recorded with the band together live for the first time since 1984’s Born in the U.S.A. Of course, thanks to the pandemic, the band was only able to support the album live on late night talk shows. That is, until now.
Throughout his touring history, Springsteen has been know to put on a long show, and while the set was shorter than his over-the-top, four-plus hour show in Philadelphia in 2016, fitting in 27 songs meant starting the show at 7:50 p.m. with no need for a warm-up act.
Springsteen greeted the cheering crowd with a familiar, fist-pumping tune, “No Surrender,” from that much-acclaimed 1984 album, but it was the set’s second song, “Ghosts” from Letter to You, that set the tone for the evening with its rallying cry: “Count the band in, then kick into overdrive / By the end of the set, we leave no one alive” — a statement of purpose that Springsteen made sure everyone heard, made all the more clear by the night’s next number, “Prove it All Night.”
Springsteen proved early in the set that he is still a man of the people, stepping down from the stage to join fans in the pit platform. While Bruce would occasionally miss a note here and there, the crowd could easily forgive the 73-year-old performer who brought such energy to the night and could absolutely still make that guitar talk.
After 50 years of performance, he knows how to a structure a show too, mixing oldies with newbies so as not to alienate longtime fans. The new music stood out, giving breaks in the intensity just as the softly sung “Letter to You” did before the group launched immediately into “Promised Land” with its battle-cry chorus complete with backup singers.
It was then that Springsteen let the audience know that founding members Steve Van Zandt and Patti Scialfa as well as Soozie Tyrell, who joined the band’s tours in 2002, were out for the night with COVID-19. But he assured the audience that the band would be giving it its all.
As Springsteen turned around for the fans seated behind him during “Out in the Street,” he was met with large signs honoring his ethics, his music and his legacy: “This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy – Thunder Road” and “Me & Grandma LOVE YOU indeed we do!!!!”
At some point during “Candy’s Room,” the stage welcomed four horn players in addition to saxophone player Jake Clemons who took over for his father Clarence when he died in 2011. Each horn player took turns playing in the song break of “Kitty’s Back,” as did pianist Roy Bittan and guitarist Nils Lofgren.
It was toward the end of that song when Springsteen had the spotlight raised on the fans sitting in the back balcony, showing that he does, indeed, play to the back of the crowd even in an arena.
Then Springsteen brought it back down again, slowing things down with a couple of covers from his latest solo effort, the soul covers collection, Only the Strong Survive — The Commodores’ “Nightshift” and Ben E. King’s “Don’t Play that Song.” And while “E Street Shuffle” might have sounded a little thin with the band missing three of its members, the audience shuffled along to the beat nonetheless before the song’s satisfying conclusion by drummer Max Weinberg and touring percussionist Anthony Alamonte.
When Springsteen released his first solo album Nebraska in 1982, critics remarked at how bleak the album was with just Springsteen and an acoustic guitar, but the night’s version of murder ballad “Johnny 99” came out as funky and danceable as anything from The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, especially when Springsteen and the entire horn section moved to the center of the pit for a miniature Mardi Gras parade.
After so much excitement, the band left Springsteen alone on stage with an acoustic guitar and the story about joining his first real band, The Castilles, in a part of town that just so happened to be called Texas. Today, Springsteen is the last member of that band, and upon reflecting on his past, his life and what’s left, he wrote “Last Man Standing” for Letter to You.
But the crowd wasn’t seated for long. As soon as that piano came crashing in for “Backstreets,” even the oldest fans in the audience shot to their feet. There they would remain for Springsteen’s cover of Patti Smith’s “Because the Night,” “She’s the One,” “Wrecking Ball,” “The Rising,” “Badlands,” and finally, “Thunder Road.” Each one came from a different classic album, and each one brought the crowd closer together in a singalong harmony — so much so that Springsteen let the audience sing the second half of the first verse of “Thunder Road” without him.
Springsteen knows how to work the crowd. He’s only been doing it his whole life.
Vera “Velma” Hernandez
But even at the two-hour mark, the night was not over yet.
After a very short break to plug the North Texas Food Bank which was there taking donations, Springsteen played his Dallas-only song, “Detroit Medley,” complete with “Devil With the Blue Dress pn,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “C.C. Rider” and “Jenny Take a Ride” in the mix.
Then the house lights shined down bright on the crown, and it was “Born to Run” with 99.9% audience participation.
The house lights would stay on for “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” much to the joy of the fan in section 105 holding up a sign reading “Rosalita is out tonight!!!” which Springsteen acknowledged.
The lights would continue to show the fans’ faces for all of their age, their youth and their shared joy through “Glory Days” and “Dancing in ihe Dark.”
In the lead-up to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” Springsteen, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, ripped open his shirt, exposing his chest and making everyone think, “Damn, the dude looks really good for 73.” He then moved to the platform in the middle of the crowd to serenade the audience with just a mic in his hand.
Bruce Springsteen was an inspiration at the American Airlines Center on Friday.
Vera “Velma” Hernandez
For the night’s swan song, “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” again from Letter to You, the lights came back down, and the spotlight once again shined on a solo Springsteen with an acoustic guitar, giving the audience a personal goodbye.
Typically, when a concert goes on for a while, you see people start slowly exiting the facility either to beat traffic or because they heard the song they wanted to hear or any number of reasons. Not this audience. Even when the show officially ended at 10:40, there was a slow and hesitant crawl to the exits.
Some still waited in their seats, holding onto hope for another set of songs, and honestly, the band could have kept going if they wanted and people would have stayed.
After 27 songs, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band had still somehow not covered everything, and suddenly, a four-hour concert didn’t seem so over-the-top after all.
