Live Review: Bruce Springsteen @ RDS Arena Dublin

Friday 5th May 2023

Indulge me a moment. Before cinema and literature and cartoons there was music. As with most other people, some of my earliest formative memories are tied to the music that soundtracked them. My fascination with lyrics began with the unlikely muse Chris de Burgh. His poetic ballad ‘Spanish Train’, a song about God and the devil playing cards on a ghost train, haunted my nightmares, and yet I couldn’t stop listening to it. I was also fascinated with whichever Queen album has a robot on the cover (I never really took to Freddy Mercury and co. in later years). Music gave me an outlet to think about the world outside of my semi-detached house in Doncaster.

Right there at the genesis of what would become a lifelong obsession was the Bruce Springsteen album Born to Run. And this brings me to my dad. My dad loved Springsteen. I can’t count the number of car journeys, BBQs and family parties that were set to the dulcet tones of the Boss singing about Wendy or Mary or Sandy. In later years, these family-orientated affairs became defined by the most wonderful thing a boy and his father can share – a beer. And so, the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is permanently intertwined with my past, with my childhood, with my dad. It’s taken me 36 years to finally, FINALLY see the New Jersey legend in the flesh, and boy, was it worth the wait…

It’s been a while since I’ve attended a show on the scale of this. 18,500 people packed into the RDS Arena in Dublin. It takes a while to get my bearings. It doesn’t help that ten minutes before showtime I made the catastrophic decision to buy a sloppy burger with chips and curry sauce. This is not the best food to try and eat while simultaneously pushing through thousands of people to find a decent spot and sure enough, I spent the first couple of songs huffing and puffing from one side of the pitch to the other whilst also trying not to spill sauce everywhere. Dear reader, I failed.

This uncertainty, combined with some wishy-washy sound for the first couple of tracks resulted in an inauspicious start. I love ‘No Surrender’ and ‘Prove it All Night’ but the prompt start (7.15pm) meant that people were still streaming into the arena which robbed those early tracks of some of their undoubted power. ‘Letter to You’ – the title track from Springsteen’s most recent album – fares better, with the punters starting to settle and the Boss getting into his rhythm.

At this point, I reached my nadir. I’d eaten my questionable food too quickly, I was surrounded by the tallest men in Dublin and I couldn’t see shit. This wasn’t helped by the triple threat of ‘Candy’s Room’, ‘Kitty’s Back’ and a cover of the Commodores’ classic ‘Night Shift’ – fine songs all but wrong for this moment and certainly wrong back to back. I must admit that ten songs in I was a little disappointed. Was this what I had waited my whole life to see? And then came ‘Mary’s Place’. Finally, the crowd fully buy into the surroundings, the band are in full swing, and the gospel-like chorus combines with the glorious sunshine. All is right with the world. Now we’re talking.

A full band version of Nebraska classic ‘Johnny 99’ follows before an extended ‘E Street Shuffle’ provides the only remaining flat moment of the entire evening. Springsteen famously cut his teeth playing in teenage rock ‘n’ roll group the Castiles. Following the death of bandmate George Theiss in 2018, Springsteen was the only surviving member of the band which was the inspiration for the 2020 ballad ‘Last Man Standing’. He explains all this in one of his trademark monologues and the resulting acoustic version of the song is a truly wondrous moment. The Boss has the final word emotionally noting that “at 15 years old it’s tomorrow and hello but later it’s all yesterdays and goodbyes”. Indeed.

A barnstorming rendition of ‘Born to Run’ classic ‘Backstreets’ allays any remaining doubts that we are witnessing one of the greatest live performers in the history of modern music. To paraphrase Jon Landau, I’ve seen the past, present and future of rock ‘n’ roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen. From there, ‘Because the Night’ still sounds as powerful as ever, the tinkling piano of ‘She’s the One’ is the perfect accompaniment to the sun falling behind the stage and ‘Wrecking Ball’, a track thirty years removed from the songs that preceded it, acts as a stark reminder to the longevity and sheer quality of Springsteen’s songwriting. The first part of the set closes out with an exultant run-through of ‘The Rising’, a chaotic ‘Badlands’ and a fist-pumping, hair-raising ‘Thunder Road’. The latter features possibly the greatest opening lyric of all time (‘the screen door slams… Mary’s dress waves’) and I’ll be damned if I didn’t have something in my eye at the end there. Perfect.

The band return to the stage to wild applause and a stunning performance of live favourite ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ – a song that is neutered on the studio recording but becomes a different beast altogether in front of an audience. And now, as a seasoned performer, Springsteen knows it is time to go big. Standing silhouetted by the stage lights gleaming in the obsidian sky, a fist held aloft can only mean one thing – ‘Born in the U.S.A.’. Judging by the number of American flag bandanas in the crowd, this is what many people have been waiting for. It’s performed wonderfully, the crowd goes suitably wild and somehow the band is only just getting started. ‘Born to Run’ is up next and this is when I finally go to pieces. Screaming along to every word. Hugging strangers. And I’m not ashamed to admit that as the final notes rang out, I pointed directly upwards to the Dublin night sky – that one was for you, Dad.

‘Dancing in the Dark’ has never been my favourite song. It’s never been my 100th favourite song. But by God, there is no denying its power as a live spectacle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd reaction quite like this. Utterly stunning. The Boss pauses at the end of that song to introduce the ‘heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, justifying, death-defying, legendary E STREET BAND! The latter section displayed on the big screen and shouted back by the punchdrunk crowd. ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ provides the final emotional gut punch as images of the big man himself Clarence Clemons are shown as well as departed multiinstrumentalist Danny Federici. It’s a poignant moment made even more momentous by Clemons’ nephew Jake taking over saxophone duties – the E Street Band is a family business by this point.

The rest of the band leave the stage for the final song – a heartstopping acoustic version of Letter to You favourite ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams’ (greeted with pin-drop silence by the rapt crowd) and then it’s all over. The night descends into Guinness, the Liberty Belle pub, singalongs, Taytos and card games long into the night. How to conclude? Let’s keep it simple. One of the best nights of my not-so-young life.

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!