Review: Bruce Springsteen delivers anthemic, heartfelt rock show to Rogers Place crowd

Article content

How many of you went to church on Tuesday night?

No, not the one down the street with stained glass windows and wooden pews. I’m talking about the gathering at Rogers Place, where out-of-town preacher Bruce Springsteen led a rapt congregation through close to three hours of praise, worship, and the casting out of demons. That the demons were inner rather than supernatural doesn’t make this admittedly laboured analogy any less truthful. Work with me here, OK?

Article content

The revival tent vibe fits because it feels in a way like The Boss is winding up to something. He and the E Street Band have been wandering through Canada in the aftermath of the U.S. election, and his setlists reflect his feelings about the results. Mind you, practically any Springsteen era has plenty of songs that show his dissatisfaction with the political landscape in the U.S. in any era.

Many of those eras had on-stage moments where Springsteen spoke very clearly about his thoughts. On the Tuesday night concert that was a makeup for the tour leg cancelled due to illness in 2023 the singer by and large avoided overt commentary, except when he prefaced “Long Walk Home as a “prayer for my country.” No talk, all rock, with Springsteen more or less yelling “1 2 3 4” at the end of every song to introduce the next, like a worn down Dee Dee Ramone.

He had a lot to get through, somewhere around 30, and you could make a case that he was alluding to the last few weeks in several of his song choices. Darkness on the Edge of Town, Reason to Believe, Badlands, all played with the fervour and passion of rock and roll true believers angry at where their country is going. No explanation needed, just driving, heartfelt rock that balances heartache with compassion.

Article content

Article content

Score one for the “shut up and sing your songs” contingent, right? Possibly. After all, he is currently in Canada, not the U.S. Springsteen has been around the block so many times that he’s worn a furrow in the road. He knows that you can’t reflect whatever bleak feelings you’re going through with an unending selection of equally bleak numbers.

He’s got you. There were the early teen psychodramas like Prove it All Night, Backstreets and best of all Born To Run, epic and operatic. Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark represented his early ‘80s commercial peak, while the horns got a workout on delirious, joyful versions of E Street Shuffle and Spirit in the Night. The audience took much of the vocal lead on a downbeat The River and a jubilant Hungry Heart, the song he originally wrote for The Ramones. He made space for a take on The Commodores’ Night Shift and a jaunty version of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.

By the end, you had to wonder how he does it, how he’s able to go so hard at 75. Having the E Street Band behind you helps, of course; when you’ve got Steve Van Zandt stage left and Nils Lofgren, who did much tearing up of the fretboard all evening on stage right, you know you’re covered. Those are just the spotlight faces in a band so large they constitute a small village of their own. Most of the main members have been with him since the early to mid-’70s, including bassist Garry Tallent, keyboardist Roy Bittan, and drummer Max Weinberg. Saxophonist Jake Clemons might not be an official member, but he does a good job channelling the energy of his departed uncle Clarence, who acted as an onstage foil to Springsteen until his death in 2011.

Article content

My hunch is that Springsteen relishes a fight, and he’s in it for the long haul. Crazy that 50 years after Bruce Springsteen’s manager-to-be Jon Landau saddled The Boss with a title he’s still trying to live down there really doesn’t seem to be anyone else willing to pick up that mantle. To exist in the mainstream while reaching out to the margins. To eloquently speak to people’s disillusionment and show that there’s a better way. He’s got four years to top everything he’s done before, and I think he’ll do it.

I have seen the future of rock and roll and it’s the same guy it was in 1974.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

Article content