My gospel according to Bruce Springsteen. Established fan since 1975. All records of Bruce in my record collection since, with or without The E Street Band. Witnessed five concerts before the World Tour 2023, three of them with the E Street Band, one of them the now legendary start of the Reunion Tour of Bruce and the E Street Band on April 9, 1999, in Barcelona. And now July 23, 2023, in Munich at the vibrating Olympics Stadium – an emotional awakening! I witnessed it, I can testify!
The full Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band experience: What a magical, beautiful, joyful, soulful, hopeful, empowering, life-celebrating, hot rocking evening it was. Full of love, positivity, and warm-hearted vibes. What a blast! My most thrilling, most moving, Springsteen concert ever! Already the opening salvo of No Surrender, Ghosts, Prove It All Night, Letter To You, The Promised Land – totally overwhelming! Springsteen sang like a Rock & Soul-God and was on fire on his guitar. And the E Street Band? Pardon me, Big Man. Pardon me, Danny. But the E Street Band 2023 is maybe the best E Street Band ever with a sheer incredible rock & soul power.
The Boss conducts the whole concert within a thematical frame: From fugacity, moribundity and death to hanging in there when the going gets tough, surviving, hope, loving life, the power of love and religion. Between these signposts the setlist varies in nearly every show according to Springsteen’s mood and artistic ideas.
Key-songs are:
No Surrender – “We made a promise/ We swore we’d always remember/ No retreat, baby, no surrender”.
Ghosts – “I hear the sound of your guitar/ Comin’ in from the mystic far/ …/It’s just your ghost/ …/ I’m alive and I can feel the blood shiver in my bones/ I’m alive and I’m here on my own/ I’m alive and I’m coming home/ Yeah I’m comin’ home”.
Letter To You– “Tried to summon all that my heart finds true/ And send it in my letter to you/ The things I found out through hard times and good/ I wrote ‘em all out in ink and blood/ Dug deep in my soul and signed my name true/ And I send it in my letter to you.”
Last Man Standing – “Rock of ages lift me somehow/ Somewhere high and hard and loud/ Somewhere deep in the heart of the crowd/ I’m the last man standing now”.
Because The Night – “Because the night belongs to lovers/ Because the night belongs to lust/ Because the night belongs to lovers/ Because the night belongs to us”.
I’ll See You In My Dreams – “I’ll see you in my dreams/ When all our summers have come to an end/ I’ll see you in my dreams/ We meet and live and laugh again/ …/ For death is not the end/ …/ I’ll see you in my dreams”.
Munich, Olympics Stadium, July 23, 2023 – Setlist:
No Surrender
Ghosts
Prove It All Night
Letter To You (lyrics translated to German on the video screens)
The Promised Land
Out In The Street
Darlington County
Kitty’s Back
Nightshift
Trapped
Johnny 99
The River
Last Man Standing (lyrics translated to German on the video screens)
Backstreets
Because The Night
She’s The One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
ENCORE
Born To Run
Bobby Jean
Glory Days
Dancing In The Dark
Tenth-Avenue Freeze Out
I’ll See You In My Dreams (lyrics translated to German on the video screens)
© All those fine concert pics snapped by my lovely, multi-talented daughter Ines.
Klaus Winningers Beat 