Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Anfield, Liverpool 7 June 2025

 

As their first tour after the pandemic, the 2023 tour started in the US with arena gigs before coming over to Europe to play larger stadium gigs and then returning to the States, but such was the demand to see the band live the tour was extended and went out on a second leg in 2024 starting again in the States, before again going around Europe and back to the States and Canada – racking up 115 shows along the way.

 

In marked contrast, the 2025 tour is much shorter – a mere 16 dates – and all in Europe. The latest tour, the ‘Land of Hope & Dreams Tour’, hadn’t been planned. Playing the number of gigs that they did in 2023 and 2024 would have taken its toll on any band, of any age, and after playing for 3 hours in horizontal rain at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland in May of last year, Bruce got sick and the band had to cancel 4 shows in Marseilles, Prague and Milan. Honouring their commitment to fans, the gigs were quickly rearranged for this summer and to make it worthwhile to come back to Europe, 12 other dates were added to these dates in cities which they hadn’t played before.

 

With three nights at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester and two nights at Anfield in Liverpool being the only gigs in the four UK home countries and Ireland, demand for tickets was going to be very high, and it was, with tickets even harder to get than in their last two visits here. And for Liverpool, this was always going to be something special. Bruce and most of the original E Street Band members are massive fans of The Beatles. Bruce is on record as having said that hearing The Beatles playing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” on the radio for the first time had changed his life and it was this song which inspired him to be in a band and play rock’n’roll. Similarly, Stevie Van Zandt wrote in his autobiography, ‘Unrequited Infatuations’, about the impact that The Beatles had after appearing on the Ed Sullivan show, “The Beatles changed the world literally overnight. There were no bands in America on February 8, 1964. There was one in every garage on February 10”. The other members of the band all have their own stories to tell. While Stevie had visited Liverpool, played at The Cavern Club and recorded a live album there with his Disciples of Soul in 2021, the E Street Band themselves had never played Liverpool before. And for fans of The Beatles and the E Street Band, there was the tantalising likelihood that Paul McCartney may make another appearance after his earlier appearance on stage with the E Street Band at Hard Rock Calling in 2012 when the organisers infamously pulled out the plug mid-song to comply with the curfew.

 

So, against this background, and as a lifelong fan of the E Street Band who first saw them live in 1988, I managed to get some tickets to see them on their second night in Liverpool (Yaaaaaahhhh Beauty!!!!!, as we say in Scotland) and it was game, or gig, on.

 

After a challenging week leading up to the gig in which it felt like the Gods of Gigs were against us, including the death of our much-loved 12 year old German Shepherd, the stomach bug from hell (I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say I was probably responsible for shortages of Imodium across Scotland) and then a tyre blowing out on the morning of the gig, we arrived at our hotel in Liverpool just before 5.00pm. After only having time to dump our bags, we headed over to Liverpool One to catch one of the shuttle buses along with hundreds of other fans. Everywhere I looked there were fans converging on the bus station. Liverpool had become New Jersey. No taxis anywhere and the only thing to do was join the good-natured queue as it snaked around the block.

 

Approaching Anfield, the world-famous ground of Liverpool Football Club, the driver recognised time was against us, did the right thing and dropped us all as close to the ground as he could instead of going to the designated stop. Security cleared, we made our way on to the pitch via the gap in the corner between The Kop and the Main Stand at 7.25pm, a mere 5 minutes before the band were due on – a very different experience to my normal gig going where I would have been there a couple of hours before showtime to soak up the atmosphere. The positive side to this was there was no need to wait for the atmosphere to build. It was instantly electric, tingling on your face (it might even have caused the hair on top of my head to stand on end … that is, if I had any) and approaching fever pitch. Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about grabbing a beer, as, in a new gig development for me, hospitality staff wearing large back packs, with flags above their heads indicating ‘beer’ or ‘cider’ appeared alongside us and enabled us to buy a couple of (plastic) bottles of beer before the gig started.

 

Looking at the stage, the set-up was familiar, with a stars and stripes flag fluttering in the wind above the stand to the right of the stage, with a Union Jack and Liverpool FC flag to the left. Before I could process much more, cheers went up as the E Street Band made their way on stage at 7.30pm prompt. As usual, no big entrance or fanfare, just coming up the stairs at the back of the stage, waving to the crowd, making their way to their positions and wishing each other good luck. Bringing up the rear was Bruce who also smiled, waved and strapped on his Telecaster before saying -

 

“Hello Liverpool, we’re so glad to be here, as without this town there would no E Street Band, let me tell you … and the mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock’n’roll in dangerous times. The America that I love, the America that I’ve sung to you about for so long, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all of those of you who believe in democracy and the best of our experiment to rise with us, raise your voices, stand with us against authoritarianism and let freedom reign”.

 

With the crowd still roaring in agreement with and applauding his introduction, Bruce started singing “I hear the sound of your guitars” and launched into ‘Ghosts’. And like that, the gig had started. Not your usual start to a gig, but this was to prove to be no ordinary gig … and for those who might think this sounded like a political rally, get over yourselves – it wasn’t, but it was an exceptional night of music.

 

‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ swiftly followed, segueing gently into Curtis Mayfield’s ‘People Get Ready’ (a song written about Martin Luther King Jr’s civil rights march on Washington), followed by the Celtic stomp of ‘Death to My Hometown’ and the fan-favourite ‘Seeds’ which has been played live off and on for years, but not received a studio release. After this opening salvo of songs was played, it was pretty obvious that the set had been constructed carefully by Bruce to tell the story which he wanted to be told – that of America as a land of hope, opportunity and dreams, but also of division and hatred. And for those of you who have read about the statements which he is making between some songs on this tour, and the Presidential response which he received on social media including being told to “keep his mouth shut”, he responded in the only way he could by releasing the ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ download EP containing 4 songs and his spoken introductions about what is happening in the States recorded in Manchester last month and which promptly went to Number 1 on iTunes. He also continues to repeat his views at every gig.

 

‘Lonesome Day’ followed along with the hugely well-received ‘Rainmaker’ (a more recent song from ‘Letter to You’ (2020) about snake oil salesmen or politicians who come in when things are bad, inflame the situation, promise the world and don’t deliver) … dedicated to “our dear leader”.

 

Time for a few classics – ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’, ‘The Promised Land’ and ‘Hungry Heart’ (yes, the crowd sang the full first verse before Bruce started singing, but they didn’t stop there and just kept going … as Bruce did in the song). At this point, I should say that I am not religious at all, but looking around me, everywhere I looked I could only see fans from many different countries singing their hearts out and beaming with happiness. For those who have seen the E Street Band ‘live’ and experienced this for themselves, it’s not surprising that so many have likened this to an old-style revival meeting. The experience is communal, intense, uplifting and possibly the closest I may come to a religious experience.

 

Taking things down a little, ‘My Hometown’ and then, much to my delight (having not heard it on either of the gigs which I attended on the 2023 tour) the epic ‘The River’ followed. Continuing the thematic story which he was building, ‘Youngstown’ came next, but far removed from its original acoustic form on the Woody Guthrie-influenced ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ album, complete with an incendiary guitar solo from Nils Lofgren. Having been sadly tracking their evolving setlist from each gig on setlist.fm, I had been really hoping that the next song would make the cut and be played … it did, and was … ‘Murder Incorporated’, an outtake from the Born in the USA sessions, which many of us managed to track down on bootleg before it was released on his first Greatest Hits album. This is very much a big guitar song and it was great to see Stevie taking the limelight.

 

And as we approached what would be the mid-point of the gig, Bruce took the pace and sound down again, expertly acting as band leader and orchestrating all and everyone around him. ‘Long Walk Home’ was introduced with the, by now expected, simple spoken introduction of “This is a prayer for my country”, before Bruce gave the rest of the band a break (yes, at 75 years old – giving everyone else a break) while playing ‘House of a Thousand Guitars’ on acoustic guitar.

 

Still gently strumming, Bruce took another moment to speak directly to the crowd. In introducing the next song ‘My City of Ruins’, he spoke articulately and powerfully about how troubled he was by what is currently happening in his home country with people being lifted off the street by unmarked, armed individuals for no reason, historic civil rights legislation being rolled back, educational institutions who didn’t agree with the government being de-funded and of his hope and belief that these troubled times would pass and that America would recover from the dark place in which it is now. I’ll not repeat the full script here, but it is available online or on the downloadable EP from iTunes and worth reading.  

 

Lifting the tempo of the gig again, the band then launched into a pre-encore, breathless and exhilarating run of ‘Because the Night’ (the Bruce Springsteen song which almost everyone knows, but which he didn’t release, instead gifting it to Patti Smith), with Nils once again stealing the show with his fretwork while whirling around the stage; the always-defiant ‘Wrecking Ball’; the soul-lifting ‘The Rising’ which will forever be associated with New York healing after 9/11; ‘Badlands’ (which has become one of the greatest examples of crowd-inspired participation, as waves of “whoa-oh-oh-oah-ohs” roll across the stadium engulfing the band, back again and up and away into the night; and possibly my favourite Springsteen song (I grapple with this placing responsibility regularly), ‘Thunder Road’ … and its “sways”, it always was and always will be … none of your “waves” crap here. Just, no. IYKYK.      

 

After what had felt like an emotional rollercoaster of a set, the band put down their instruments, made their way to the front of the stage, lined up and soaked up the applause rolling it’s way across the Liverpool night. But, they knew … and we knew … this encore business is just part of the theatre and expectation. Returning to the stage, and watching him close-up on the big screens, Bruce appeared to have an added twinkle in his eye and proceeded to introduce a “local Liverpool boy”. As sure as night turns to day, and Saturday rolls into Sunday, the much-expected happened - probably made even more expected by local news stories appearing on the day of the gig reporting that Bruce and Paul McCartney had made a private visit to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts the day before where Bruce had given a lecture and Paul McCartney had presented an award to students. Yes, Paul McCartney strode on to the stage with his bass guitar. However, instead of playing ‘Twist & Shout’ together, as I had expected, Bruce and the E Street band took a step back and became his house band, as Paul sang ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and a song unknown to me which I had to check out later – a Beatles’ cover of ‘Kansas City’. Being honest, I’m not a huge fan of The Beatles, but the sheer joy and happiness of the band playing with one of their childhood idols was evident to see and very special. With the cheers ringing in his ears, Paul left the stage to allow the E Street Band to get down to business and deliver the encore which they deserved.

 

You want big songs? How about, ‘Born in the USA’, ‘Born to Run’, ‘Glory Days’, ‘Dancing in the Dark’ (one of the few songs I didn’t hear the beginning of as the wind moved the sound around the ground), ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-out’ (complete with the band continuing to project images of Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici above them on stage long after their deaths in 2011 and 2008 respectively … once members of the E Street Band, always members of the E Street Band) and their gloriously goofy ‘Twist & Shout’.

 

As has become customary, the band return to the front of the stage, take a bow and Bruce hugs or shakes hands with every member of the now extended E Street Band and thanks them before they leave the stage. Every one played their part and was a master or mistress of their art – Bruce (vocals and guitar), Stevie Van Zandt (guitar), Nils Lofgren (guitar), Garry Tallent (bass), ‘Mighty’ Max Weinberg (drums), ‘Professor’ Roy Bittan (piano), Jake Clemons (saxophone), Charlie Giordano (keyboards), Suzie Tyrell (guitar and backing vocals), Anthony Almonte (percussion), the ‘Miami Horns’ – Ed Manion (tenor and baritone sax), Ozzie Melendez (trombone), Curt Ramm (trumpet), Barry Danielian (trumpet), and Curtis King Jr, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore and Ade Dyer on backing vocals.

 

Bruce takes the long walk to the front of the stage for one last time and ends the gig with his acoustic cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Chimes of Freedom’ which he played on Amnesty International’s ‘Human Rights Now’ tour with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour and released a live version in the late ‘80’s.

 

With that, the gig was over.

 

At 30 songs and almost 3 hours, tonight was the longest night of the tour so far. One week on, while writing this, I am still processing what I saw, heard, experienced and was part of – an incredible night of music, singing, dancing, hope, optimism and defiance … something we all need at a time when the world is becoming scarier by the day.

 

For those who think you shouldn’t mix music with politics, no-one is forcing you to listen and if an artist can use their platform for good and has the integrity to do so, we should all be supporting them to do so. It’s not as though this is a new development for Bruce - only those who haven’t listened to the lyrics of ‘Born in the USA’ would think it is patriotic or flag-waving and without recognising it as a condemnation of how America abandoned and treated their Vietnam veterans; he gave a large donation to the families of striking miners in Sunderland when touring in the ‘80’s and fans were also encouraged to take food to gigs as collection points to help others long before Taylor Swift was even born, although full credit to her for making large donations to food banks in every area in which she played on her Eras tour; or, how about calling out police brutality on ‘41 Shots’, his song based on the number of bullets fired by police officers at an unarmed black student in New York in 1999 who was shot dead, and then playing it live in New York night after night after having been told not to by the mayor? Or Stevie who left the E Street Band just before the Born in the USA tour, and missed out on a massive pay check, to concentrate on his solo music while becoming politically active, conceiving ‘Artists Against Apartheid’, putting together ‘Sun City’ and playing a key role in the boycott on playing Sun City and ending apartheid in South Africa. As a music fan, I would take artists with a conscience any day.

 

As a reviewer, I like writing and words. But words are inadequate to describe just how good the E Street Band are live. On paper, they defy logic and belief - Bruce, Roy and Garry are 75, Stevie and Max 74 and Nils 73. When I saw them in 2023, it was bittersweet, as I genuinely thought that was their last tour. Fast forward two years, they show no signs of stopping and Bruce has said they’ll keep playing until they can’t and the wheels come off. Who knows if this is the last time I will see them playing live. If it is, I’m not sad. I’m just so happy to have seen them a number of times over the years.

 

And as for Billboard, on the basis of their continuing form you’re going to have to revise your description to “the greatest ‘live’ rock’n’roll band … ever”. If you don’t believe me, I’ll leave you with the words of one of our readers who commented on my check-in post for the gig – “He won’t see a better band”. Steve – you’re not wrong there.