Bruce Springsteen Opens Toronto Show with Rallying Scream ‘For My Country,’ Then Lets the Music Do the Talking: Concert Review

On Wednesday night, Bruce Springsteen took the stage at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena more than an hour after profusely apologizing — apparently there was a problem with the plane. He then announced, “This is a fighting prayer for my country,” and roared into his rendition of the 2007 hit, “Long Walk Home,” immediately following with a huge, amazing rendition of “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

It wasn’t the first time that Springsteen introduced “Long Walk Home” — originally written during the George W. Bush years of desperation and frustration — with an explanation about it as a prayer for the United States . And it’s not the first time that “Land of Hope and Dreams” has been requested by Springsteen at an important time – he did so last week at the meetings of the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris in Atlanta and Philadelphia. These are big songs, full of meaning and symbolism, songs that you close the set with. But the night after the 2024 presidential election, you start Here.

If the artist’s statements are defined by what they actually say – as opposed to what they sing – then of course, Springsteen did not say anything about the election than when he spoke for the first time. In his latest record, “Road Diary,” Springsteen says he played the same set every night during his summer 2023 tour — something he rarely does — because it’s a story that he wanted to say. And if you look at the songs chosen for Wednesday night’s concert, and / or the energy with which they were performed, he said a lot.

“Darkness on the Edge of Town”‘s “Candy Room” and “Adam Raised Cain” are one of two plays from 1978: stories of teenage passion and childhood conflict. , but they are also appropriate syllables. channeling anger and frustration with his old guitar. On “Cain,” Springsteen delivered the guilt with a lush fury: “You remember the faces, the places, the names/ You know it never ends, never stops like the rain.” At its heart, the song is about betrayal. Springsteen can still deliver a song, even 46 years later, and make you believe it. But tonight he again made everyone feel. “Darkness” is an angry album, and putting that energy first made sense.

Songs from 2002’s “The Rising,” written in response to the attacks against the US on 9/11, also appeared in the message. “Lonely Day” has been around since the start of the tour in 2023, but the lines “The joke’s on me, but it’ll be alright/ If I can get through this loud day,” were originally written the word spouse or surviving spouse, had a new meaning now. Similarly, “Waiting for a New Day,” a song that originally offered a brief respite from the story told in “The Rising,” appeared rarely (he usually sings the song when it’s raining ), plays. the same role as it did in the report. Some in the audience may have found the same comfort in the song tonight as it did in the beginning: “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way.”

Otherwise, in many ways Wednesday was a typical Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band concert in 2024. The tour’s themes of life and aging and death, as discussed in “Road Diary,” were still are here, with new songs from 2022’s “Letter. to You” mixed with material from throughout his life, from 1973 to “The E Street Shuffle” with its horn and rhythm arrangements jazz-influenced “Reason to Believe” from “Nebraska” became “roadhouse blues”, complete with audience calls and responses. “Darkness on the Edge of Town” – another song that Springsteen which lent it to the Harris campaign – it was dark and raw and thanks to pianist Roy Bittan. But when Springsteen lingered on the last chorus, you could feel it .

There were two reasonable, specific requests that were not on the group list. Earlier in the group, a couple with a sign explaining that this was 25 years “to the day?” that they met or got married marked them with a rare play on “Good Days,” from 1992’s “Lucky Town”: “Good days with a woman like you,” k It goes. Later in the evening, Springsteen walked to the front of the stage, apparently wanting something from the audience. Someone handed out a Santa hat, Bruce Springsteen put it on his head, and held the band. Based on the negative initial response, it seems that this was not discussed beforehand, but the E Street Band put it together, so Toronto was treated to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” even though it’s not the first. this year: that honor went to a rain-soaked crowd in Cork, Ireland in May.)

The strangest moments of the show happened in the evening, during “Hungry Heart”. As Springsteen walked around the stage, from side to side, the house lights on, a commotion broke out in the seats at stage left: Calls went out from audience members pointing to someone who who appears to be a celebrity, standing near the edge of the stage. The celebrity turned out to be former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a die-hard fan who has had a rocky history with the Boss (and even more tumultuous with President Trump, who had spent some time at Christie’s published an op-ed in a Canadian newspaper about how the new system could be good for Canada). His presence was not welcomed by anyone on stage and he left shortly after, but because of Christie’s political affiliation, Springsteen’s explicit endorsements of Kamala Harris, and the show’s opening numbers focused on the results of the 2024 presidential race, it was a strange time.

But there were also a lot of small, sweet, fun moments, whether it was well-scored dance moves — Bruce and Steve Van Zandt had some amazing new ones during “Glory Days” — or a game. of hit after hit that is E Street. encore. There was even a public train wreck when the horns tried to play the James Brown inspired wave that preceded the band’s introduction, and promptly failed not once but twice – before Van Zandt introduced everyone on stage that key is B flat. Springsteen warned them once more, this time successfully.

“Last Man Standing,” from “Letter to You,” was preceded by a story that Springsteen told almost every night, about his first band and how it came to be. the last surviving member. He tells the story and then Roy Bittan comes back on stage and hits the intro chords to “Backstreets” as Springsteen picks up his battered guitar and lifts it up, giving it to all four sides of the stage, on purpose . It’s a sign he’s been doing for years now; it is a promise, a reminder and a weapon. At the end of the song, Springsteen sang, “Until the end… until it’s over.” It wasn’t a huge change in lyrics, but it was a change nonetheless. The audience roared in response.

GO HOME ONCE /LAND OF HOPE AND DREAMS / LONELY DAY / IN THE MONICS / ADAM RAISED CAIN / HUNGRY HEART / GOOD DAYS / LETTER TO YOU / PROMISED LAND / WAIT’ FOR THE DAY / REASON TO BELIEVE / DARK IN THE DARK OF TOWN / THE E STREET SHUFFLE / NIGHT / THE LAST MAN / BACKSTREETS / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / HERE IT IS / THE BALL THAT IS / WAKE UP / MABIDU / THUNDER ROAD / KEPT RUNNING / ROSALITA (FROM TONIGHT ) / DANCING DAY IN THE DARK / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / I’LL SEE YOU IN DREAMS