Gig review: Bruce Springsteen, Glasgow

Thanks to Glasgow’s summer weather for playing a part, because a three-hour epic of a stadium set from Bruce Springsteen wouldn’t be complete without a glowing orange sunset bleeding into dusk in the background.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played at Hampden Park. Picture: Wattie Cheung

Bruce Springsteen - Hampden Park, Glasgow

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Those who choose to believe their own cliches about Springsteen’s apparently one-note blue collar appeal might sneer, but to experience his live show is to be awakened with an edifying, life-affirming force.

As an event it was at once vital and universally relevant, nothing less than a chronicle of everything 20th century rock ’n’ roll was meant to be: energetic, with even the relatively sedate Atlantic City turned into a strident stadium roar; rebellious, or so it seemed as recent album Wrecking Ball’s Shackled & Drawn and Land of Hope and Dreams put forth the currently unpopular notion that we’re all one and here to help each other; and spiritedly unifying, with a sea of waving hands and a chorus of voices ringing around the stadium, particularly during Badlands and Born to Run.

Amid the big-budget production it was the sense of intimacy which shone through, including Springsteen’s singling out of fans whose home-made request signs were responded to and his gleeful runs to the lip of the stage. A nervous lad helped onstage to sing the chorus of Waiting On a Sunny Day brought tears to the eyes of not just his dad, while Dancing in the Dark saw one woman waltzing with Springsteen while a young lady found herself singing backing vocals with saxophonist Jake Clemons. It was that kind of show – for everyone.