Bruce Springsteen at Murrayfield: A collective emotional experience for 60,000 fans

Last night The Boss came and The Boss conquered

The last time Bruce Springsteen played in Edinburgh was in 1981 - and his loyal fans were delighted to welcome The Boss back to the Capital.

That Springsteen was going to give nothing less than 100 per cent when he descended upon the Capital was never in doubt, of course.

Three-hour-plus set? Check. All the familiar hits? Check. Crowd engagement? I’m not sure any artist can whip an audience up into such a unified frenzy.

I was one of the 60,000-odd fans who battled through crowds, dealt with car parking, tram and ticketing challenges, paid over the odds for some lukewarm food and equally lukewarm bottled water to share a collective emotional experience.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played 29 songs in a peformance that last around three hours.

It mattered not one jot that my seat high up in Murrayfield’s west stand almost did my back in - something that the eventual dancing to the hit-laden encore helped alleviate.

This was an evening that few will forget in a hurry.Even the weather played ball at the home of Scottish rugby, which after recently playing host to Beyoncé and Harry Styles seems to have become the nation’s prime music venue of choice.

The sun shone and the mercury remained at t-shirt wearing levels until those final rays of light and Bruce’s incredible solo finale.I’m far from a seasoned gig goer, though I did catch the Eagles play the same venue last summer.

Chatting with some Springsteen concert veterans there was a feeling that this had been something a bit special. Here was their favourite rocker and his band up on the stage doing their thing and doing it on a level that few can match.

At 73, The Boss clearly still has it, even entering those twilight years.