Passions: a summer on tour with Bruce Springsteen

Forty-three years have passed since I first saw Bruce Springsteen on stage at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

He’s now 74, I’m 60, and we’re on tour this summer, and if it is to be one last hurrah then, judging by the red hot reviews from his concerts in the USA, it will be an epic way to bow out.

Of course, when I say on tour, strictly speaking he’s on stage and I’m just a face in a crowd of 60-80-000 others, but it’s been a lifelong journey together.

Bruce Springsteen lost in the crowd at Wembley Stadium (Pic: Allan Crow)

My first gig came via a free ticket because my dad stayed in the row of houses opposite the Playhouse’s stage door. Afterwards we scooted down the lane, through the house and flung open the garage door to watch the band jump into their limos. The teen teenage guitar playing me toyed with stowing away to live on E Street. It seemed a much cooler place than Wester Hailes.

Alas, common sense kicked in - I had school in the morning - but Springsteen’s songs have been the soundtrack of my life, and his concerts have been life-affirming, uplifting, utterly captivating and joyous occasions. I’ve genuinely never seen him dial anything even remotely close to an average show, and we’re talking about three-hour plus sets that leave the audiences exhausted. His energy levels last year were utterly insane.

“Count the band in and kick into overdrive, by the end of the set we leave no-one alive” a statement of intent as well as a lyric from his track, Ghosts which is a defining celebration of the joy of life in a band, and a celebration of those no longer by your side.

Springsteen’s 2023 gig at Murrayfield was astonishing - easily the best I have seen him play - but what excites me is he is back with even greater zest, if that is even possible, and has ripped up audiences on the US leg of his tour. Age may not have withered the E Street Band, but time is closing in on guys who play longer, and work harder than any band I’ve ever seen, so this may be the last time I get to see them on this scale.

Bruce Springsteen with guitarist Steven Van Zandt and drummer Max Weinberg (Pic: Hans Klaus TechtAPA/AFP via Getty Images)

So, my summer of Springsteen beckons. Cardiff and Belfast, then Sunderland and two trips to Wembley will be worth every mile, every pound spent and every single moment lost in the crowd and the music.

At school th4 day after that ‘81 gig, I told my music teacher I’d seen Springsteen. He said: “He’ll change your life.” He was right.

Allan Crow is Editor of the Fife Free Press, sister title to The Scotsman