Bruce Springsteen has begun his 2024 tour, playing the rescheduled dates he had planned for late last year, before peptic ulcer disease symptoms sidelined his plans. Judging by his stop at Pechanga Arena in San Diego on March 25, the Boss is definitely back.
With a nearly three-hour show, Springsteen led his expanded E Street Band through a crowd-satisfying setlist. He sprinkled in a few tour debuts, some choice covers and myriad favorites.
After the opener, “Lonesome Day”—the opening track on 2002’s The Rising—smoothed out any lingering rust, “Prove It All Night” captured the theme of the rest of the evening. The taut interplay between the three lead guitarists (Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren) was buttressed by the engine house rhythm section of bassist Garry Tallent and drummer Max Weinberg. By almost any measure, Weinberg consistently has the most basic, minimalist drum kit of any major touring act, which clearly does not affect his ability to keep the band from running off the rails.
Van Zandt remains the most interesting character on stage (his pointy Winklepicker boots and Rickenbacker guitars pointed out his Anglophilia), but Lofgren’s angular guitar playing is far more evocative. Together, the three melded well. (Those hungry for more Lofgren can see him with Neil Young and Crazy Horse when the Springsteen tour takes a break at the end of April.)
With the five-piece E Street Horns and four vocalists (the E Street Choir) also filling out the sound, the stage was well populated.
The venue in San Diego is quite reminiscent of the crumbling venues back East, where Springsteen honed his chops over the last decades. That may have prompted a trio of tour debuts sprinkled through the set: “Death to My Hometown,” “My City of Ruins” and the decidedly more upbeat “Detroit Medley.”
The middle third of the set had a soulful vibe, anchored by a couple of covers (Ben E. King’s “Don’t Play That Song” and the Commodores’ “Night Shift”).
Springsteen’s voice was strong and commanding throughout the evening, with only a couple of signs of a reduced range. His gymnastic jumping from the pianos is definitely in the past, but his interplay with the audience remains compelling. He made it a point to fist bump and pass out guitar picks.
A major adrenaline rush was the pairing of “Because the Night” and a gripping rendition of “Backstreets.” The latter builds twice and remains simply epic. Similarly, the band delivered magnificently on the back-to-back choices of “Badlands” and “Thunder Road.”
During the encore, as the opening notes of “Rosalita” burst out, many were waiting for the inevitable moment in the lyrics:
By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms
I know a pretty little place in Southern California, down San Diego way
There’s a little cafe, where they play guitars all night and all day
Indeed, the audience was delirious as Springsteen halted the proceedings mid-song.
As if in juxtaposition to the exuberance of the concert, it was announced a day later that Springsteen is entering new territory with a forthcoming film about the spare and dark album Nebraska. Casting is not fully confirmed, but whoever plays the Boss will have big shoes to fill. They likely won’t be Winklepickers. [Editor’s note: It was announced on March 26, 2024, that Jeremy Allen White, star of the popular TV series The Bear, is in negotiations to take the role.]
Thanks to csilver522 for the videos.
Springsteen and the E Street Band tickets are available here and on StubHub. His vast recording catalog is available here.
Related: When Bruce played a four-hour concert
