Bruce Springsteen in strong voice at Perth soundcheck
US ROCK legend Bruce Springsteen has said his famous E Street Band are the “new resistance” under the Trump administration.
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THREE years after playing their first ever concerts in Perth, rock legends Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were back in WA to kick off another huge tour.
A lot has happened in that time, most notably the election of Republican wildcard Donald Trump as US President.
Shortly before he was elected in 2008, Barack Obama joked “the reason I’m running for president is because I can’t be Bruce Springsteen”.
Known as The Boss, Springsteen has had less kind things to say about the new boss in the White House, describing Trump as a “moron” and “a tragedy for our democracy”.
Springsteen played a private 15-song concert at the White House for Obama’s staff on January 12, his final performance before arriving Down Under on Wednesday last week to kick off his Summer ‘17 tour with three concerts at Perth Arena.
After playing rare 1973 track New York Serenade and the poignant Land of Hope and Dreams at the soundcheck yesterday, the fit 67-year-old perched on the edge of the stage to field questions from a large contingent of journalists.
Springsteen said the E Street Band are the “new resistance” under the Trump administration.
“An artist’s responsibility is to witness and to testify,” he said.
“That is the basic job of the E Street Band.
“We try to inspire people during tough times,” Springsteen added.
“It’s been our job for 40 years and it will continue to be so for the coming years.”
It took the New Jersey rock legend nearly half a century since his first paying gig at the Freehold Elks Lodge to finally play Perth, but he didn’t leave it another 50 years to return.
Before his three shows at the arena in 2014, Australian promoter Michael Gudinski said the Boss could have sold out the venue six times over. Perhaps the blue-collar rocker was back to finish the job.
Since that visit Springsteen published his autobiography, Born to Run — it took him nine years to write the 500-plus page tome in longhand — and released the accompanying album, Chapter and Verse, a career retrospective featuring songs from his pre-E Street Band bar bands.
The rocker revealed that he had recorded a new album.
While 42,000 fans heard Springsteen and his legendary band dish up 57 different songs across three concerts in 2014, Gudinski’s team expect around 40,000 to attend gigs last night, Wednesday and Friday.
The only concession to age, is that Springsteen no longer plays back-to-back concerts.
The repeat business and barely diminishing returns speaks volumes of the Boss as a live act — one that mixes up set lists to keep himself interested, his band on their toes and fans hungry for more.
In fact, Rolling Stone magazine insists there’s none better on the planet.
And who is going to argue with that?
Originally published as Bruce Springsteen in strong voice at Perth soundcheck
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