Bruce Springsteen General Discussion Thread

delbertgrady

I did Kilkenny and Dublin and, based on setlists and general feedback, I think I definitely got the best two shows. Unlike Kilkenny, which seemed to be more fluid (by this tour's standards), he clearly had a plan for Croke Park and stuck to it. No pantomime of taking or going through sign requests. No audibles that I could see, which was borne out by the fact that - when it surfaced online - the printed setlist was strictly adhered to. Consequently, I think it was a strategic (and successful) setlist that suited the venue and the crowd. About a third of it would be familiar to people who literally only knew "the hits," and the addition of My Hometown and Night meant, respectively, five from Born in the U.S.A., and six from Born to Run.

I'd love to hear deep cuts like Be True and Iceman, but, truth be told, there are few things more joyful in concertgoing than being up near the stage, in the thick of the crowd, when Dancing in the Dark kicks in. I make no apology for this.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159514#Comment_122159514

Same sh1te experience getting in, must worse than last time in Croker. I ended up trapsing around three sides of the stadium to get to the back of the queue on Clonliffe Road, as I thought I was heading for Foster Terrace. Could have saved myself a lot of time there. I had pretty much given up on the chance of a pit pass as a result, but they were still giving them out.

Getting out was a bit messy too, with the stage left entrance closed off initially, presumably to let the band make their exit. If they had said that it will be open in five minutes, that would have been better. There was a total absence of Gardai and stewards once we got away from Clonliffe Road, so it was chaotic at all the major junctions, with crowds pushing through moving traffic, and rickshaw bikes beeping their way through too.

But the show - oh man, what a show, what a night. It took a little while for the main crowd to warm up, though I seemed to be the only one in the pit that didn't know every word of every song. Audio quality was decent in the pit, though the bass was a bit too strong in the mix. Bruce obviously has a very special bond with Steve, who helped out quite a bit on vocals at the start, when Bruce seemed to struggle a bit, and with Jake too. Nils seemed underutilised again, similar to last year, though he had a couple of nice moments. I'm in awe of Max, who really only had one short break, but otherwise is there for every beat of every track. I'm not a huge fan of Hungry Heart, but Jake made it something special. I had tears flowing for Thunder Road, and Rainy Night in Soho. It's just amazing to see a bunch mostly of seventy-somethings really knocking it out of the park. I did have the feeling of a farewell tour.

blue5000

A great concert, but getting in was a total disaster, stewards were useless, loads of que barging. I’d be very slow to pay €150 to go again. I hope he packs it in soon before he goes down hill. Met people from Denmark, Germany and Holland in the queue so he must be doing something right, but even though generation X are getting grey now we’re still able to rock.

The Nal

The good

Bruce in great form and singing well. Much more energy than last year.

Two Hearts, that version of Reason to Believe, Miami much more involved in the show.

First dozen or so tunes were great.

The weather

Left during Twist and Shout so was on a bus within 5 mins of leaving the stadium.

The Bad

Rockshore. Only Rockshore. What the fcuk? 7 quid for a 330ml can, so about €13.50 a pint. A pint of piss. A disgrace and an embarrassment. Tourists coming in for this show must have been bewildered. €13.50 a pint. Mortified.

General security and staff. Abysmal. Most didnt have a clue what was going on, nanny state restrictions in place. Lines of security stopping old people bringing a hotdog back to their seats. Reminded me of why foreign shows are the way to do it.

€13.50 a pint

2nd half of the setlist, meh. Same last 15 or so songs as he played 3 times last year. From Nighshift on its basically the same show every night. When theres no element of surprise it very difficult to really enjoy imo.

€13.50 a pint

Early start/finish. Bruce was well into the encores and the sun hadnt even set yet.

€13.50 a pint

delbertgrady

Stopping people with hot dogs? Can you not have food in the stands?

This is it

I paid €7 for a pint of Carlsberg, and had no problem bringing food back to our seats.

Carlsberg is muck, but better than Rockshore!

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160118#Comment_122160118

The Carlsberg and Guinness taps were off in standing areas. Wouldnt have been allowed to bring a pint onto the pitch anyway.

The security were so inconsistent with what was allowed and what wasn't.

State of this

https://twitter.com/ireland_talks/status/1792253851451437315

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160137#Comment_122160137

What's wrong ?

All I see are loads of people going to a concert. Same last year to the Munster final with people posting photos of orderly queues going full Mod Flanders.

Disappointed I didn't go this as it sounded much better than the underwhelming RDS gigs.

This is it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160160#Comment_122160160

Whatever about those photos, the "system" in place around Clonliffe Rd was a farce. I was at the Leinster match a few weeks ago and it was a breeze to get in compared to this. It's a while ago now but I don't remember any major issues in 2016 either

mrk75

Yeah, brilliant gig. Possibly best I've seen of him. Reason to Believe was brilliant and I always love Two Hearts, so that was great as well as My Hometown. No complaints about the second half for me…can't really argue with BTR, Thunder Road, DITD, etc….the place was just rocking. Amazing to see so many folk just loving it…

Agreed on all the stewarding nonsense. We were half-way down Clonliffe Road before we were told the queue for Red was actually the whole way up the road. Went back as far as Jones Road and joined there then were told at the Daybreak it was the blue queue and the folk for the red queue were streaming down the road outside us…bizarre!

Never had that hassle at a Croke concert before be it a previous Bruce gig or U2. Cusack and standing all in the one gate and then the nonsense around drinks. Didn't bother buying a beer in the end - feck it…just enjoy the gig but there's really no need to stick the hand in like that or make the experience so annoying. Paying customer out for a night's fun just being treated as potential criminals…fck that!

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159103#Comment_122159103

Could they not have an entry point to the pitch on the Hogan side as well? Surely there are other access points to the pitch other than the Cusack? Or maybe not.

The only time Croke Park sells out is for All-Ireland day. And that's not a double header. Just the one match.

It was very badly organised. They were stopping some people bring pints into the pitch, but letting others go.

Does anyone know why they were stopping bringing in the pints. Was it a blatent attempt to push Rockshore on people. Next Croke Park gig, I'll be bringing in a few nice cool cans of Heineken. There was no searching of pockets, no pat down. Roll on Ac/DC.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160322#Comment_122160322

for concerts it’s been all standing through cusack side afaik. This is all agreed in traffic plan between council, GAA hq, aiken and residents.
pints aren’t allowed on the pitch during GAA season. There is a match on this Saturday so pitch needs to be in top condition and the rationale is pints on the pitch will spill too much on the grass whereas a cab dropping has less chance of seeping through

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160374#Comment_122160374

Ah ok. I didn't even think of the pitch condition. Ya, of course, that amount of alcohol spilling on the ground would do some damage I guess. The plastic ground covering would only go so far in keeping the alcohol out.

skeleton_boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122159539#Comment_122159539

The Indo in their review stated that in private he said these wouldn't be his last Irish shows.

Steveimitation

Great gig aside from the shambles of getting in. The whole rockshore thing was ridiculous too. Gig itself was much better than rds last year imo.

On a random note, anyone else find the whole parents literally trying to force their children onto Bruce thing a little bit much? Also some folks in the front were borderline grabbing him. I understand they're excited but if it was a female artist we'd hear a lot more about it.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160453#Comment_122160453

Some of the weirdos up the front have been queuing and "checking in" at the Croke Park hotel 3 times a day since last Sunday evening. One whole week. When he was still playing in Kilkenny. So any odd behaviour from them isnt surprising. They're goblins.

Tipp1991

Slane 2025? 40 years since his first Irish gig there in 1985.

I could see a 40th Anniversary Born In The USA Tour

Dero123

Fantastic gig, was lucky to get one of the last pit numbers. Met lots of people from all over Europe doing multiple shows all summer. Security were good but the Ticketmaster staff were having issues scanning lots of tickets so can only imagine that led to delays elsewhere.

Setlist was good really for a party vibe given the size of the crowd. From Nightshift onwards was same as last year pretty much but there seemed to be a bit more interaction with the crowd going on

As he said at the end “we’ll being seeing ya” it gives you hope that this was not the last one.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160463#Comment_122160463

sadly no Slane for Bruce.

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160453#Comment_122160453

I was up at the barrier behind the pit for the start and some woman tried to smuggle her child, who couldn't have been older than 11, into the pit with a sign. none of them had wristbands but she walked up to the pit entrance and pushed the child through, then when the security told her wristbands were needed, she asked if the child could stay in there…….

The Nal

There isnt a hope this is his last tour. Hes singing about death because thats whats going on in his life. Old friends dying etc, his mum too. Happens when people are his age.

Bruce will be playing solo acoustic shows or smaller band shows in the 3Arena in 2035.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160160#Comment_122160160

It was a much better show than RDS last year.

That gig had its issues too, the guys on the pitch selling drinks couldn't get signal for their card terminals and it was causing chaos.

I didn't bother with the bar last night, so can't comment on all the Rockshore / price complaints.

The Leinster game in Croker a few weeks ago was a sellout and the game got delayed by 10 or 15 minutes, presumably with crowd control issues again.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160406#Comment_122160406

Yeah, but was it the last shows with the ESB?

Tipp1991

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160517#Comment_122160517

I'm kind of glad to hear that. I've been once and found it a nightmare to get to/from and in & out of.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160636#Comment_122160636

yeah same thing happened at Leinster match and that had 30k less trying to access on the same street.
GAA hq should of flagged it after that

skeleton_boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160651#Comment_122160651

Obviously a lot could change but this suggest another go around: https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/brad-pitt-nick-jonas-and-luis-guzman-among-bruce-springsteen-fans-who-travelled-across-the-globe-for-croke-park-gig/a302256163.html

Privately, he told friends he hoped to return to Ireland in the future and that the E Street Band will remain on tour with several exciting projects already in the pipeline.

The band could potentially visit Australia and New Zealand in 2025 - with the possibility of a return European tour the following year.

redhill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160517#Comment_122160517

Probably not happen, No matter who controls Slane if Springsteen clearly indicated he wanted to goto Slane for a 40th Anniversary it would be hard to turn down

BraveDonut

I personally thought the RDS show last year was better - but this was due to being on the pitch in the RDS and in the stands last night. Lots of people talking over songs and showing no interest in the show. (Imagine paying €170 just to hear Dancing in the dark". I had to tell one woman behind me to STFU and stop shouting.

Getting in and out was a bit of a pain - but getting into Croke park, even with issues, is a million times better than the ball ache of getting in and out of Slane.

Highlights for me were - The River, Darlington County, Reason to Believe, Backstreets

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122160740#Comment_122160740

He dedicated an album to Jim Aiken who was a very close friend, he ain’t playing an mcd venue such as Slane. MCD have tight control on Slane but who knows as they aren’t using it much in last decade, things might change.

delbertgrady

You can attribute it to the day in question, but he was deeply uncomfortable with Slane. While the gig has achieved legendary status and was regarded as a triumph, he himself was not happy about it, something which has been well documented. He felt it was dangerous and could result in fatalities. He'll never set foot there again.