“Ain’t seen you in a little while! How you been?!”
Two weeks after their concluding the European stage of their tour in Monza, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 2023 International Tour resumed as the second North American leg kicked off in Chicago. Having skipped past any arenas in the Windy City between February and April, there was some interest as to how this first U.S. stadium show would unfold. Would night one in Wrigley Field set a different tone for the next four months, or would Bruce share with this audience the show they were unable to experience earlier in the year? Fans hoping for the former would ultimately shift their focus to night two on August 11th, as Springsteen and the E Street Band picked up where they left off in Europe and North America last time around by playing a familiar setlist.
Despite its song similarities, this was yet again another tour show that brought much excitement to those standing in the home of the Cubs – and those of us listening later to the Live Download. It was a night that saw those onstage improve on subpar performances from July 25th: “Letter To You” was sung with much power, best evident in the way Bruce sang, “I took all the sunshine and rain!”; while “Out in the Street” and “Backstreets” were also back to being played solidly and sensationally; and a night that saw them build on Monza with more sensational performances. Sensational can certainly be used to describe “Prove It All Night” – a song that is really giving the Born to Run epic competition in relation to being the tour highlight – as while the short break from Newark to Barcelona back in April saw the song less intense than it had been as the first North American leg rounded out, the only contrast between this version and the one fans in Monza heard may be that Monza is the lesser of the two. The efforts of Bruce, Little Steven Van Zandt and Max Weinberg during the coda were emphatic, and a damn good statement that they hadn’t gone rusty in their time offstage.
Unfortunately there were also a few moments that went against that statement, particularly during the second half of the show where “She’s the One” suffered on account of a rough intro sequence and the energy of the songs afterward seemed to be lacking a touch. Thankfully, though, where the audio may suggest some weariness (now they’re in their seventies, there are going to be some setbacks) the post-“Backstreets” portion wasn’t lacking in commitment, and that was very well reflected in “Thunder Road,” where Bruce recovered from an early lyric stumble with a thunderous declaration of “well I GOT this guitar!” that underlined his and the E Street Band’s strive to give Chicago their best.
There were, of course, many more examples of this strive before and after “Thunder Road,” too, with perhaps the biggest surprise of the show coming towards the end of “Darlington County” when Bruce led an a cappella singalong of the chorus to a great, communal effect. In a baseball stadium, this singalong felt just right! Then not long after the U.S.A. fan favourite came a small tweak to the setlist structure, as “The E Street Shuffle” broke up the seemingly locked-in pairing of “Nightshift” and “Mary’s Place,” its percussion duel between Max and Anthony Almonte extra heated on this occasion. The vigorous work of Weinberg and Almonte surely inspired Bruce, as he proceeded to put even more effort into communicating with the audience during the latter Rising track. Fans who have lamented Bruce’s lack of audience interaction in comparison to prior tours will love listening to this version, and its old school feel will hopefully end up being a sign of things to come as this leg goes on. Here’s hoping we’ll also hear declarations of “Come on and meet me! Come on baby!” equally as gorgeous going forward as we heard towards the end of this one.
Having mentioned surprises and old school feelings above, for as enjoyable and unique as “Darlington County” and “Mary’s Place” were on this night, even the show’s most stand out songs – “Prove It,” “Backstreets,” “Thunder Road” – struggled to bring thrills as great as the returning “Rosalita.” That’s right, she’s back, and for whatever reason she couldn’t come out in Europe, for Bruce this was evidently a perfect occasion and all in Wrigley made the most of a rambunctious, show-stopping performance. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to “Bobby Jean” over the last three months (seeing it in person was an experience I’m cherishing, too) but little compares to those calls of “Oh Stevie!”, “Oh Rosieeee!! I’m hooomeeeee!” and, oh yes, those infectious wild man noises! An essential, “Rosie” undoubtedly stood out above the rest of the encore, which also featured a now typically stupendous “Glory Days” and an interesting “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” in which Bruce’s reading of “the night is dark and the sidewalk’s bright” was, quite simply, absolute gibberish. I’m presuming he was away from his teleprompter at this moment, or he was still really perplexed by the bra thrown onstage as the song began!
However, there was one more song of great importance to come, and – as was later pointed out by fans online – great significance too. Sadly, earlier in the day on August 9th, Robbie Robertson passed away, and his passing had a great impact on fans who followed his music even longer than they have Springsteen’s. With that amazing cover of “The Weight” played in tribute to Levon Helm on the Wrecking Ball World Tour in 2012 in the minds of many fans going into this show, there was speculation as to whether another of The Band’s songs would be played by Springsteen and the E Street Band here. On the other hand, some fans were just hoping for Robertson to be mentioned at all, after the passing of Tina Turner went unmentioned by Bruce in Amsterdam back in May. Bruce did pay tribute here, dedicating “I’ll See You in My Dreams” to his fallen friend, as well as two others (Justin and Kevin) and while the dedication was enough for most fans, the performance ended up meaning so much more, as fans online with fantastic memories recalled an interview Bruce gave the LA times in 2004. In that interview Bruce revealed that Robertson gave him a Fender Stratocaster guitar, one that Bruce sometimes picks up to play in the studio while recording. So, when Bruce sang here about having “your old guitar,” the words he told Chicago were true, and for me, that context adds so much beauty to an already stunning song performance to end night one in Wrigley Field.
Kieran’s recommended listening from August 9th, 2023 – Chicago, IL:
“No Surrender,” “Ghosts,” “Prove It All Night,” “Letter To You,” “The Promised Land,” “Darlington County,” “Kitty’s Back,” “Nightshift,” “The E Street Shuffle,” “Mary’s Place,” “Johnny 99,” “Last Man Standing,” “Backstreets,” “Badlands,” “Thunder Road,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Glory Days,” “Dancing in the Dark” and “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”
You can download night one in Chicago on the 2023 International Tour here. Next up, night two.
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