He may have made his hat-tipping covers albums (The Seeger Sessions<\/em> in 2006; 2022\u2019s soul and R&B set Only the Strong Survive<\/em>) and his reflective record about death and ageing (2020\u2019s Letter to You<\/em>). He might have penned his autobiography, had his Broadway show and flogged his catalogue for hundreds of millions. He may even have had to cancel shows on this two-year world tour due to peptic ulcer issues that threatened to rob him of his singing voice for good. All markers on the last few miles of the rock legend road. But as Springsteen \u2013 in waistcoat and tie but with sleeves rolled up for the evening\u2019s real business \u2013 clocks in at a party-ready Wembley for another three-hour shift of blazing, hi-octane rock\u2019n\u2019roll, there\u2019s no sign of the wear and tear dogging other such Sixties and Seventies greats. He roars and gnashes and stomps and sweats every bit as hard as the runaway rebel rocker of \u201cBorn to Run\u201d ever did, foot still firmly on the gas. He\u2019s just grown into the new figurehead of what \u2013 if Iggy and Mick can keep it up too \u2013 they\u2019ll soon be calling Gramps Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHun, hoo, hee, haw,\u201d Springsteen grunts, and the E Street Band blast into \u201cLonesome Day\u201d, a cut from 2002\u2019s The Rising<\/em>. It\u2019s a song that encapsulates both the fullness and gleam of his post-millennial work, as well as the way he\u2019s continually bolstered and rejuvenated his prime setlist canon to move nimbly on from any one particular albatross era. That \u201cWrecking Ball\u201d and gospel rocker \u201cThe Rising\u201d have become such crowd-pleasers, for instance, allows him to skip \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d and \u201cThe River\u201d tonight and know there\u2019ll be a short queue for refunds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the opening hour, only thunderclap anthem \u201cNo Surrender\u201d and \u201cHungry Heart\u201d could be considered classic Springsteen hits, but even his relative rarities are made of showstopping stuff. \u201cSeeds\u201d, a track left off the 1984 Born in the USA <\/em>album, is resurrected as maximal roadhouse rock, Springsteen wrenching a solo from his guitar like cast iron from a furnace. The 2020 single \u201cGhosts\u201d may be a tribute to lost rock brothers like E Street legends Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici (\u201cBy the end of the set we leave no-one alive!\u201d Springsteen bawls) but it\u2019s built on a very tangible, tumbling melody. Even stark Nebraska<\/em> tracks \u201cAtlantic City\u201d and \u201cReason to Believe\u201d are beefed up into canyon rock powerhouses, the latter now bearing more than a passing resemblance to Norman Greenbaum\u2019s \u201cSpirit in the Sky\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Springsteen hails his 18-strong backing band as \u201cthe heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, death-defying, legendary E Street Band!\u201d, he undersells them. Other bands might match their musicianship and chemistry, but none deliver such unified power and joyous character. On \u201cYoungstown\u201d, a Celtic devil blues from The Ghost of Tom Joad <\/em>describing the demise of an Ohio steel town \u2013 one of many latter-era songs that have helped Springsteen brush Bob Dylan\u2019s hem as a historical chronicler of the great American dilemma \u2013 guitarist Nils Lofgren pulls out a solo straight from the crossroads. A spartan \u201cRacing in the Street\u201d blooms into a virtuosic piano solo from Roy Bittan, and saxophonist Jake Clemons summons goosebumps of glory during \u201cThunder Road\u201d as easily as his iconic uncle ever did. Springsteen himself acts as the front edge of a hurricane, and its friendly face too. During the righteous gospel blast of \u201cThe Promised Land\u201d he spots a sign in the crowd offering a live proposal in return for his harmonica, beckons the happy couple to the barriers and hands over his harp like a papal blessing. There\u2019s not a dry ironic Eighties sweatband in the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also the case when Springsteen\u2019s septuagenarian cracks inevitably start to show. When \u201cLetter to You\u201d finds Gramps Power (see?) in lines of wisdom and reflection, or when he introduces \u201cLast Man Standing\u201d \u2013 played with force and fragility \u2013 with a background story about being the only surviving member of his first band The Castiles since the death of his bandmate George Theiss in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs you get older the presence of death becomes a clarity,\u201d he says. \u201cGrief is the price that we pay for having loved well.\u201d Then comes \u201cBackstreets\u201d, a stirring Born to Run<\/em> song with a new spoken-word segment detailing, perhaps, the mementos Springsteen has of Theiss: an old box of 45s; a jacket; a Silvertone guitar; a photo from a wedding day. \u201cThese are the things I can hold in my hands,\u201d he says, tapping his chest, \u201cand the rest of you I\u2019m gonna carry right here, until it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/rahV3b6-cd0\/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwE7CK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAy0IARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGD0gQih_MA8=&rs=AOn4CLDmUwkbiiK0pXTuIqEcIp8C7d516Q\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Springsteen](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2024\/07\/26\/08\/newFile-2.jpg\")