Rarely has the need for a stage adapted to world stars been more apparent than at Voldsløkka tonight. Since Valle Hovin was demolished, Oslo has lacked a suitable arena suitable to house the very largest. Bruce Springsteen drew 50,000 people to a large but unsuitable sports park sandwiched between Bjølsen and Tåsen on Friday evening. It was an affair that should make all visitors take off their hats in admiration for the poor people who had to get a grassy area in the middle of the city to accommodate Bruce Springsteen himself and the hurlum heath that accompanies him. When so many people have to share two entrances and 12 bars, even the most sane among us can lose patience. Dear Oslo municipality: Find out! Legend status Enough about that. Iconic Bruce Springsteen has rightly earned a fan base on a par with The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Madonna – not a bad record for a guy who is not only alive, but who is also on a world tour. Photo: Kim Erlandsen With his Americana rock, the 73-year-old has set the agenda for genuine and effortless portrayals of the painfully simple rock ideal of “freedom”. In arch-American style, “The Boss” has been keeping things going since the 1960s, and when he takes to the stage it’s usually an event few will want to miss. It often ends with long, unfailing jam sessions where the audience is treated to extended versions of their favorite songs. Friday night in Oslo was no exception. Holds its ground If there were 50,000 people at Voldsløkka, there were roughly the same number on stage. The E Street Band is strong, and everyone is essential to the expression. If you want to fill three and a half hours, it is good to have a number of musicians to distribute the content to. The most famous is the coolest pirate since Captain Sortebill, namely Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven. Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Van Zandt’s tried-and-tested harmonies with Bruce are almost on an extraterrestrial level, and in one of the set’s earliest numbers, “Ghosts”, a parrot dances in a window on the neighboring block while Bruce himself shows that not all raspy and powerful vocalists need to fall off a cliff with age, I’m looking at you, Axl Rose. The boss himself is as angry, energetic and stubborn as ever, and his vocal cords don’t seem to have been damaged by almost 60 years of raucous screaming. Long jam sessions On “Prove it All Night” from the legendary record “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, 25,000 people stand in a beer queue, but still manage to get the first jam of the evening. The E Street Band continues with a real bucket ballet that covers jazz, blues, Americana and country within 10-12 minutes. A band that has been playing together for several decades should get the most out of it, but such a reliable and effortless potpourri of different musical expressions is still a real nose-picker for those who think that this group is above dinner time. Saxophonist Jake Clemons, nephew of the late E Street stalwart Clarence Clemons, eventually also gets his first solo to deafening cheers – a cheer that turns out to be quite lonely during the evening. Sharpening, audience! The Norwegian audience is not like any other, and when 50,000 of us gather at the same time it is almost inevitable to get the usual festival atmosphere. There will be chatter here. Large parts of the evening are spent celebrating child-free leave and holiday pay, and several of us are quite clearly not at a concert – but at a party. Photo: Kim Erlandsen It leads to a boring session when Springsteen repeatedly asks if anyone is alive before firing off the evening’s highlight “Mary’s Place” from the album “The Rising”. The chorus is so all-consuming and majestic that it should take the breath away from any lucky audience member who, after all, paid somewhere between NOK 900 and 2,500 for the ticket. So it didn’t work out that way. When Springsteen performed his tribute to recently deceased mentor and childhood friend George Theiss, the vocals were comically low, while the audience chatted about vacation plans and Weber grills. Unforgettable It may therefore seem that too large a proportion only come to life when the mega-hits “The River”, “My Hometown” and “Born in the USA” are given free rein at Voldsløkka. When the seven (!) bonus tracks are put into motion, there is little doubt that Brucer’n has cooked up some hits during his life. “Glory Days”, for example, is enough to give even the most cynical skeptic goosebumps, even with a disturbingly varying sound quality from the stage. Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Photo: Kim Erlandsen Despite shaky technique, surroundings and audience – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band is a concert experience everyone should treat themselves to before it’s too late. This guy doesn’t seem to be going out of style and neither his vocal cords nor his stamina seem to be waning. Not many can manage three and a half hours of high-energy hit cavalcades, and when it brings with it new interpretations and improvised parts every single time, it is nothing short of unforgettable. Info and song list Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Where: Voldsløkka in Oslo Audience: Around 50,000 Songs: No Surrender Ghosts Prove It All Night Darkness on the Edge of Town Letter to You The Promised Land Out in the Street Candy’s Room Kitty’s Back Nightshift Mary’s Place The E Street Shuffle My Hometown The River Last Man Standing Backstreets Because the Night She’s the One Wrecking Ball The Rising Badlands Thunder Road Encore: Born in the USA Born to Run Bobby Jean Glory Days Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out I’ ll See You in My Dreams Well done! I am Espen. I am a freelancer who writes about music and humor for news. You’ll find all the latest at news.no/reviews. The Boss wraps up his reunion tour with The E Street Band to an enthusiastic crowd at legendary Madison Square Garden in the summer of 2000.
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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in Oslo – Reviews and recommendations
