Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performed its first of two sold-out shows at The Forum, delivering a set spanning three-and-a-half hours and filled with lessons from The Boss.
Bruce Springsteen
Danny Clinch
On Thursday, April 4, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band delivered its first of two headlining shows at Los Angeles’ The Forum — and it was a rousing, and lengthy, experience.
The trek, which kicked off mid-March in Phoenix (after being rescheduled from 2023 due to Springsteen’s peptic ulcer disease) has already produced headline-worthy highs, from the legendary rocker appearing on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm to crack jokes with Larry David about the delayed outing to signing a student’s absent note from school during his San Francisco show.
And that’s not all The Boss has been up to. At the end of March — amidst his own World Tour — Springsteen appeared as a guest performer during Zach Bryan’s headlining show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center alongside Maggie Rogers.
But tonight, the focus was all Springsteen from beginning to end — as both the opening and closing song featured the legend standing alone under a single spotlight. There were no special guests (other than his wife Patti Scialfa) and no major surprises (other than a few setlist additions of songs making their tour debut), but there was one key identifier of tonight’s show: its length.
As any fan should know, attending a Springsteen show is not only a sonic journey but a test of physical endurance. And for his first L.A. show, Springsteen came out swinging. The setlist included 32 songs and spanned three-and-a-half hours; judging by his wide smile and general exuberance throughout, it appeared as if he could have gone even longer.
“It’s like he doesn’t want to stop,” observed one fan. But all good things do indeed come to an end — and eventually, Springsteen walked off stage for good, for now.
Below are the seven most impressive takeaways from Springsteen’s L.A. show — including, of course, that infamous nonstop drive.
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360° Engagement Is Possible (For a Rare Few)
For the first of Springsteen’s two sold-out shows at the Forum, there was – as expected – not a single empty seat in the entire venue.
Truly.
The seats behind the stage were filled, with every single row up to the ceiling packed with fans, while the floor seats extended from end-to-end and reached as far as the back wall. Plus – and also as expected – Springsteen made sure to engage the entire room throughout the set, performing parts of songs, including hits like “Hungry Heart,” to the back of the stage, facing those who were more than happy to just be in the room.
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There Are Benefits To Starting The Night Early (That Don’t Include Going To Bed Early)
Minutes before 8 p.m. (at 7:54, to be exact), Springsteen lets out a signature “1, 2, 3, 4” followed by the bluesy rock riff to John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” as a single spotlight illuminates Springsteen’s silhouette. Yet, soon enough, the stage lights are brought up to reveal the 17 musicians on stage with Springsteen, including, of course, the famous E Street Band.
Though the earlier start time accounts for the lengthier set time, beginning while there’s still a touch of daylight to be found is a rare but welcome move — and also helps ignite the high-energy that Springsteen manages to maintain throughout the duration of the show, and demands back from each and every fan.
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His Generosity Is Second Nature
Just under an hour into the show and Springsteen can’t help but give his fans his all – quite literally. At one point, he gifts his harmonica to a fan in the general admission front row (it’s replaced by another later in the show) and then, before walking back to center stage, he reaches deep into his pocket and finds a guitar pick, which he tosses to another fan before diving into the next hit.
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There’s Always Room For a Setlist Surprise (Or Three)
“We have a very special night prepared, Los Angeles,” teases Springsteen, who then welcomes his wife, Patti Scialfa, on stage to duet on “Tougher Than the Rest” – but that’s not all. “My baby’s back,” declares Springsteen right after, telling the crowd, “We haven’t done this song in a long time, Patti has never done it, I don’t think.” He then tells her to “sing over here,” placing her at the center stage mic and letting her take the lead on an acoustic rendition of “Fire.”
For good measure, Springsteen throws in one more oldie but goodie: “Jole Blon.” The addition is thanks to a handmade, spray-painted sign from a fan (which also notes that it is their 131st time seeing Springsteen live). “This sign is impossible to read…. Can anybody read this thing? What is it?” laughs Springsteen. After the crowd helps him out, he declares, “We haven’t played this in many years, but we’re going to play it right now!”
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His Stamina Will Never Not Be Shocking
At 9:12 p.m. – one-and-a-half hours into the set – Springsteen asks, “Good evening Los Angeles, are we having fun yet? ‘Cause we ain’t started to have fun yet… this is all pre-fun…We are here to wake you up and shake you up and take you to higher ground…We planned on sending you home with your feet hurting and your hands hurting and your ass in paralysis and your sexual organs stimulated.”
Nearly two hours later, and he’s still going – and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. At 11:03 p.m. he asks, “Do you have anything left?!” before taking a final bow as one last chorus of “BRUCE” chants echo throughout the arena. But even still, that wasn’t the end, as Springsteen fits in one final song – a solo, acoustic delivery of “I’ll See You In My Dreams” – before finally wrapping at 11:13 p.m. – nearly three-and-a-half hours after he started. And without a single break.
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He Can Make a Big Room Feel Small
Springsteen manages to make a room full of nearly 20,000 fans feel just as intimate as a showing of Springsteen on Broadway – both in terms of how he talks to his fans, much like he’s catching up with longtime friends, and in terms of the stripped-down delivery of a handful of songs. At one point, as Springsteen begins to tell the story of how he got his start in music – “In 1965 I was 15 and I’d been playing guitar for six months …” – one fan whispers to their friends, “This is a great story,” with such excitement at the chance to hear it again. And later on, when Springsteen delivers a solo acoustic performance of “Last Man Standing,” every single person remains seated, and silent, as if holding their breath as to not miss a single note.
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His Wisdom Is The Set’s Special Sauce
“Death brings a certain clarity, and grieving is the price we pay for love,” Springsteen says while introducing “Last Man Standing” – and it’s a sentiment he revisits more than once throughout the set. While pondering immortality – and perhaps the “why” of it all – he tells the crowd, “I don’t know where we go when all of this is over, but I know what remains. The only thing I can guarantee tonight is that if you’re here and we’re here, then those that are missing are here with us,” before performing “My City of Ruins.”
Springsteen later makes sure to end the enthralling and seemingly never-ending evening on the same note, performing the emotive “I’ll See You In My Dreams” while standing alone on stage with nothing more than his guitar and harmonica, illuminated once more by a single beam of light. And as the clock nears midnight, the song’s title will be true for many fans who will surely be replaying this night when they close their eyes to sleep.
