https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOxzOoB1Fvs&feature=youtu.be&a
Last night, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band brought The River Tour to Lisbon, Portugal for a set at the city’s Rock In Rio Festival. While The Boss and his band played each and every song off 1980’s The River at all North American stops on The River Tour, he’s mixed it up much more in Europe and on Thursday only performed three songs off the famed double album. Springsteen’s visit to Lisbon was webcast live and the whole performance can be viewed…at least as of press time. Springsteen, as you’d expect, stepped up his game in the face of such a challenge. Forgoing the usual River songs, he hit the crowd with a killer one-two punch of “Cover Me” and the tour premiere of “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” By the time he began physically interacting with the crowd during “Hungry Heart” by walking down the long catwalk and all over the field — which was dwarfed by a colorful Ferris Wheel in the distance and had a zip line (yes, a zip line) literally above it which festivalgoers periodically zoomed across during the concert — Springsteen had already begun massaging the crowd into the palm of his hand. They may not have been familiar with the “wife and kids in Baltimore Jack,” but their voices were definitely heard for the chorus.
During an emotional performance of “Hungry Heart”, Bruce Springsteen went down to the public, allowed to hug, smiled, greeted people, read the posters – one of them invited him to a wedding indicating date and all other said “Fuck Trump “- then took another, took him to the stage and showed it to the band: simply said” Promised Land “. Was the theme that played immediately afterwards – on request. no one could have predicted that the Portuguese crowd stretching as far as the eye could see in Parque da Bela Vista would be treated to five — count ’em, five — tour premieres. Another happy surprise: Springsteen fans across the world were also able to enjoy the concert thanks to a top-notch online live stream.
The album Springsteen and the E Street Band did focus on was Born In The U.S.A. as the New Jersey natives played nine of the 12 songs from their incredibly successful 1984 LP. Forty shows into the tour The Boss kept the tour debuts coming with a total of five performed at Lisbon’s Parque de Bela Vista. “Darkness On The Edge Of Town,” “Downbound Train,” “I’m On Fire,” “Johnny 99” and “Spirit In The Night” each saw their first plays of 2016.
Fans truly had no idea what song was coming next (until the encores, but by then everyone was having too much of a blast to care), and it was refreshingly thrilling. Take the “night” two-pack in the middle of the show: for every tour staple like crowd-favorite “Because the Night,” Bruce threw in a tour premiere such as “Spirit in the Night,” a more obscure track during which he made a point of physically interacting with the audience more than normal to ensure everyone was always along for the ride.
The River was represented by the album’s title track as well as “Out In The Street” and “Hungry Heart.” Other classics performed included “Because The Night,” “Atlantic City,” “Thunder Road,” “Born To Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” Bruce said farewell with a brief solo acoustic encore of “This Hard Land.”
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band continues the tour in Madrid on Saturday night.
The Fat Angel Sings 