What a better place for one of music's mightiest senior citizens to kick off his 2024 tour than in Phoenix, Arizona?
Arizona, yes, because at 72-years-old, the Bruce Springsteen is about the same age as many who have migrated to the Grand Canyon State to play out their final act.
And Phoenix because after taking the last six months off to rest and rehabilitate from a troubling ulcer, The Boss has risen.
Sporting a short-sleeved red flannel shirt tucked into blue jeans, the New Jersey legend backed by a wall of sound version of The E Street Band with a full horn section, percussion, and singers, rifled through 29 songs from illustrious past.
As he did in many shows from last year's world tour, five albums accounted for the majority of the material last night in the domed arena home of the Phoenix Suns.
Born to Run, Born in the USA, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Letter to You, and The Rising made up 21 of the 29 tunes for the gig that was originally scheduled for November of last year but were postponed due to Bruce's ailment.
"I had a motherfucker of a bellyache," he told the 17,000 attendees of the Footprint Center, formerly known as the America West Arena.
This was the first show Springsteen has done in Phoenix since 2016's River anniversary tour. Not only did the fans in Arizona miss him, but so did the St. Mary’s Food Bank which was a beneficiary of the Boss' generosity 8 years ago and this week.
“He's donated everything from front-row seats to five-figure donations on his part,” Jerry Brown, a spokesperson for the food bank told AZ Central.
“When you get the guy they came to see to ask them to do something on the way out, it really makes a huge difference. We've had lots of bands that donate money to us, but not any that asked their fan base to do the same, so he's unique in that way,” Brown said.
In the 70ish shows Bruce and E. Street has played in the 2023-24 Tour so far, they've played 70ish different songs. That means in some gigs like last night, a few big hits will be missing in action. Phoenix, for example, did not hear "Kitty's Back," "Born in the USA," "Out in the Street," or anything from Nebraska.
But what they did get were nearly three hours of all sorts of hits from "Thunder Road," to "Backstreets," to covers of Ben E. King and the Commodores.
The final cover came near the end of the show when someone holding up a sign claiming to be at their first Springsteen show asked for "Twist and Shout" the teen probably first saw on Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
One of the nicest parts of Springsteen shows is watching Bruce on the stage was 73-year-old Little Steven, his oldest friend. With Clarence gone, the guitarist is one of the bandmates he likes to mess around with on stage.
The lucky fans last night got to see the two pals, fittingly during "Glory Days," joke about the arena's curfew... and then they did a little dance.
Springsteen superfan and setlist user Sam Wilbur took excellent notes during the show and had some keen insights to some of the details nerds like us love.
Click here to see his whole Twitter thread of the show.
Springsteen and the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, hard rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary E. Street Band are now officially back on tour.
Because there are five members of the band over 70, someone wisely paced the tour out where there are a few days before shows, even if there are more than one nights booked in a city.
The next date for the band is Friday night in Las Vegas. Get your tickets on Bruce's website.
Bruce Springsteen 2024 Tour Dates:
03/22 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
03/25 – San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena
03/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
03/31 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
04/04 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
04/07 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
04/12 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
04/15 – Albany, NY @ MVP Arena
04/18 – Syracuse, NY @ JMA Wireless Dome
04/21 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
05/05 – Cardiff, UK @ Principality Stadium
05/09 – Belfast, UK @ Boucher Road
05/12 – Kilkenny, IE @ Nowlan Park
05/16 – Cork, IE @ Páirc Uí Chaoimh
05/19 – Dublin, IE @ Croke Park
05/22 – Sunderland, UK @ Stadium of Light
05/25 – Marseille, FR @ Orange Vélodrome
05/28 – Prague, CZ @ Airport Letnany
06/01 – Milan, IT @ San Siro Stadium
06/03 – Milan, IT @ San Siro Stadium
06/12 – Madrid, ES @ Cívitas Metropolitano
06/14 – Madrid, ES @ Cívitas Metropolitano
06/20 – Barcelona, ES @ Estadi Olímpic
06/27 – Nijmegen, NE @ Goffertpark
07/02 – Werchter, BE @ Werchter Park
07/05 – Hannover, DE @ Heinz von Heiden Arena
07/09 – Odense, DK @ Dyrskuepladsen
07/12 – Helsinki, FI @ Olympic Stadium
07/15 – Stockholm, SE @ Friends Arena
07/18 – Stockholm, SE @ Friends Arena
07/21 – Bergen, NO @ Dokken
07/25 – London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
07/27 – London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
08/18 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
08/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park
08/23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park
09/07 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park
09/13 – Baltimore, MD @ Oriole Park at Camden Yards
10/31 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell
11/03 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
11/06 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
11/09 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
11/13 – Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre
11/16 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
11/19 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
11/22 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
