Bruce Springsteen is back on the road. The Wrecking Ball 2013 tour has started today with a 3-hour & 10-minute show in Brisbane, Australia. For the first time since the first E Street Band reunion in 1995, Steve Van Zandt is not in the band due to his commitment with the Lilyhammer series, currently being filmed in Norway. His substitute during the Australian tour is Tom Morello (The Night Watchman, ex-Rage Against the Machine).
Springsteen, band and crew arrived in Australia last Sunday, and rehearsed behind closed doors during Tuesday and Wednesday. Nils Lofgren has been very active on Twitter these days, uploading photos of his guitar collection. Today the press was invited to the soundcheck and had an informal Q&A with Bruce afterwards. The soundcheck featured interesting covers of Australian band The Saints, The Havalinas («High Hopes») and, according to some Twitter reports, even some riffs from AC/DC‘s «Whole Lotta Rosie».
The show at the Entertainment Center, for 12,000 people, has been a classic Wrecking Ball tour concert, opening with «We Take Care of Our Own» and closing with «Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out», featuring all the tour standards such as «Wrecking Ball», «My City of Ruins», «Spirit in the Night», «Jack of All Trades», «Shackled and Drawn», «Waitin’ on a Sunny Day», «Apollo Medley», «The Rising» or «We Are Alive», plus hot rock shots like «Badlands», «Murder Incorporated», «Johnny 99», «Because the Night» and «She’s the One», along with the hyperelectric «The Ghost of Tom Joad», featuring the classic Tom Morello solo. Tom showed his skills on «Murder Inc» too. The biggest surprise of the night was the addition of «Just Like Fire Would», a cover of the revered, local punk-rock band The Saints.
A second show at the Brisbane Entertainment Center is scheduled for this Saturday.
See complete set list and video of the original «Just Like Fire Would» by The Saints.
All concert photos courtesy of @patricklion