Rock

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.

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.

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.

“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 131th 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!”

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.

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.

“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.