What may have sounded like boos of discontent echoing from TD Garden last night were, in fact, emphatic cheers of “Bruce” from 19,000 fans as New Jersey-born rock ’n’ roll icon Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to Boston for the first time since 2016.
Over the course of a nearly 3-hour mega set, Springsteen and his massive band — the 10 core members of the E Street Band as well as an expanded horn and choral section — ripped through 27 songs from across Springsteen’s 50-year discography, as well as a handful of impromptu covers. Crowd favorite hits mixed with deep cuts and covers, including a nod to Boston with a rendition of The Standells’ “Dirty Water.”
Older tracks were reinvented for the set; “Johnny 99,” from the 1982 album “Nebraska,” was elevated from just guitar and harmonica to now feature the entirety of the E Street Band. Meanwhile, the deeply personal “Last Man Standing” from Springsteen’s 2020 album “Letter to You,” was stripped back from its full-band studio version to just feature Springsteen on guitar.
But back in 1974, Springsteen hardly had a reputation for playing to die-hard fans in arena audiences. Instead, he was playing bars up and down the east coast, scraping by as his first two albums struggled commercially. Local photographer and writer Barry Schneier remembers seeing Springsteen at Charlie’s Place in Cambridge, at the urging of a roommate. “I think he did like three sets that night. The band was in a space maybe 10 feet by 10 feet in the corner — [theoriginal E Street Band. And I just remember walking out of there going, ‘that is the most amazing music I’ve ever heard in my life.’”
Schneier then urged Bonnie Raitt’s management to book Springsteen to open for her in May 1974 at the Harvard Square Theatre. Jon Landau saw the show that night and famously claimed, “I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” Schneier recently published a book of his previously unseen photographs from the evening and has since worked closely with fan sites and official Springsteen archives on documenting the musician’s career.
In the decades since that 1974 show in Harvard Square, things have changed drastically. Tickets for the band’s 2023 tour were notoriously difficult — and expensive — for fans to get their hands on, following trends that have led to an investigation into Ticketmaster’s policies of dynamic pricing.
For those who were able to get tickets, the experience was worth the wait. Kristen Worcester from Wrentham had seen Springsteen “around 50 to 60” times, though last night was her “first [concert] this tour.” Worcester was camped at the front of the line for the general admission pit, and says going to shows “is very nostalgic for me. I’m getting up there like Bruce, and he’s the first musician, or first rock musician, I was ever really into, and I just keep coming back to see him [...] it’s life-changing.”
Brian Teebe of New Hampshire had similar sentiments. While Teebe had seen Springsteen in the 80s, his wife had never seen the artist before and bought tickets for him as a gift. Teebe was excited for her to see the show, asserting that “it’ll change her life.”
For those who may have missed out on the big-ticket event, Springsteen is bringing his tour back to New England later this summer. The band announced a second show at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 26 this morning, in addition to a previously-announced show on Aug. 24. A concert was previously scheduled for Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, but was rescheduled for Sept. 16 due to illness.
