Springsteen In Manchester...

This evening I was very lucky - I went to my 9th Bruce Springsteen concert, this one being at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. As usual it was fabulous - in spite of the incessant rain (although fortunately I'd chosen to have a seat under cover, not to stand on the pitch - in the rain!).

Unfortunately cameras are forbidden, but they can't stop you bringing and using smartphones. But this made taking my blip tricky as the conditions weren't all that good for smartphone cameras. In the end I settled on this pano shot for my main blip as I think it conveys something of the atmosphere. (View large here.)

Whilst Bruce's "excuse" for another tour is to reprise his River album from 1980, this concert included a wide range of songs, many of them performed by request from the audience. At one point he spotted an audience member wearing a Santa costume (in May...?!!) and he took this as a cue to perform his cover version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" - having invited the offending audience member to join him on the stage; you can see this in the first extra. Later he invited a little 12-year-old girl to sing her request with him - sadly my photos of that aren't good. She was clearly delighted!

I've posted a second extra as I like the effect of the red lights shining on the audience on the pitch. At that point he was singing with violinist/guitarist Soozie Tyrell.

As always with Bruce there was no supporting act; his setlist of 32 songs lasted 3 hours 15 minutes, non-stop - I don't know where he gets his energy from, he's nearly 67! Long may he continue performing - he clearly gets a great buzz from it (as do his audiences). He certainly tired me out with dancing and clapping so I'm off to bed now, it's nearly midnight... :-))