Top 5 Bruce Springsteen cover songs from the Australia and New Zealand tour

Anyone who sees an E Street Band show knows the energy, respect, and dedication by Springsteen and the band is unbeatable.

Demonstrated perfectly by the way he often chooses a song local to the region he's touring for a cover, often delivered with an E Street twist.

Sometimes, like last year's performance of The Saints' Just Like Fire Would in Brisbane, the track will even take a life of its own within the band and make repeated appearances or even recordings.

The completed tour of Australia and New Zealand came with a set of covers as unique and surprising as anyone could have predicted. Many making headlines around the world.

Here's five of the best:

1. Highway To Hell - AC/DC

Last year the band soundchecked AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie before the first show on the tour but the Australian rock band's song never surfaced in the ten concerts Down Under.

It was on the third and final night in Perth, where AC/DC's original leader Bon Scott lived and died, that Springsteen opened with the crowd pumping cover.

 

Perth had already seen two great shows and the Saturday night atmosphere was already palpable before the band came on. But the fierce guitars, pounding drums and belting battle cry of Springsteen and the band to start his final show with Highway To Hell  was the surprise opener that began one of the best openings of the tour.

It set the standard for the song to reappear several times, including twice with special guest Eddie Vedder.

Performed at: Perth (Show 3), Adelaide (Show 1), Melbourne (Show 1), Brisbane.

Original version...

2. Don't Change - INXS

Sydney's only show had already had one cover to raise the crowd in the form of The Easybeats' Friday On My Mind, and the full run down of Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

So when Springsteen belted out the INXS rock song to open the encore there was no holding the audience back. 

The band's four lead guitarists - Springsteen, Stevie Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren and Tom Morello, stood centre stage for the opening bars and returned for the songs climax.

It was angry, energetic and excessive. A fine and topical tribute.

Performed at: Sydney

Original version...

3. Spill The Wine - Eric Burden

After Hunter Valley's first night opening cover of Stick McGee's Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-Do-Dee there was no guessing what would come for the second show.

So when Garry W Tallent bounced on stage moving to a calypso beat and the rest of the band grooved into place before Springsteen arrived it was clear something special was about to happen.

 

Joining him centre stage was Michelle Moore, dressed as the mysterious woman in Eric Burden's Spill The Wine, complete with a bottle and glass of red wine, as Springsteen opened the second show with another cover in tribute to the Australian wine region.

By the second verse even those who didn't know the song were joining in with the chorus and infected by the sense of fun and energy the band were spilling out.

Performed at: Hunter Valley (Show 2) 

Original version...

4. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees

I genuinely thought there had been a mistake when someone told me they had heard the band soundcheck a Bee Gees song while waiting in line in Brisbane.

We had heard the rumours of a string section being brought in and everyone - correctly - assumed it was for New York City Serenade. Not a dated, somewhat irritating to many, disco classic.

 

But when the horns piped in to Springsteen's acoustic guitars, and the E Street Choir emerged from the shadows with their soulful backing vocals it was clear this wasn't going to be a disco tune. Instead the strings kicked in, followed by the rest of the band with horns centre stage bringing with it a rock n' roll rewriting of the song. 
Even Tom Morello got in on the act with an electric guitar solo as Springsteen's vocals turned the song from a high pitch squeal into a solid, fighting song about a man really fighting to stay alive. You really had to see it to believe it.

Performed at: Brisbane

Original version...

5. Royals - Lorde

The best covers were those you didn't see coming, and despite New Zealand's teenage sensation currently on her way to dominate the world, it just didn't occur to some of us Springsteen would give this breakthrough song a try.

The result was a solo acoustic, harmonica-driven, version in which 'King B' pounded his guitar to get out the frustration within the lyrics.

 

Like all covers, this wasn't a last minute attempt to please the local crowd with a tribute to their own music. It was an intricate re-working of a song with complex lyrics that Springsteen was able to firmly add his own touch.

The obviously deeper vocals and weariness over the lyrics again turned this song into that of a beaten-down fighter trying to get on top.

It made such an impact that it was brought out again for Auckland's second show and the final concert on the tour.

Performed at: Auckland (Shows 1 and 2)

Original version...

 

Other notable covers on the tour:

The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind (Sydney, Hunter Valley 1)
Stick McGee - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-Do-Dee (Hunter Valley 1)

Which one do you rate best?

Springsteen at Brisbane Entertainment Centre

"I don't know who else runs their shows like this!" said Bruce Springsteen after letting the audience decide if the band should play his second studio album from top to bottom, or carry on taking sign requests and having a ball in Brisbane.

The voices, mostly in the GA pit, carried sway with Springsteen, as he announced "It's E Street Shuffle time!"

And so continued a show that even before it finished after 3 hours and 42 aminutes, had already become legendary amongst fans as being the one show they would always remember seeing, or always remember missing.

Rumours that Springsteen was planning another album show with the complete run down of The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle, had been circling since Sydney faded into Darkness and two-sides of the speculated The River failed to flow through the Hunter Valley.

But after an incredible opener of The Bee Gee's Stayin' Alive, with Springsteen and the E Street Choir slowly emerging out of the shadows into a full-blown rock 'n' soul version of the disco classic, complete with additional string section, fans were once again reminded that anything can happen.

What followed was four songs from Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park, that would be among a eight new tracks for the 2014 Australian tour, and starting an education for those fans overheard leaving every show complaining about how he didn't perform Born In The USA or Streets Of Philadelphia.

It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City, complete with Springsteen's guitar solo battle with Stevie Van Zandt, was a blast to watch with the enthusiasm from the musicians both obvious and infectious for the high-tempo, party spirit of the band's earlier days.

Carrying straight through with Does This Bus Stop..., Growin' Up, and the crowd-surf inducing Spirit In The Night. (Which came with a hilarious first for Springsteen as someone slipped a phone into his back pocket as he was carried back to the stage.)

An energetic High Hopes and Just Like Fire Would - both covers which started life in their current format at Brisbane last year - was followed by a series of sign requests, which looked certain to derail Springsteen's full album show plans before he confessed they had made plans, but wasn't sure if they had time to fulfil them.

But with an eager audience and a gorgeous string section waiting in the wings following an extensive training afternoon, there could only be one outcome. The crowd demanded and the band more than delivered.

After a rousing E Street Shuffle, the band returned to Danny Federici's signature tune 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) brought out at Hunter Valley and the phenomenal expanded, Springsteen-orchestrated Kitty's Back. Its previous outing at the start of the tour in Perth remains one of the best E Street moments of 2014.

It was the eagerly awaited Incident On 57th Street and album closer New York City Serenade that took the show to epic proportions however.

In particular the latter which saw the aforementioned string section return to the stage and add a soaring finale to the album chapter that until Brisbane, had still been the talk of E Street fans since the song was given the treatment in Europe last year.

For diehard fans the show could have stopped there and still been something special. (Especially with unsung hero of the past two shows Garry W Tallent - this time taking on tuba duties).

But not wasting any time Springsteen took the band forward in time by a decade for Darlington County. Even those standard easy-to-judge Born In The USA-era fans were given a few extras as Bobby Jean and Glory Days were blasted out in the encore.

All before Springsteen of course brought out one final surprise for the Australian tour finale, with Eddie Vedder joining him back on stage for Highway To Hell - the Aussie cover song that is arguably another top highlight of the eleven shows Down Under.

After a long tour across the country it would have been understandable if Springsteen and the band wanted to play it safe and take it easy with a well-rehearsed set list of songs from across this tour and the 2013 Wrecking Ball shows.

But the fact they didn't, and that up until the last of the 222 minutes on stage in Brisbane, Springsteen again gave it his all and kept fans hooked for the next big surprise, simplified why people will beg, borrow and bribe their way to attend show after show, after show.

Brisbane's tour-ending colossus proved the only thing to expect from a Springsteen show is the unexpected.

Set list

1. Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees cover)

2. It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City

3. Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street?

4. Growin’ Up

5. Spirit In The Night

6. High Hopes

7. Just Like Fire Would

8. You Can Look (But You’d Better Not Touch) (sign request)

9. Sherry Darling (sign request)

10. Save My Love (sign request)

11. Fade Away (sign request)

12. The E Street Shuffle

13. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

14. Kitty’s Back

15. Wild Billy’s Circus Story

16. Incident On 57th Street

17. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

18. New York City Serenade (w/ strings)

19. Darlington County

20. Waitin’ On A Sunny Day

21. The Rising

22. The Ghost Of Tom Joad

23. Badlands

24. Glory Days

25. Born To Run

26. Bobby Jean

27. Dancing In The Dark

28. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

29. Highway To Hell (with Eddie Vedder)

30. Thunder Road (solo acoustic)

Australasia tour so far: 11 shows, 306 songs, 116 different.

The pain of missing a spectacular Springsteen show

It doesn’t matter how many shows you’ve seen, how many you’re going to or how many times you break into the top 30 on a Springsteen fan roll call.

If you check the set list of a show that you wanted to see, but were unable to make, then part of you will be probably left devastated by what you see.

After making all 10 Australian shows last year, the plan to see every concert this year was thwarted when The E Street Band’s weekend in Melbourne clashed with an event that was impossible to miss.

So while I was downing beer after beer at a classy, entertaining, all-round brilliant wedding in Western Australia’s South West, Springsteen gave the audience for Melbourne’s first night an incredible show to leave any fan envious.

When you can't make a show, drink until life becomes a show... *

There was always the possibility of Eddie Vedder joining the band on stage, but to bring the Pearl Jam lead singer on to help open the show with AC/DC’s Highway To Hell was a stroke of genius.

To follow it up with Darkness On The Edge Of Town, was enough to create the “head-on collision smashin’ in my guts” feeling Springsteen yells about in Badlands.

Of course these would have both been easier to accept missing out on if Springsteen himself hadn’t told me at a pre-show press conference in Perth that he probably wouldn’t do any full-album shows, only to perform Born In The USA in its entirety for the AAMI Park crowd.

'I'm gonna keep changin' things up'

Although saying that, Springsteen had made it clear he planned to “surprise” audiences and “keep changing it up” when it came to what was played on the night.

With that in mind, it became easier to accept in my post-wedding hangover that Melbourne night one was simply a fluke for Springsteen’s fans who made it to the first stadium show on the Australian tour.

Thinking that however was just the latest in a series of mistakes over set list assumptions.

As Melbourne’s second night started the tracks filtered on to social media and there they were – Growin’ Up and Lost In The Flood. 

The two songs that always come to mind when planning what request signs to make.

I had deliberately avoided making any signs in Perth or Adelaide because I didn’t want to see a song I’d requested played at a show I couldn’t make.

And of course, the killer blow, a full Born To Run – my all-time favourite album – show.

There’s no hiding from it – no matter how good a time I had, by not being in Melbourne, I missed something very, very special.

But the reality is that if unless you go to every Springsteen show for the rest of your – or the Band’s – life, you’re always going to feel that you’ve missed something special – because you will miss something special. Whether it’s a full-album show, a piano solo of For You or a duet with another rock legend.

All you can do is keep track and enjoy the highlights you do make, buy two tickets to New Zealand to extend your adventure and keep checking the weather forecast for the next show… right now there’s storms predicted for Sydney. And with it maybe, some high hopes for a Darkness On The Edge Of Town…  

( * Drink responsibly)

Springsteen at AAMI Park, Melbourne - Show 1

OK, so I didn’t make it to Melbourne where not only did I miss out on a full album play of Born In The USA, I also missed a special appearance by Eddie Vedder.

Son of a bitch.

Set list:

1. Highway To Hell (with Eddie Vedder)

2. Darkness On The Edge Of Town (with Eddie Vedder)

3. Badlands

4. Seeds

5. High Hopes

6. Just Like Fire Would

7. Jole Blon (sign request)

8. Hungry Heart (sign request)

9. Born In The USA

10. Cover Me

11. Darlington County

12. Working on the Highway

13. Downbound Train

14. I'm On Fire

15. No Surrender

16. Bobby Jean

17. I'm Goin' Down

18. Glory Days

19. Dancing in the Dark

20. My Hometown

21. Factory (sign request)

22. Shackled and Drawn

23. The Ghost of Tom Joad

24. The Rising

25. Land of Hope and Dreams

Encore:

26. Heaven's Wall

27. Born to Run

28. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

29. Seven Nights to Rock

30. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

31. Shout

32. Thunder Road (solo acoustic)

Australasia tour so far: 174 songs, 6 shows, 88 different