Bruce Springsteen

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

THE E STREET BAND

London Calling: Live in Hyde Park Columbia/

Sony Music

It’s summer in Ireland and, for some curious reason, Bruce Springsteen isn’t playing anywhere here. A similar but different way of saying “there’s no show like a Joe show” (Joe Dolan, RIP), it’s also true to state that there is no show like a Bruce show. This nearly three-hour recording of Springsteen’s Hard Rock Calling festival date in London last June is all-killer, no-filler, no frills, no tricks, no extras to mention (backstage footage, interviews, etc). Rather, it employs a what-you-see-is- what-you-get work ethic, a production that isn’t so much back to basics as a starting point for other acts to follow, with a set list that takes in the old (Jungleland, Badlands, Racing in the Street), the new (Working on a Dream, The Rising) and the breathtaking (Promised Land, Born to Run). Not exactly a Joe show, then. See brucespringsteen.net

TONY CLAYTON-LEA