Bruce Springsteen in Cork: Six things we learned from the gig in the Páirc
Bruce Springsteen in concert at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Just a few days before The Boss took to the stage at the Páirc, there was a debate about 36-year-old hurling legend Patrick Horgan lining out for Cork against Limerick at the same venue. Did he still have the legs for a top-class performance? The doubters were silenced when the Blackpool man scored 1-11 in a magnificent victory. On Thursday night, it felt as if Springsteen, 74, had plucked a dropping ball from Horgan out of the sky and soloed around the stadium with the same energy. Three hours of top-class music and entertainment. Elder lemons abú.
There had been some grumblings that Springsteen wasn't as prone to changing his set on this tour as on previous excursions. But in Cork, the band-leader seemed to be back in his spontaneous groove. On a showery night on Leeside, he opened proceedings with the rather apt ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’, a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover that the aficionados on Setlist.fm said hadn’t been played on tour for seven years.
Twelve songs in and he read a sign from a fan that mentioned it was 222 days to Christmas. Cue an unseasonal but rather fun rendition of ‘Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town’, a tune apparently not heard in the wild since 2016. “Only in Cork!” Springsteen quipped as a huge grin spread across his face.
Of course Bruce Springsteen is going to have decent backing musicians, but it’s in the live arena that you really get to appreciate the prowess of the E-Street Band. In Cork, everything was chugging away nicely when suddenly Nils Lofgren unleashed a jaw-dropping solo. A wow moment. And then it feels like no bother to Bruce’s cohorts when he lurches into a song they haven’t played live for years.
Skills aside, it takes a lot of hard work and a special rapport for all this to work. You realise this live experience is about far more than the man with his name on the poster. And he knows it too, which is why Springsteen has stayed close to these fellow-septuagenarians for so long. For this live tour, the sound is further beefed up with a brass-section, four backing singers, and even a violinist. This is how you rock a stadium.
The Cork stadium again showed how it’s a fine venue for large concerts, and Páirc management have worked hard to keep local residents onside despite the inconvenience. But it’s baffling that for every event, they encourage attendees to use public transport. Other than the regular – and impractical for these purposes – bus route through Ballintemple, there is none.
The 40,000 or so punters must either park in the area or walk the 30 minutes from the city centre and back again. Inevitably, this leads to traffic chaos, air-pollution, etc, around every event. The city’s Park & Ride facility doesn’t even stay open late enough to accommodate the 10.30pm finishing time for concerts. Perhaps somebody is working on a solution, but it feels like a long way away.
We’ve all met the Springsteen fans who’ve been to a few of his Irish gigs. But in Cork we saw a whole other level of dedication. Americans, English, Italian… they attend multiple dates on each tour, queuing two days before venue gates open so they can get in the front section. Some have 60 notches on their Bruce belt. Others have more than 100. Their kids and grandkids have a lot of work to do on the Swiftie trail before they catch up.
With the big rock hits so prominent, it’s easy to forget that Springsteen has had such a varied output through his decades-long career. In Cork, as he moved through the eras with a 28-song set, the energy and tone shifted along the way. Despite a bit of crowd chatter in the quieter moments, he maintained an incredible connection with fans throughout.
The first big singalong came eight songs in with ‘Hungry Heart’. This writer’s favourite moment was ‘My City of Ruins’, a decent album track transformed into a warm soul epic in the live setting. The woman in the row near me loved ‘Dancing In The Dark’ so much that she tapped the strangers sitting in front of her on the head and commanded them to get up for it. And nobody could’ve argued with the closing tune, ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’, a gorgeous tribute to Shane MacGowan.
