"...where, for us, it all began" - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finally play Liverpool
- Herpreet Grewal
- Jun 7
- 4 min read
June 7, 2025
London-based journalist and Letters To You contributor Herpreet Grewal provides us with her first-hand account of Liverpool Night 1, accompanied by René van Diemen's beautiful photography:
Last Wednesday, after many opportunities of almost playing a show in Liverpool, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finally took the stage at Anfield. They did so less than two weeks after the stadium’s home team won England’s Premier League title, and on the June 4th release-date anniversary of Springsteen's all-time best-selling album Born in the U.S.A., no less.
It’s hard to believe it took so long for Bruce and his band to play to the northern, working-class city so in tune with their own blue-collar roots, especially as Springsteen opened the show with the words, “Good evening. It is great to be in Liverpool where, for us, it all began,” obviously referencing The Beatles, a beloved band that formed his early music education and inspiration.
The gig strongly set the tone - as with other shows in The "Land of Hope and Dreams" Tour - with its political message calling out America’s “corrupt, treasonous government” as he played "Rainmaker," "Death to My Hometown," and "Wrecking Ball" with particularly barbed anger. Having seen his concerts several times last year, it is worth remembering the idea of this tour has been to play the shows that were cancelled last year, and add some cities that the band and Springsteen have not yet visited. But he also has reframed the whole theme of the show around the political message that has become more urgent since Donald Trump was reelected as President of the U.S.A.
Last year’s shows had a more personal tone, set around loss and mortality, but now the focus is on America, what it is doing, and how it is affecting its own people and the world. It's certainly a valid message for Bruce to be communicating as an authoritative artist and chronicler of American life for the past fifty years.
From my position in the front row (achieved after days of gruelling queuing!) I was able to see how palpable and raw Springsteen’s anger was, and the crowd welcomed it with loud cheers of approval. Nevertheless, I did hear different views within the fan community in the days following up to the gig and on the day itself. One remarked that it was not the platform for such a message, even though well-intentioned. Some American fans attending expressed conflict between their fandom and how hard a message it was to hear about their country when they did not agree with it, showing the cognitive dissonance likely being experienced by a portion of Springsteen’s fan base back home.
But most welcomed his message of fighting against authoritarianism. Springsteen never mentions Trump by name in the show's onstage political statements. Instead the only person Springsteen mentions by name is the late African-American gay writer James Baldwin. Baldwin was writing in the 1950s up to the 1980s, yet is still relevant enough to mention in 2025 because his work continuously called for greater humanity. (Bruce paraphrases a Baldwin quote: “In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.” In his Renegades: Born in the USA podcast/book project with former U.S. President Barack Obama, Springsteen revealed that he started reading James Baldwin's work after the murder of George Floyd.)
Working together to achieve the ideals of community is what Springsteen is all about, and the manifestation of that ideal is seriously compromised in America and the world right now. This theme deeply dominates the show in a way that didn't happen during last year’s shows, but at a time it is desperately needed and people are listening.
Since this tour began in mid-May, he's made no major deviations from his setlist so far. While the joy of defiance is not as strong in this show as in the ones last year, Springsteen projects a certainty that we/America will get there. The moments of joy and exuberance have happened mostly when he interacts with the crowd, such as playing a harmonica duet during "The Promised Land" with a young girl in the Liverpool Night 1 crowd who was sitting atop someone’s shoulders and who had her own harmonica. Afterwards, Bruce gave her his harmonica.
At one point he walked down the front row greeting fans, and even accepted a tissue from one fan. As she gestured that it was for him to clean his nose, he mimicked the movement back, confirming that he understood - like a comical silent-film scene.
Yesterday Bruce was hanging out with Sir Paul McCartney, and visited the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) on Mount Street (an educational institution that McCartney has helped to found and fund, on the grounds of his old school,) fueling even further the strong rumours that Macca will make an appearance at tonight's second Liverpool show….
