Bruce Springsteen Dusts Off ‘Linda Let Me Be the One’ for Stage Debut |
Bruce Springsteen‘s 2014 tour has been filled with rarities and left-field covers, and the rock legend didn’t disappoint Tuesday night in Sunrise, Florida, performing a 40-year-old track – Born to Run outtake “Linda Let Me Be the One” – for the first time on-stage.
The E Street Band unveiled the tender sing-along several tracks into the setlist, though the performance wasn’t without its hiccups. After a mid-song miscue, Springsteen stops the band, playfully reminding the audience to give them a break. “We fucked the whole thing up right there!” the singer shouts. “I told you it was the first time!” After that humorous interruption, the band then finishes the simmering track (which features a chorus cadence not unlike “Hungry Heart”). The night’s setlist also included an opening cover of the Clash’s “Clampdown” and a version of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom.”
Other rare tracks featured on the current tour include “Hearts of Stone” (performed for the third time ever) and “Iceman” (performed for the first time with the full band), not to mention the second-ever full band performance of 1973’s The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Along the way, Springsteen has also played a handful of geographically themed cover songs, including Lorde’s “Royals” in New Zealand (which made the latter singer “teary” in appreciation) and an eclectic batch of tracks (AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive”) in Australia.
Despite Courney Love expressing her distaste of the E Street Band’s musical style (claiming “saxophones don’t belong in rock & roll” in a recent Youtube video), it’s been a great month for the backing band, who joined their frontman in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
| By Ryan Reed via Rolling Stone. |