I knew I was in for an unpredictable, unforgettable experience when I made the trip from Seattle to Cape Town for Bruce’s three-show stand (his first shows in South Africa) in 2014.
I expected setlist surprises, guest-stars and memorable audience moments (and we got all of them). What I didn’t expect was to get a taste of three different tours on three separate nights.
Night 1 was the High Hopes Tour (although I had no idea at the time what that would look like, given that this was the opening stand of the tour). Night 3 was a Wrecking Ball show. But the middle show felt at times like a throwback to 2006 and the Seeger Session tour.
There was a reason for that: Pete Seeger died during the down day between Night 1 and Night 2, and Seeger had a huge influence on Bruce. Going into the show that night, I expected a tribute song at some point.
Sure enough, leading off the encore was “We Shall Overcome,” dedicated to Seeger and to Nelson Mandela, sung in unison by the entire audience, and resonating more in South Africa than it ever did on the Seeger Sessions tour. Those minutes existed out of time and remain one of my most memorable experiences at a Springsteen show.
But Bruce must have had Pete Seeger on his mind the whole night, because interspersed throughout the set were two other Seeger tour staples not seen since 2006: the swing arrangement of “Open All Night,” and “This Little Light of Mine.”
Bruce was also much looser at this show than at the opener. On Night 1, there were no requests, and the audience interactions were awkward (it was, after all, the first show for most in the audience). By Night 2, the audience was figuring out their participation parts, and Bruce spotted and granted a few requests signs. Night 3 would prove to be full of spontaneity.
More on that tomorrow.
