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“Hello Hanging Rock!” In three simple words, Bruce Springsteen had a crowd of 17,000 in his hands at Hanging Rock on Saturday night.
People had queued up beneath the rock since Friday to be first in and stake out their vantage point.
In the line at 1pm, people chatted with like-minded strangers about their favourite Springsteen songs, the best gigs they had seen and what they hoped for from the night.
I doubt anyone left disappointed.
The Rubens came on in the early afternoon to warm up a still growing crowd before Jimmy Barnes energised the 17,000 people.
But then it was time to see the one man everyone had been waiting for.
The Boss and his ever-impressive E-Street Band kicked off their set with Badlands and showcased the Wrecking Ball album before Bruce showed off his acoustic skills with The River.
A large amount of signs gave Springsteen a lot of request options but he opted for Atlantic City, Johnny 99, If I Should Fall Behind and Because the Night.
One of the big highlights was Bruce singing The Ghost of Tom Joad alongside Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, who played an amazing guitar solo to give the song a slightly more modern twist.
As if that wasn’t enough for Boss fans, he launched straight into Thunder Road right after.
Bruce’s encore featured three of the most-waited for tracks with Born To Run, Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark lighting up the crowd before the E-street Band helped close out a fantastic show with Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out was also the platform for a tribute to long-time E Street saxophonist Clarence Clemons who died last year. The whole show stopped for a minute as photos of Clarence were projected onto the screen.
Clemon’s nephew, Jake Clemons, played saxophone on the Wrecking Ball tour.
Born in the USA was nowhere to be seen on the night but it didn’t matter as die-hard fans and first time concert goers enjoyed a great spectacle from a fantastic showman.
Who knows when Bruce Springsteen will return to Australia for another tour.
But when he does, I’ll be first in line for a ticket.