Bruce Springsteen gig review: Clichéd as it sounds, The Boss performs like it’s his last ever gig

They might well do that after this run of gigs. At 73, Springsteen appears as lean and energised as ever and his trademark of playing marathon, near-three-hour concerts shows no signs of waning.

You wonder if he can possibly match past performances now that he is several years into standard retirement age. Remarkably, he can. For the first half of Sunday’s show, he seems to have one gear — full-on, no-holds-barred, soul-stirring passion. Often, there’s virtually no break between songs — as soon as one career-spanning epic has been delivered, another has begun.

The big screens show the intensity writ large on his face. Clichéd as it sounds, Springsteen performs as though this is his last gig, his face positively contorted with defiance and rage as he delivers a vast selection of songs chiefly culled from theBorn to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Townand Born in the USAalbums.

His latest album, Letter to You,contributes four to the 28-song set and it’s a measure of his enduring songwriting gifts that those feel just as essential to the overall show as the evergreen hits do.

The E Street Band are with him every step of the way and their number is swelled by a brass section and several backing singers. The effect is rarely less than rambunctious, a maximalist display that’s especially thrilling on The Promised Land — which features Springsteen prowling along the front row — and Wrecking Ball, the ode to blue-collar endeavour in his native New Jersey.

Springsteen is keen to allow individual members to enjoy their moment in the spotlight — both Jake Clemons and ‘Little’ Steven Van Zandt are crowd favourites — and that’s certainly the case on a spirited rendition of the Commodores’ Nightshift, which features the soulful vocals of Curtis King.

Last Man Standing offers a welcome respite from the frantic pace. A pared back ode to an old friend, now deceased, it’s one of several songs that sees Springsteen confronting mortality.

The final third of the show centres on the songs known to the casual Springsteen fan, although such is the atmosphere from the off that it feels as if there are few of those present.

A hat-trick of his biggest songs, Born in the USA, Born to Run and Glory Daysis delivered in quick succession and there’s an especially impassioned rendition of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, which features big-screen shots of deceased E Streeters Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici as well as Springsteen himself as a young performer.

The night ends on a sombre note with Springsteen alone on stage with his acoustic guitar. Inspired by a deceased friend,I’ll See You in My Dreamsis a reminder of the transience of time and the importance to keep special memories close at heart. It’s a fitting way to finish: this is a show to live long in the memory.