Notes on life, travel and Bruce Springsteen – San Siro stadium, Milan 3 July 2025
It’s close to 8pm and the temperature remains stubbornly close to 35°C in the front standing section of the iconic San Siro stadium. My solo journey from the UK to Milan began at 3am this morning. A car, plane, train and taxi delivered me, as planned to a central location and the friends standing beside me now. I should be wilting, what with the extreme heat and the heightened state of excitement I’ve been in all day, but I have never felt more alive. Every nerve in my body is tingling, every sense sharpened. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrap up their triumphant European tour tonight. Fans that were casually milling around have now settled on their spots because the revered musicians are due on stage any minute and no one wants to miss a second of it.
Tonight I’m several rows in from my customary place on the back rail. This is my fifth show of the tour and I can feel my heart beating a little faster knowing it’s the last but I have a dilemma. Should I wipe away the new beads of sweat forming on my face and neck for the hundredth time or keep both hands free, ready to participate in the planned welcome organized by the Italian fan group, Our Love is Real?
Here in the pit, poised to deliver a message of devotion and gratitude we clutch printed yellow and blue souvenir, ‘our love is real’ scarves in our sweaty hands. The affirmative statement answers one of life’s great mysteries posed in the Born to Run lyric, ‘I wanna know if love is real’. At the same time, behind and above us in the stands, hundreds of devotees with flashcards are primed to form a choreographed ‘See Me in Your Dreams’ mosaic, a homage to the end of the run and an echo of the sentiment we absorbed when this era of live shows first took off some two years ago. Back then a significant section of the setlist featured songs and stories about getting older, losing the people we love and facing our own mortality.
These continue to be pressing issues for Bruce, most of the band and a good proportion of his loyal audience. My little group of Bruce buddies remain in shock at the sudden, tragic loss of one of our own just a month ago. Dear, funny Kim K, passionate Bruce Springsteen fan and beautiful soul showed us that heartbreak is only ever a heartbeat away. The Promised Land will always be Kim’s song and silently we vow to sing it hard and sing it well for our friend tonight. In the summer of 2025 Bruce has something different to tell us. The tone of his message has shifted and this is no time for subtleties and fond remembrance. He’s angry at the direction his country is taking under the Trump administration and Europe feels his pain acutely. In vehement, heartfelt spoken segments and choice of songs he’s been laying it on the line, night after night.
From Manchester to Milan, from Lille to Liverpool, to San Sebastián and all the places in between, in concert and on social media we’ve cheered his spoken condemnation of an authoritarian and corrupt administration, and his certainty that humanity and democracy will prevail if enough of us raise our voices and ‘let freedom ring’. Inevitably, some debate followed, even amongst a section of so-called diehard fans, on whether Bruce Springsteen should be so overtly ‘political’, calling into question whether they have been paying any attention to his lyrics and references these past 50 years. For those of us who share his concerns it is a relief to hear him use his platform and live shows to be fearlessly and openly direct when so many in his country remain cowed and silent.
You don’t need to be a devoted Bruce Springsteen fan to know that his bold and defiant criticism prompted a swift and childish outburst from the White House. It seems Bruce’s popularity, good looks, talent and resistance, not to mention his status as a Great American and cultural icon, clearly upset a very thin-skinned POTUS. All very satisfying and somewhat predictable.
The bandleader’s consistent ability to give voice to his deepest feelings whilst also reflecting our own through the power and authority of his words and music is a gift that can never be taken for granted. It’s what he has referred to as the continuing conversation he has with his audience and it’s why when Bruce has something on his mind that he needs to share, we want to be there to hear it as often as we can, while we still can. Over five decades, the musical artistry, coupled with a vast and still growing catalogue of material to draw on, those songs, those words remind us who we were then, who we are now and all the life events that shaped us, Who hasn’t felt the youthful urgency to leave a town full of losers, so vividly expressed by the narrator in Thunder Road, and how much more potent is this idea with the majesty and wisdom of age. Did we ever go back? Did we win?
Of course, if you’re not a Bruce Springsteen fan then sticking with me up to this point is admirable. I will attempt to reward your loyalty with a little insight into Bruce Springsteen fandom and why many of us – finances and work commitments permitting – go to multiple shows on each tour. Why would anyone want to see Bruce Springsteen do the same show over and over again? It’s probably the question I get asked most often but the answer is simple. It’s never exactly the same show. The core songs might remain the same and for sure I welcome some more than others, but it never feels like repetition to me. The venues, the places, the people, the shared history, the connections, the responses, the interactions are always distinct. Some shows might be better than others, more memorable, more meaningful for what is played and what is not, who you are with and who is missing. Art is always subjective and as much about what the individuals on the stage and in the crowd bring to the night, as the work itself. I welcome that feeling of pure joy that comes from being in the moment, one of thousands singing back the words to the bangers like Badlands, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark and Hungry Heart. It’s a transformative experience and it’s addictive.
Our old friend FOMO (fear of missing out) is an important element too. Night 1 and Night 2 shows in the same location are a case in point. In Manchester there was even a Night 3. There’s every reason to believe they will all be special in different ways. Witness Night 2 in Liverpool, when rumours that Paul McCartney would show up on stage actually materialised. Or the historic two night stand at Wembley in 2024 when Night 1 included Roy Bittan’s sublime extended piano outro on Racing in the Street and Night 2 a rare appearance from Patti Scialfa to duet on Tougher Than the Rest.
It should also be acknowledged that nerves of steel are required to secure Bruce Springsteen tickets via the infamous Ticketmaster platform. The one that insists on telling you how many thousands of people are ahead of you in the online queue before it freezes you out. When purchasing is a challenge, success is powerful driver. Dealing with Ticketmaster is a bit like childbirth. The pain is excruciating, but when that confirmation email pops into your inbox, you forget all about the torture you went through. Bruce Springsteen fans tend to secure the tickets first and worry about the finer details of how they will get to the show later. If overnight accommodation is required, price hikes in line with shows dates are baked in as soon as the hotel chains clock who is performing in their city. We thought we were being clever in early 2023, by booking flights and rental accommodation in Düsseldorf, months before tickets for the concert went on sale. Days before we were due to travel our booking was cancelled by the owners because a clearly invented ‘flood’ had rendered the property uninhabitable. A more truthful explanation would have meant admitting that sheer greed compelled them to cancel us at short notice for an opportunity to make a Bruce sized pile of dosh. With tickets to the show in hand, securing last minute alternative accommodation was stressful to say the least.
Milan was a different story altogether. I hadn’t even considered going when the tickets went on sale but ten days ago, with great encouragement from my long-suffering husband I booked a return flight to Milan that would deliver me here solo for Night 2. The big one. I had no ticket though and not much chance of finding one in the front standing section that I could afford. It was a sold out show after all so what on earth was I thinking? Ending up here, in a prime spot tonight is one of those extraordinary Bruce Springsteen miracles. The Bruce Gods – and they do exist – work fast and in mysterious ways.
Tickets for the second night in Milan were easily the most sought after of the 16 shows across Europe. As the dates drew ever closer the fan forums and occasional single ticket drops on resale sites told the story. It felt like everyone in the world was looking for a spare ticket to this one. When the original 2024 Milan shows had to be postponed the old tickets remained valid for the new dates. Conventional wisdom, and the law of averages indicated that as the time drew near a proportion of people wouldn’t be able to make the new dates and would want to sell their tickets. It would have to be accepted that this scenario probably wouldn’t apply so much to the standing front of stage ticketholders who tended to be the diehards. Well fair enough. At this stage you’d have to be grateful to be in the building. Several of my friends assured me it would all work out. Remember the nerves of steel I mentioned? Wait till nearer the time and tickets will appear they said. They were right.
Eight days before the Milan shows we were in San Sebastián, to catch Bruce of course, with the added bonus of exploring the Spanish Basque coast. Searching on an official resale site for the umpteenth time my ever patient other half managed to nab a single seated ticket for San Siro Night 2. I wouldn’t be with my friends in the pit but I would be in the house for the greatest rock and roll tour finale of all time. Job done. Except there was more.
Two days before the flight to Milan I get the text message of my dreams.
‘There’s a ticket in the pit available through a friend of mine whose wife isn’t now coming. Yes or no?’
What are the chances? I guess I must either know all the best people and you know who you are, or the Bruce Gods somehow always come through for me. A bit of both I reckon.
I felt like Cinderella going to the ball. The transport at stupid o’clock from rural Essex to central Milan delivered me to the land of hope and dreams where all I had to do was get on board ‘this train’ from Malpensa airport and ‘faith would be rewarded’. Land of Hope and Dreams, a song we affectionately refer to as LOHAD does say, rather rashly that you don’t need no ticket. Poetic license. You definitely need a ticket, Bruce. For the show and also the train.
That’s one thing we Springsteen fans do all the time. We talk in Bruce Springsteen lyrics and acronyms of songs. On one level it’s a shorthand we all understand but it goes far deeper than just that. Many of these words are now anthems, sacred mottos for life, representing a philosophy and a way of thinking that speaks to what it is to be human. For me, no other rock performer comes close to capturing the drama, the sadness and the unbridled wonder of being alive in a way that is so universally understood The complexity and nuance contained in the phrase, ‘faith will be rewarded’ is not a throwaway line to someone grappling with a cancer diagnosis and the challenges of treatment, nor the concerned citizen yearning for justice.
In the last two years, the live shows, perhaps more than ever, offer a safe space to express and embrace the rawest of human emotions whilst also having the time of your life. And as you get older, having the time of your life on a regular basis is a very healthy addiction. The baggage that all of us carry in our hearts and on our shoulders as we enter the stadium can certainly feel a little lighter when the righteous power of rock and roll is called into service. Nobody knows this better than Bruce Springsteen himself. Over the years, as we have come to know more about his inner life and the events in his past that shaped his career it is clear that what he does for his audience, he also does for himself.
It was 37 years ago at Wembley Stadium that I first experienced a Bruce Springsteen performance driven by political passion and commitment and it made a deep and lasting impression. The occasion was the launch of Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now! tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the work of Amnesty International in defending and protecting citizens from human rights abuses, often visited on them by their own governments. There must have been opportunities for me to see Bruce Springsteen before 1988 but this show was the one that prompted me to buy a ticket. I was seated and I remember feeling sorry for all those standing in the pit that day. It looked hot and uncomfortable but back then I was a total newbie to Springsteen concert culture. These days I rarely buy a seated ticket and if I do, I don’t stay seated for long. For the Amnesty tour, in 20 dates across the world, Bruce and the E Street Band shared the billing with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour. Together they concluded each show with two powerful anthems: The Wailers’ Get Up Stand Up, and Dylan’s Chimes of Freedom. It’s sobering to reflect that the latter, a modern-day hymn to freedom, chosen back then to highlight multiple assaults on freedom by governments in Argentina, Chile, China and South Africa, has been repurposed in 2025 and directed at Trump’s America.
I had joined Amnesty International in my twenties and I knew a lot about the campaigning work they did on behalf of individuals jailed for their beliefs. Here, on stage were a group of artists who believed in the same causes. The headline act, on my radar and in my record collection since the release of The River album some eight years before, captured my heart and soul that day with a setlist that made me think, moved me to tears, but also gave me a sense of joy and fun. I was mum to two under-fives and going to the show with a friend was precious time off from our child-rearing responsibilities. Several months before this time, I’d purchased a second hand car and found a cassette tape of Born to Run in the glove box. The universe delivered the perfect soundtrack and it remains my favourite Springsteen album. I can still remember that first feeling of total exhilaration, of being part of a crowd singing as one, ‘cos tramps like us, baby we were born to run.’ Revisiting that sense of blissful abandon again is part of what has brought me to San Siro tonight. But it’s not the whole story.
Standing here, at this, the final night of what has become The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour to Europe is to experience a multitude of emotions. This isn’t just any tour closer, it’s a bitter sweet occasion. The wildest party Bruce Springsteen promised his fans once the terrible isolation of the global pandemic was over has been life-affirming in so many ways. For us and the band, but it ends here. Tonight. Aside from the serious spoken segments Bruce has been beaming with happiness and fun at every show, giving some 700,000 fans across six countries memories they will remember forever. We must have done the same for him. Spreading the joy, not the virus is a beautiful contagion. After tonight the circus packs up and heads for home. and we don’t yet know when it will return in this form. Bruce has pledged to continue performing with the band, ‘until the wheels come off’ and I’m taking him at his word.
It’s been quite a ride since Tampa, Florida opened proceedings on 1 February 2023. Not that I was there for that one but thanks to social media, details, pictures and clips of all 128 party nights to date have been widely shared and whole shows have even been live streamed. Despite a few interruptions to the original schedule, due to the bandleader’s peptic ulcer disease and vocal issues following the ‘hellacious’ weather conditions in Sunderland, fans have been ‘rocked into the ground’ virtually and physically at some 105 locations across Europe and North America.
Postponed from 2024, San Siro’s celebrations have been‘a long time comin’, thereby adding a further layer of expectation. Will Bruce pull a surprise out of the bag, a tweak to the standard setlist for Europe, a rarity reserved just for us here tonight? Opinion is divided but with official filming taking place on both nights, the cautious wisely point out that an element of control will be needed for the sake of continuity. Some dial down hopes for a Rosalita or a Jungleland in their conversation but maybe not in their hearts. Me, I only have one request and it’s certainly within the bounds of possibility. In keeping with the ‘dangerous times’ theme, Darkness on the Edge of Town has been played regularly during this tour, alternating with Atlantic City, which I hear had an outing on the first night so I could be in luck.
The idea that the audience can influence the setlist on the night is not fanciful but harks back to an earlier era when a good portion of Bruce Springsteen’s concerts were basically request shows. Fans turned up with homemade signs, often with very creative and entertaining art work and during the evening, Bruce would collect a bunch that appealed to him, briefly show the band the title, or call it, and the consummate musicians would seemingly conjure the song out of thin air on the spot. ‘Stumping the E Street Band’ became a challenge that the musicians always won and any missteps that occurred were highly prized for their rarity value. Those shows certainly added an element of spontaneity, delight and personal involvement for fans, especially those that had success with their signs requesting a deep cut or rarely played favourite. A notable example is Wages of Sin, performed live for the first time in Finland in 2013 after a fan from Belgium finally had success with his handwritten sign request. Apparently a five-year quest from the guy to hear it live had not gone unnoticed by Bruce and this particular fan’s persistence was duly noted and eventually rewarded. The signs haven’t just been confined to songs either. Requests for man hugs, dancing, singing, or playing guitar on stage, have all been granted at various times plus the regular gifting of harmonicas. Of late the harmonica giveaways are nightly and aimed at the younger fans now showing up with their parents.
Song requests have not played such a significant part of the live shows since Springsteen on Broadway opened in 2017. With the stage adaptation of his Born to Run memoir the concept of a narrative arc and an unchanging themed setlist has been introduced to the full band shows, which must be a lot less nerve wracking for the musicians, although many fans still live in hope that their sign will initiate a surprise addition. On 5 May, 2024 in Cardiff, that thinking paid off when Bruce hailed some nifty artwork and gave us, If I was the Priest, a surprise departure from the written setlist, and a longed for crowd pleaser, marking the opening night of the European tour in spectacular style. The song, more than 50 years old, has only been performed a handful of times in America and only once in Europe. Bruce Springsteen really does know how to make his audiences feel special.
On and off stage, and especially in recent years, Bruce and members of the E Street Band are renowned for engaging with fans. Even amongst my small friendship group we can point to many close encounters. In 2013 one of our number was plucked from the Glasgow crowd by Bruce to dance on stage and further distinguished herself on guitar whilst singing along to Dancing in the Dark. We can boast of handshakes in San Franscisco, book signings in New York and Stockholm, photos in a San Sebastián café, hand-holding in Sunderland and chats in the bars of numerous swanky hotels. On one remarkable occasion in Kilkenny, a sign inviting Bruce to take a fan’s gift of a tie and wear it on stage delighted our friend – the original owner of the tie – when the fun scenario played out exactly as intended.
When Bruce and the band are in town, magic happens between his fans too. They say you are never alone at a Springsteen show and it’s true. A Bruce T-shirt will at the very least attract friendly nods between strangers and is more usually the catalyst to animated conversation and genuine friendship. Here in San Siro I’ve been introduced to several people that I only know by their social media handles, not their faces, nor even their real names. I am the same for them but we squeal and hug each other like old friends when the penny drops. The Bruce Springsteen community in my experience are fantastic people. Take San Sebastián, a not untypical example.
We turn a corner and see a small crowd standing outside a smart hotel. I join them because it’s clear why they are there and who they are waiting for. I check with two guys that look like they are in the know. One is from the Netherlands, the other British, both going to the shows. They’ve been waiting there a while and both have photos of E Streeters Jake and Steve arriving and waving. We chat about the tour, the albums we love, our shared Bruce history, breaking off when another car door opens, in case it’s who we are waiting for. It isn’t. The non-celebrities that arrive enjoy the attention and must also feel our extreme disappointment as soon as we realise they are nobodies. We go back to our conversation and eventually remember to introduce ourselves properly. An hour has passed and we are still talking. My husband has left us to it. We exchange contact details and I leave the guys after close on two hours. As I walk away, I give a few glances back, just in case. Later, a friend sends me a blurry photo of what appears to be Bruce sunbathing on a top floor terrace outside his hotel room. He was relaxing above our heads all the time. Good for him. The chat I had with the two guys was the special part.
Social media continues to give Bruce Springsteen fans different ways to connect that can and do transfer to real life in astonishing ways. In the last couple of years friendships initially made on Twitter deepened in ways none of us could have imagined. During the tour and largely because of it, a group of us migrated to a Whatsapp group to share all things Bruce, all the time, plus pretty much everything else in our lives, whenever we want. Between us, from 2023-2025 we’ve planned, anticipated and attended legendary Springsteen concerts in America, Ireland, the UK and across Europe. Tonight will be shared with all those from our Whatsapp group not physically present. There will be photos, videos, live chat and maybe even a phone call but now all bets are off because E Street veterans, Max, Roy, Nils and Garry suddenly appear with a wave and find their places on stage. Charlie on keyboards, Soozie on violin, Anthony on percussion, the horn section and the choir all greeting us in their individual ways to the unmistakable Badlands chant and then on comes Jake Clemons making his signature peace gesture over his heart and to us, before the moment of ecstasy.
We take a breath, scarves are lifted aloft and 70,000 voices roar their approval as Bruce and his consigliere and musical director, Steve Van Zandt enter together, hands held high in celebration. The roar from the crowd is deafening. Less than two weeks before this moment Steve underwent emergency surgery in San Sebastián for appendicitis. The unmistakable E Street pirate and musical director is back, walking a little more carefully than usual but this appearance is a triumph and we know it. The pair of them take a moment to absorb the magic of the venue with Bruce smiling his approval, acknowledging the enormity of the greetings that San Siro, and only San Siro can pull off.
‘Are we ready?’ he asks in Italian several times. You bet we are! And we’re off on that mystery ride, where setlist speculation turns to full-throated recognition as the opener, a ferociously ardent My Love Will Not Let You Down sends us all into a jumping, lalalalalalala ing, fist pumping frenzy. It’s a passion fest with the highlight being the holy trinity of melodic guitar playing from Nils, Bruce and Stevie, powered by Max’s urgent beat. This is going to be, as they say, one for the ages.
The intention and the energy is up several notches. The band are playing like their lives depend on it and we are giving it back in every note. Prove It All Night, a song I’ve heard countless time has never sounded so urgent and so necessary, but it’s the unmistakable opening riff that signals Darkness on the Edge of Town that brings me to tears, not just because I was hoping he would play it tonight, but because my friends wanted it for me. We exchange a smile and I surrender to the grandeur of one of my favorites, sung with the raw intensity of a last night.
The gospel inspired anthem Land of Hope and Dreams never disappoints but tonight it’s better than ever. The horns, the voices and every beat elevates it to a spiritual experience. The spoken segment that precedes it, with a call for us to raise our voices against authoritarianism garners a thunderous crowd response. Death to My Hometown has never been a favourite of mine but tonight I’m hearing everything as if for the first time. Potent with meaning, this Celtic drumbeat of protest and resistance against the reckless decisions of the powerful hits the mark, as do the viscerally apt lyrics of Rainmaker, dedicated to ‘our dear leader’.
Now a change of direction, in keeping with the shape of the show. Bruce uses The Promised Land and Hungry Heart to connect with those on the rail who catch his eye as Jake’s sax takes these seminal works skywards. Bruce is making memories for individuals whist at the same time performing for the entire stadium via the big screens. He may have given up on the crowd surfing antics, and who can blame him, but he still looks for opportunities to engage with fans young and old directly, mid-song and whilst playing the harmonica!
The evening contains so many beautiful contrasts. At the end of The River, during the falsetto part, Bruce stops singing and lets the crowd take the melody. We carry on, all eyes on him as he conducts, and then with the gentlest of signals, brings us to the finish line. It was spontaneous, generous and spine-tingling.
With barely a beat we crash into a burning two pack of ferocity with Youngstown and Nils Lofgren’s thrilling extended solo, a highlight of these shows, and then the crowd echoes the ‘come on down’ backing vocals for an intense Murder Incorporated featuring Bruce and Steve’s electrifying guitar duel.
I’ve learned to appreciate the acoustic beauty of the clunkily titled, House of a Thousand Guitars on this tour, both from the spoken introduction to it and the emotional punch it packs as the tiers of San Siro twinkle with the lights from mobile phones, underlining the song’s message of community and faith in each other.
Long Walk Home, introduced as ‘a prayer for my country’ is such a powerful song of resistance and another opportunity for extended communal singing in the chorus, though tonight we don’t hold back on every word of the verses too. It’s a gorgeous prelude to a part of the night I look forward to when Bruce’s spoken segment on the crushing injustices taking place in America makes way for My City of Ruins, another gospel-soaked bravura hymn of hope. The horns, choir and Roy Bitten’s sublime piano never sounded better and the ‘rise up’ section is sublime.
This isn’t a casual stroll to the encores. A blistering Because the Night with Nils once again shredding his guitar solo is followed, by twin punches Wrecking Ball, The Rising and then the best, most intensely felt ‘smashing in my guts man’ Badlands I’ve ever heard. The words have never felt so pertinent to the orange man in the White House. ‘Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king and the king ain’t satisfied till he rules everything’.
‘It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive’, at the same time as Bruce Springsteen? You bet.
Thunder Road, and it has to be, closes the main section. It’s always a beautiful moment to hear it, a song that never gets old, one that will always be hailed as an example of Bruce Springsteen at his lyrically finest and one that still divides fans into the ‘sways’ or ‘waves’ camp, even after all these years. For the record I’ve never heard him sing anything other than ‘sways’.
Lights up for the encore and my little group exchange smiles at the start of Born in the USA. One of our number predictably curses as the first notes of the ubiquitous hit that propelled Springsteen to superstar boom across the stadium. The earthquaking full band version ignites the whole place and while it remains my least favourite version of the song, it is the jewel in the Springsteen crown for many and tonight, anything goes. Do whatever you like Bruce, it’s the last show after all but I know what’s coming next. The one that he always plays, at every show and my numero uno of all time – Born to Run – the legendary breakthrough masterpiece featuring a narrator who wants to die in an everlasting kiss and can love with all the madness in his soul! Where are these guys?
Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, a joyous celebration of the formation and camaraderie of the E Street Band is a poignant reminder of the passing years and the people that have left the earthly stage but hover over every show. The footage on the big screens of Clarence and Danny is beautiful and sad but most moving for me are the images of Bruce as a much younger man and the fleeting moment he appears to look back over his shoulder. His past, present and future seemingly captured in that single wondrous shot.
After a sweat-drenched Twist and Shout, the expected closer is Chimes of Freedom, but Milan Night 2 gets an extra song and a second encore in Rockin’ All Over the World, a John Fogerty cover, a tour debut and no doubt chosen with the proposed film of this concert in mind. We are not as grateful for it as perhaps we should be. It’s fun but it’s not a Rosalita or a Jungleland. It’s not a Bruce Springsteen song. We’ll be chewing the fat on that for a long time to come but for now the stark timbre from another time tells us it’s time to go.
Two hours and 50 minutes of continuous performance, 28 songs but these are mere stats that can’t convey the miracle of this night. The power and the glory of the E Street nation is a mighty force. We are led by a prolific storyteller, songwriter, a super human player and performer, a force of nature, backed by faithfully brilliant musicians, fine-tuned to each other and their bandleader over five decades. And us, their loyal and thankful fans. No tricks, no special effects, all the thrills of this night are rooted in the history we share with those on stage and the others whose presence is keenly felt despite their absence. As the man so eloquently puts it, ‘If we’re here and you’re here, then they’re here’.
The slow walk out is to the accompaniment of Woody Guthrie’s haunting folk anthem, This Land is Your Land. Our aching feet crunch on empty plastic water bottles and all the detritus of a great night. With aching bodies and voices hoarse from communal singing and cheering we slowly climb the stairs to the exit. We are every emotion you can be in this moment. Carried along by the throng we somehow arrive at the appointed landmark for euphoric post-show photos that will remind us in the years to come that on 3 July 2025 we made rock and roll history at San Siro stadium with Bruce Springsteen, the E Street Band and with each other.
Photo and video credits: B Hayes, P Appleton and R Badley
