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Blessed by the Boss:Bruce Springsteen on his UK tour, May 2024

MIKELEWISPHOTOGRAPHY/REDFERNS

GLORY DAYS AGAIN

Thank you, Uncut, for the Springsteen feature in the September issue [Take 329]. I was lucky enough to attend the Kilkenny show this summer. It had been 11 years since he last played this Irish town. I was apprehensive that this time around the same venom might not be in this performance. After all, the man is 74 years old now. Boy, was I wrong – it was every bit as spectacular. Two hours before showtime, Bruce appeared on stage with an acoustic guitar and harmonica and belted out a raw version of “This Hard Land”. What came later was an impeccable performance with the E Street band. It was thrilling to witness their back catalogue of greatness – “Adam Raised A Cain”, “Backstreets”, “Badlands” etc – live again. We are truly blessed in 2024 to have such legends visit our shores.

Seamus Quaide, via email

SOUND CHOICE

Imagine the thrill of finding my treasured forgotten band from the early ’80s featured in the September issue. We had heard “Heyday” on John Peel and arrived early at the University of Essex. The NME had told us The Sound outbunnyed the Bunnymen and out teardropped The Teardrop Explodes. They were pushing it, particularly because Adrian Borland and the band were supporting Echo & The Bunnymen on this tour. My friend Mark Prior and I slipped round to the back of the student union venue and blagged ourselves into the dressing room with The Sound. In between telling them our love for the debut LP Jeopardy, we were bewitched by the striking keyboard player Bi Marshall. Admittedly, she was soon gone as The Sound sound matured, but for two spotty post-punk 16-year-olds from Ipswich she was somebody to watch. Later when the band took to the stage it was Adrian who kept you rapt. As he sweated, strummed and sung, so we danced to the jagged rhythms of our new favourite band. Mind you, Ian McCulloch and those glorious Crocodiles melodies and tones were minutes away. What a night! Thanks for happy teenage memories revisited.