Christchurch asked and The Boss delivered.
Bruce Springsteen rocked and rolled his way into the hearts of Christchurch locals, in a brilliant performance alongside his E Street Band at AMI Stadium on Tuesday night.
The American superstar, known as The Boss, wowed his capacity crowd with a three-hour setlist, made up of songs from across his more than 40 year career.
The 67-year-old revealed early in the concert his visit to Christchurch came at the request of the locals.
"Quite a few years ago I got a letter, a petition, actually. About a town that suffered an earthquake and they wanted us to come and play," Springsteen told his audience.
"It took a while, but I'm glad we got here."
Springsteen also told the crowd he had gone to check out the rebuilding of the previously quake-stricken city, for himself.
"I got the chance to drive around and take a look at the city today."
The rocker then went on to dedicate his song My City Of Ruins to Christchurch..
"I just want to send this out to all the folks that suffered in the earthquake(s), we send this out with all of our love and prayers."
Springsteen also gave emergency services personnel recognition for their quake efforts and their recent work on the Port Hills fires, before performing a heartfelt rendition of the song.
Once the moving rendition of My City Of Ruins was over, Springsteen set the crowd alight by asking "are you ready for a house party?"
The rapturous applause was met with an unrelenting energy from Springsteen, who barely stopped between any of his songs during his marathon set.
The Boss send his audience to fever pitch when he capped a run of his best known songs, which included Radio Nowhere, The River, The Rising and Born To Run, with Dancing In The Dark.
The 1984 hit sent the crowd in the frenzy with the sound of feet tapping on the scaffold grandstands of AMI Stadium ringing throughout the ground.
Right through the show, Springsteen duelled vocals and guitars with his longtime sidekick, guitarist and former Sopranos actor, Steven Van Zandt.
Saxophonist Jake Clemons was another crowd favourite with his solos featuring throughout the set list.
Springsteen used all 180 degrees of staging in front of him to involve the audience from every vantage point to be a part of the show.
A thinly veiled finish to the concert, which then saw the band reemerge for an encore, set up the show's finale. Springsteen and The E Street Band capped their encore set with their own version of The Isley Brothers' 1959 hit Shout.
During the rendition, the singer paid tribute to his musicians, before they signed off from the stage.
Springsteen, too, left, but returned for one more song. The superstar sent his audience home with a solo acoustic version of Thunder Road, before thanking Christchurch and his fans.
- By Jonny Turner in Christchurch
