If you're going to make your first trip to Liverpool, and the band who inspired you to play music is from there, a normal person might take a guided tour, peek into some tourist spots, and maybe take a few photos.
But if you're the Boss, the closest thing to American Rock Royalty as we have, you get to play with Paul McCartney.
That's precisely what Bruce Springsteen was able to pull off Saturday (6/7) at the Anfield in front of a thrilled audience.
After playing a full career-spanning 21-song set of classics and somewhat newer songs, Bruce and the E Street Band took a little breather as the sold out crowd cheered for an encore.
When the 75-year-old Springsteen returned to the stage, he introduced his special guest, 82-year-old Sir Paul and the pair quickly broke into a Beatles hit that sent the fans screaming just like they did 60 years ago: "Can't Buy Me Love"
Anyone who hears musicians of a certain age, particularly Boomers, explain what got them into playing rock 'n roll, it almost always comes back to the Fab Four. Springsteen is no exception.
Last December, the Boss said it was hearing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for the first time that altered his trajectory.
"[It was a] song that changed the course of my life," Springsteen told the BBC. "It was a very raucous sounding record when it came out of the radio. It really was the song that inspired me to play rock and roll music — to get a small band and start doing some small gigs around town. It was life-changing. It’s still a beautiful record.”
Saturday Springsteen said "we're lucky tonight, we have a local young man from Liverpool who's going to play with us tonight. I think he has a lot of talent and I believe he's going to be goin places. So let's bring out Sir Paul McCartney."
Bruce and Paul have played together a few times. In 2022, Paul had Bruce come on stage during his first Get Back tour where they played "Glory Days" and "I Wanna Be Your Man."
In 2021 during the Wrecking Ball Tour, when Bruce was in London, Paul came out to do a pair of tunes together, "I Saw Her Standing There," and "Twist and Shout."
And nearly a decade ago they - and a collection of others - sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on SNL.
Last Wednesday (6/4), Bruce kicked off the first of his two night stay in Liverpool by not backing down to pressures online and in the White House when he began the show by ripping into the politicians back in the USA.
You may remember when Bruce began his tour last month he took time to tell the audience how upset he was at the way politicians in the US were abandoning longtime allies, infringing on due process, and shunning the working class that he has been singing about - and to - for decades. The speech inspired the US president to say he wanted a "major investigation" into Springsteen.
Lesser rockers would have kept their mouths shut and continued the tour. But the Boss doesn't sell out arenas by sitting on his hands. Bruce quickly released a live album from the opening night of the tour and included the two speeches he delivered that night in Manchester.
The thing about Springsteen is he doesn't really have to tell true fans how he feels about certain people, especially certain leaders: he's written about them clearly in his songs. In "Badlands," for example, are the great lines
"poor man wants to be rich / rich man wants to be king
and the king ain't satisfied 'till he rules everything."
Lately Bruce has been giving out the harmonica he plays during "The Promised Land" with certain fans. On night two he saw a woman in the front row who offered to trade his harp for a shot of whiskey.
He went for it.
Do you have something to trade the Boss for his microphone? He and the E Street Band have several more dates as they tour around Europe. Go for it and grab some tickets off his website and if you don't get to share a moment with him, who knows, maybe some other rock legend will join the stage with him.
He likes it when you sing with him.
