I have been following Springsteen since the Hammersmith Odeon , London shows in 1975.

Hitherto I have resisted  Springsteen tribute shows- until last night. I was nervous. I regard Springsteen as amongst the greatest rock n roll performers ever, the E Street band the greatest bar band.Could they do him justice? The answer proved to be an emphatic yes.

Although Springsteen is now the doyen of Stadium rock, the club setting of the Robin was a perfect fit to showcase where his music has its roots to an enthusiastic Friday night crowd.

Any Springsteen tribute has two big hurdles to overcome. Firstly, his live repertoire contains hundreds of songs including covers going back to the 1960’s. Any setlist will omit dozens of fan favourites.

Secondly,  he would tour with between eight and over a dozen band members. When those costs are underwritten by takings of over £1m a show, as is the case now with Bruce’s stadium shows, that isn’t a problem, when as a tribute act takings are in the several  thousands in small venues the profitability of the project is far tighter.

On the night the setlist was a perfect imperfect combination. The opening “Badlands” took me back to when  I  saw it open the “River” tour, the following “Glory days” has been a live favourite on Bruce’s most recent stadium tour. However it was the early inclusion of “Pink Cadillac” and “Spirits in the Night” which set the standard for the evening revelling in the joy of those early compositions.

One of the things that set the E street band apart when they first broke as  performers was the inclusion of a black frontman saxophonist in the form of the imperious, and irreplaceable Clarence Clemons. He is uncopiable and irreplaceable. “the Legend’s” solution is pure  genius.

 Instead of attempting the impossible they transform the experience by introducing TWO female saxophonists. In the past Robert Palmer and Bryan Ferry have included female saxophonists to great effect.  Here they become the musical, and visual focus of interest, both of whom double up on keyboards. They also provide the fulcrum for the unquestionable highlight of the night, a tumultuous “Jungleland”  featuring a duelling saxophone interlude which was quite breathtaking.

More recent and casual fans were catered for with “Dancing in the Dark”, “Born in the USA” and the inevitable “Born to Run” but other highlights included an elegiac  mournful, doleful “ My Hometown”, a beautifully introspective  “The River”  (“ is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse? “)and a raucous,  rumbustious “The Promised Land” complete with stunning sax break, a song that on release was a song of defiant hope ( “I’ve done my best to live the right way, I get up every morning and go to work each day”), and now, forty years later, it becomes a song of  disappointment, “Blow away the dreams that tear you apart, Blow away the dreams that break your heart,Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and broken hearted ”. The songs continue to touch our souls, but in new ways. “The ghost of Tom Joad” was powerful enough to  supply the National grid.

I have not namechecked individuals because their website does not identify them. They are all superb. The pianist is a delight, how I would love to hear her play on “Racing in the street”, “point Blank” or “prove it all night (78)”.

A wonderful two and a half hours. The band smiled  throughout, the audience smiled and roared back. I will return.