Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on a 27-song nonstop set that stretched nearly three-hours at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.

Springsteen was a man in constant motion that played to all sides of the stage. The setlist offered healthy bursts from his three classic and most popular albums — “Born to Run” (five numbers), “Darkness On the Edge of Town” (four) and “Born in the USA” (four) – as well as 2020’s “Letter to You” (four).  

The night began with the full-throttled presence of “No Surrender” before moving back and forth in time to recent tracks — “Ghosts” and “Letter to You” – then back decades for “Prove It All Night,” “The Promised Land,” “Out in the Street” and “Candy’s Room.” By the time the soul and jazz vibes of “Kitty’s Back” and the smooth swing cover of the Commodores’ “Nightshift” arrived, the stage’s inhabitants swelled to 17 including a four-piece horn section and a quartet of backing vocalists. “Pay Me My Money Down” also produced an outsized standout that featured everyone onstage.

Springsteen’s vision for the set became more apparent as the evening moved along with songs of love and loss, duty and hardship, determination and triumph filled the air. It was no surprise to find “Wrecking Ball” and its repeated refrain “Hard times come and hard times go” eventually followed by “Just to come again” coupled with “The Rising” and its everyday heroism that comes at a cost.

Springsteen remained focused on the set’s themes — mourn, celebrate and honor those who are here and those who have left us in physical form, while recognizing that good times can still be had no matter what difficulties we encounter. All of that was encapsulated in the night’s closing number “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” with its tribute to fallen E Street Band members Clarence Clemmons and Danny Federici. 

While the sold out crowd remained standing throughout the night, singing along and occasionally laughing at the group’s hijinks, thrilled by Springsteen’s tiny moments of connection (handing out a harmonica he used on “Thunder Road” or stopping to sign a young fan’s forearm cast) and teary-eyed when a personal emotional button was pushed, the overall feeling that struck was joy; a triumphant feeling that made all inside feel like the defiant character Springsteen embodied during “Badlands” that “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.”