Originally published on 5D Blog:
Springsteen Sessions at the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen on Sunday 8th October 2023
Dougie Robertson and his band of very talented musicians recreate some of the music of “The Boss”: Bruce Springsteen, and his E Street Band.
Dougie comes from Glasgow and his accent slips between Glaswegian and American between different songs but when he sings he is very much Bruce Springsteen. He wears the tight jeans and baseball cap associated with the American singer, although the band do not aim to be impersonators. They recreate the well known songs in their own right. Strangely I discovered my knowledge of Bruce’s songs was not as broad as I expected, only actually knowing about 4 songs from the extensive set list of the evening. I have some homework to get studying!! It was great to experience hits like Born in the USA and Dancing In The Dark live.
The band played 2 hour long sets with a 15 minute break in the middle when Dougie came out into the audience and chatted easily to people – including pointing out we had the same surname! One chap asked for a song to be dedicated to his good lady, which was done during the second half. Dougie was also very good at singing into ladies lenses when they were filming their favourite song, pointing right at them. The lady who was his focus during I’ll See You in my Dreams was beaming broadly too!
The band played with enthusiasm and a great energy. I personally especially enjoyed the saxophone, it is just a gorgeous instrument which you do not hear every day. American Skin (41 Shots) had the hair on the back of my neck standing up, and Dougie reminded us about the trouble this song got Bruce into with the New York City police as it was about a man they shot.
Some of the audience had been at the recent Murrayfield concert of The Boss himself, and were presumably reliving the wonder, whereas others of us were happy with this close second best! Never having seen “the real thing” I cannot make a direct comparison but the band certainly performed well and gave us a great night’s entertainment. Well worth experiencing!
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