Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are on tour in the UK and Europe currently, and played Kilkenny, Ireland on Sunday night. In tribute to the late Shane MacGowan, Bruce and the band opened their main set with a cover of The Pogues‘ “A Rainy Night in Soho.” While Bruce didn’t introduce the song, the crowd clearly knew it from the first line.
When MacGowan died in December 2023, Bruce wrote, “Over here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Shane MacGowan. Shane was one of my all-time favorite writers. The passion and deep intensity of his music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon. I was fortunate to spend a little time with Shane and his lovely wife Victoria the last time we were in Dublin. He was very ill, but still beautifully present in his heart and spirit. His music is timeless and eternal. I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.”
Watch “A Rainy Night in Soho” and check out the setlist from the Kilkenny show below.
Shane’s widow, Victoria Mary Clare, thanked Springsteen for his “beautiful tribute” on X/Twitter, while The Pogues wrote, “Lovely tribute to our boss.”
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street band play Asbury Park’s Sea.Hear.Now festival in September.
U2 covered “A Rainy Night in Soho” at The Sphere, and Nick Cave performed it at Shane’s funeral.
SETLIST: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band @ Nowlan Park 5/12/2024 (via)
Solo Acoustic Pre-Show Set
This Hard Land
Main Set
A Rainy Night in Soho (The Pogues cover)
Lonesome Day
Candy’s Room
Adam Raised a Cain
Prove It All Night
Darlington County
No Surrender
Seeds
Ghosts
The Promised Land
If I Was the Priest
Spirit in the Night
Hungry Heart
Nightshift
Racing in the Street
Last Man Standing
Backstreets
Because the Night
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Encore:
Land of Hope and Dreams
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Twist and Shout
Encore 2:
I’ll See You in My Dreams
