Yesterday I brought you several tremendous live covers and tributes to the dearly departed Prince from amazing musical talents ranging from Pearl Jam to Rihanna to the cast of the Broadway musical Hamilton. We have yet another cover of a Prince classic, and this one might very well be the best. On Saturday night, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band paid their respects to Prince with a stirring rendition of “Purple Rain.”
Bruce and the gang were playing the first of two shows at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and the entire set was bathed in purple and Springsteen wore a purple scarf to honor the deceased legend. Springsteen’s current tour is performing his classic 1980 double album The River in full, and normally they open their show with the song “Meet Me in the City.” But on this tonight they made an exception to pay homage to Prince and started with the 1984 Prince smash hit “Purple Rain.”
E street guitarist Nils Lofrgren started the iconic riffs from Prince’s song. When the chorus hits the crowd gleefully cheered and joined in for a sing-a-long.
Lofgren tweeted, “Tonight we bow down to the genius #Prince. I am humbled to play #PurpleReign in his honor.”
“Prince, forever,” Springsteen said at the end. “God bless!”
Prince forever indeed.
Let’s remember Prince’s top live performances.