(Credits: Columbia)
Wed 11 February 2026 18:00, UK
The magic of rock and roll wasn’t lost on Bruce Springsteen whenever he performed.
He was more than capable of making great songs all on his own, but there was a certain type of feeling that he managed to capture with The E Street Band that went above and beyond what anyone else was able to do. It was all about chemistry most of the time, and even before ‘The Boss’ had his fellow employees, he was already following in the footsteps of the groups that could read each other’s minds whenever they played.
After all, that’s half the reason why The Beatles and The Rolling Stones worked so well. It might have looked like hard work seeing Elvis Presley entertain a crowd every single time he got behind the microphone, but as soon as the Fab Four played the Ed Sullivan Show, everyone got the sense of how much fun playing music could be. And if Springsteen wanted that kind of band, he needed to learn the rules of what all great bands have.
Sure, there’s no disputing that Springsteen is the leader of the E Street Band every single time he counts off a tune, but there are always certain members doing more than their fair share of heavy lifting. Max Weinberg was the band’s resident Hal Blaine when he came up with the roaring backbeat on ‘Born to Run’, and without Clarence Clemons, there would be something missing to nearly every one of his tunes, especially when he hits that gorgeous solo halfway through ‘Jungleland’.
Half of that chemistry comes from playing together every single night, but if Springsteen had his own musical language when the E Street Band started, Bob Dylan was on a different level when working with The Band. The songwriting legend wasn’t big on rehearsal, so when Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm started working with him, they had the ability to shift their entire approach on a dime whenever Dylan decided to play the song in a different key or slow everything down to a crawl.
But the real magic came when the rest of the group started working on records like Music From Big Pink. It certainly helps to play songs written by one of the greatest songwriters the world has ever seen, but hearing their versions of ‘The Weight’ and ‘I Shall Be Released’ are absolutely gorgeous without any of Dylan’s involvement, especially with Helm’s gorgeous voice anchoring everything.
Springsteen may have opted for a more electric approach to his music, but the magic of those records wasn’t lost on him when he first listened to them, saying, “There is no band that emphasises being greater than the sum of their parts than The Band. Simply their name: The Band. That was it. When they came together, something miraculous occurred.” And that miracle wasn’t lost on every other member of the rock and roll community.
Eric Clapton had already been one of the reigning kings of guitar when records like Music from Big Pink, but going back through his solo work, ‘Slowhand’ would have been the first to say that he would have gladly quit Cream to join The Band if he could. The Last Waltz may have been their final goodbye to the world, but judging by how many legends showed up to pay tribute to their music, it’s not like their mark was ever going to be forgotten, either.
They might not have been the most fashionable group in the world or had the same massive hits that their contemporaries did, but what they created together meant more than being a great singles act. Those records showed everyone what the sound of real musicians could be when they had the right tunes behind them, and whenever you listen to anyone from Neil Young to Tom Petty to Joni Mitchell, you’re hearing echoes of what they started all those years ago.