For those seeking a fair and balanced gig review – good tunes contrasted with weak lyrics, tight jeans with loose morals, hard liquor with soft rock and so on and so forth – best tune out now. Because direct from the home of freedom comes an exclusive gush fest on two Bruce Springsteen concerts that, quite frankly, would be better reflected in verse. Over five sold-out nights The Boss is playing shows to close the doomed Giants Stadium in New Jersey, having also been the one who opened it 25 years ago. That’s about 300,000 payers, so not only can he bring Barack Obama to power, he can pull the place out of recession too.

These were not any old shows. Springsteen is adored by the locals in his home state – the briefest of crowd surveys revealed one Boss freak lining up for his 93rd show! In return he bathes them in old school home-grown rock’n’roll glory, supported by the great musicians, performers and humanitarians that make up the E Street Band. These shows were incredible. More than three hours each, no encore, no support act, just red-blooded rock with a dam-busting sound, and a catalogue of songs that isn’t comparable with any other current artists.

If you’re game, check out the setlists

They reveal that one of the reasons the shows were special was that as part of each night’s set Springsteen played an album in full: Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the USA respectively. The former is a humbling album for all who listen to it, and Giants Stadium itself wept as some of the more heart-wrenching tracks rang out. The latter is one of the best rock albums ever made. Simple. Unfortunately the collective humility vanished when this one was played, because despite the dark current running through it, many of the locals seem to consider it a licence to unbridled patriotism.

Bruce Springsteen writes songs about love and spirit and soul and peace, sometimes patriotic and sometimes not. This sadist couldn’t resist the reflection that in the space of his career we have followed the USA into no less than three devastating wars, and as he strained his amazing pipes again and again the euphoria of being there was blended with icy reality and a little sadness at some of our own country’s great mistakes.

This was yet another lesson in how great music can be so simple yet often so hard to find. Next time someone suggests that you travel 15,000 kilometres to see your music idol blow their home town apart, it might just be crazy enough to to change your life.

Springsteen forever.