Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Ricoh Arena, Coventry

Bruce Springsteen took the arena by storm with a livewire performance and had the fans rocking to favourites from the last 35 years for his Wrecking Ball tour.

He and band member Steven Van Zandt paid tribute to the Sopranos star James Gandolfini who died yesterday, describing him as 'Our good friend'. They played the classic Born to Run album in its entirety and dedicated it to the late Hollywood actor.

Springsteen is a force of nature at the age of 63 and such a talent that stars in their own right like Nils Lofgren and Van Zandt are happy to play in his hugely talented backing band. There's no doubt the fans also get their money's worth with a three and a half hour non-stop set which saw The Boss effortlessly switch from ballads to belting out hard rocking classics.

Fans were invited to write song choices on placards for the band to play and some were rewarded, but some get a little more. He singled fans out for special attention including a young guy whose posted stated: "Give me a man hug Bruce", and was duly rewarded with several bear hugs.

A nine-year old called Joseph was also plucked to join him in Waitin' on a Sunny Day, while three women joined him on stage for Dancing In The Dark.

There's no frills he first appears on stage with an acoustic version of Tom Joad and then it's a non-stop roller coaster for nearly 200 minutes.

The marathon set included classics like The River, Jungleland, Badlands and Born in the USA, while Wrecking Ball and Death To My Home Town was played with verve and passion. They showed the power of his voice has diminished not at all with age while he remains a supreme guitarist and harmonica player.

A rousing encore that included Raise Your Hand and American Land left the fans, even after the thick end of nearly four hours, begging for more. No wonder they call him The Boss.

Bill McCarthy