Bruce Springsteen kicked off his “High Hopes” world tour in South Africa on Sunday, and video from opening night has surfaced.
Rolling Stone reports Springsteen’s first show ever in the country opened with a cover of the Special A.K.A.'s "Free Nelson Mandela", and featured guitarist Tom Morello onstage all night, trading licks with Nils Lofgren and Steve Van Zandt.
Springsteen added some unique touches to the first of three shows at Cape Town’s Bellville Velodrome: he added a reference to the deaths of scores of South African miners at the hands of security forces in 2012 to the list of tragedies cited in the “Wrecking Ball” track "We Are Alive"; he also played the spiritual “High Hopes” anthem "Heaven's Wall" in front of a proper audience for the first time - watch his soundcheck performance of the song below.
Following his South Africa dates, Springsteen will play a month-long tour of Australia and New Zealand, starting in Perth on February 5.
“High Hopes” recently earned the singer his 11th No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, with opening week sales of 99,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
With the No. 1 debut, Springsteen pulls ahead of Elvis Presley to stand alone as the act with the third-most No. 1s in the history of the Billboard 200, behind Jay Z (with 13) and leaders the Beatles (with 19.
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