Just released is Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's July 4th and 5th, 2012 concerts at Paris, France's Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The double-shot release is from the 2012/2013 “Wrecking Ball” tour, which was the band's first following the 2011 death of Clarence Clemons. In addition to “The Boss” and the band, the touring ensemble featured a five-man horn section, a percussionist, and three additional vocalists.
Back in 2012, when the band began rehearsals following the death of Clarence Clemons, it was guitarist Steve Van Zandt who passed the idea to Bruce Springsteen that going out on the road with a horn section might ease fans into dealing with the loss of the “Big Man”: “It took us a while to actually come to the conclusion that the horn section would work. And then, how do we adapt the show according to the horns — y'know, would the horns be useful enough to justify taking them out on a whole tour? Y'know, that's a big decision. Uh, y'gonna be doing whatever the number is, 24, 26 songs a night, how many of those, y'know, will the horns be used in?”
At the time, guitarist Nils Lofgren told us that despite the loss of Clarence Clemons, the horn parts were alive and well on E Street and the band was thriving from performing with the new players: “We did a big tour (for) Tunnel Of Love, 'had a great horn section we used a lot. So, it hearkens back to those days. It's a really powerful tool and, y'know, between Bruce, of course, who's a master bandleader and Steve (Van Zandt), who always did a lot of work with horns and helped arrange them, and of course, five great horn players, they're puttin' together parts. . . and they'll evolve as always. Everybody's parts evolve through the tour. That's the beautiful thing about this band.”