Lorde’s ‘Royals’ is the Latest Featured in Springsteen’s Coverpalooza

Lorde’s ‘Royals’ is the Latest Featured in Springsteen’s Coverpalooza

Bruce Springsteen had a novel idea for his tour of Australia and New Zealand. At every tour date, the Boss and the E Street Band played a cover of a song that was originally recorded by an artist connected to the region they were visiting.

In the latest installment of the Boss' "coverpalooza," Springsteen busted out a cover of Lorde's "Royals" on Saturday and Sunday at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand that swaps the teenager's modern beatbox sound for an acoustic guitar, transforming the song into a dustbowl ballad while Springsteen refers to himself as "King B."

That followed Springsteen's New Orleans-tinged take on the Bee Gees' 1977 classic disco hit "Stayin' Alive" on Feb. 26 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Once again, Springsteen tackled the cover as the set's opener, armed with an acoustic guitar, but he also let a string section, horns and guitarist Tom Morello loose on his re-imagining of the dance floor favorite.

At that same show in Brisbane, the Boss and the E Street invited Pearl Jam's Edde Vedder up to the stage to bang on a tambourine and sing on a rocking version of AC/DC's 1979 headbanger "Highway to Hell" as an encore.

On a Feb. 23 date at Hope Estate Winery in Pokolbin, Australia, Springsteen and the band got appropriately funky with a cover of Eric Burdon & War's 1970 classic "Spill The Wine."

The previous day at the same venue, Springsteen did another vineyard friendly cover -- this time a cover of Stick McGhee's honky-tonk favorite "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee."

Back on Feb. 19, Springsteen and company had a new wave flashback with a cover of INXS's 1982 hit "Don't Change" at the Sydney Allphones Arena.

Also in Sydney, Springsteen and the E Street band opened the show by paying tribute to the Easybeats, covering their 1966 signature tune "Friday On My Mind."

We think all these covers are pretty, well, boss and maybe it's about time for Springsteen to put out a covers album. How about you? What's your favorite Boss cover? What song would you like to hear him do?

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