Rock royalty pays tribute to Lorde

Bruce Springsteen rocks out at Mt Smart Stadium last night. Photo / Chris Loufte

The Boss and Lorde came together last night, in a surprise opening to Bruce Springsteen's first New Zealand concert in 10 years.

The New Jersey rocker pulled out an acoustic guitar for a haunting rendition of Royals, the song that propelled Auckland schoolgirl Ella Yelich-O'Connor to international stardom and two Grammy awards this year.

The song's Kiwi producer, Joel Little, was in the audience and proudly tweeted a picture of the moment with the comment: "Bruce Springsteen just opened his show with a cover of Royals @lordemusic #whatislife."

Concert-goer Sanjay Patel said Springsteen changed the lyric "you can call me Queen Bee" to "you can call me King B".

Frontier Touring said the cover of Lorde was followed by a "mass singalong" as Springsteen worked through what seemed like every song from his biggest album, 1984's Born in the USA.

Springsteen, 64, and his E Street Band promised to surprise, and they did. But the star also showed a human touch - to steal his own phrase - by asking his capacity audience to donate to Auckland's City Mission.

The veteran rock and roller performs again tonight, and a few tickets were still available when the Herald on Sunday went to press early this morning.

See the full review of Springsteen's Saturday show here.