Alana Springsteen Covers Taylor Swift and Whitney Houston During Sunday Opening Set of The Long Road Festival 2023

Alana Springsteen opened the Rhinestone Stage on the final day of The Long Road Festival this past Sunday (8/27).

Bouncing on to the stage with her UK-based band members, Springsteen rocked through exciting new cuts from her debut album Twenty Something while also paying homage to Whitney Houston and Taylor Swift.

Weaving 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' and 'Style' into her own songs, Springsteen kept the sleepy Sunday morning crowd up and on their feet with her vivacious and animated performance.

"Keep this between us" Springsteen asks the Long Crowd crowd, "I think y'all are the best country music fans in the entire world".

"Since we're getting to know each other, most of us, I started writing songs when I was nine years old and I moved to Nashville when I was 14, because all I wanted to do my whole life was to get to write and sing country music". Springsteen explains. "It still blows my mind that that little girl just writing songs on her bedroom floor is now connecting with fans all over the world through that music. So if you've ever listened to my music, thank you so much, because you've made my dream come true".

Springsteen's debut album, Twenty Something, is the embodiment of that dream; a great exploration of being in your twenties and all the hurdles and memory-making moments you navigate and experience as you live them.

Live, she bottles that into a quickfire yet powerful narrative; effortlessly steering through the sling-it-back badassness of 'cowboys and tequila' into something stark and empowering as 'amen', all while preserving the irresistible dynamic of a full-scale rock show.

Following up her TLR performance, and having just released her debut album Twenty Something, Springsteen has followed it up with the announcement of her first ever US Headline Tour.

Kicking off the dates in Nashville at the Exit/In in October, the 15 dates will see the 'goodbye looks good on you' singer trail the South, midwest and northeast regions of the US, closing out in Pittsburgh at the Hard Rock Café.

Before then though, there's the small matter of Springsteen's UK and Europe tour, which has already seen her stop at the Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht, Netherlands and finds her performing three shows in Manchester, London and Glasgow respectively next week.

For more on The Long Road festival, see below: