The Springsteen Cover of Lorde's 'Royals' You Never Knew You Needed

The Boss opened his show in Auckland last night with an acoustic cover of the mega-hit "Royals" by the Grammy-winning New Zealander Lorde.

The Boss opened his show in Auckland last night with an acoustic cover of the mega-hit "Royals" by the Grammy-winning New Zealander Lorde. The performance (h/t Dwight Garner) was captured by a concertgoer who was apparently recording from neighboring Australia.

"Royals," a song about eschewing wealth and materialism, seems a natural fit for Springsteen, who is known for his paeans to the working class. The Boss futzes with the lyrics a bit and starts off a little rocky, but eventually settles into an impressive rendition (with harmonica) that sounds eerily the Springsteen in "Johnny 99," which was released almost fifteen years before Lorde was born.

Just yesterday, the 17-year-old singer's "Pure Heroine" became the first debut album by a female artist to sell over one million units since Adele did it, almost two years ago.