Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen and John Legend have both thrown their support behind Kamala Harris once again, with the acclaimed artists appearing at the Democratic nominee’s rally in Philadelphia on Sunday (Oct. 28).
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Taking place just one day after Donald Trump’s much-maligned Madison Square Garden rally in New York City on Saturday (Oct. 27), the tone of the Democratic rally was one less centered on division and rhetoric, and instead focused on unity.
Alongside speeches from Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, and former President Barack Obama, the event at Temple University’s Liacouras Center also featured a handful of songs performed by Legend and Springsteen.
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Legend’s performance featured four songs, including the likes of “Ordinary People”, “Glory”, a cover of Harold Melbin & The Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody”, and Legend’s own version of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”.
“We face a once in a lifetime, once in a generation opportunity right now,” Legend told the crowd. “A chance to choose something better, bolder, brighter, to choose progress and healing.”
Springsteen’s own three-song acoustic set followed, opening with a rendition of his 1978 single “The Promised Land”, and featuring a version of 2001’s “Land of Hope and Dreams”. Springsteen closed his performance with a rendition of “Dancing in the Dark,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 and marks the highest-charting song of his career.
Prior to his performance of the latter, Springsteen gave a special mention to Legend, noting that he “does the most beautiful version of this song I have ever heard”.
“I understand folks have different opinions about things, but this election is about a group of folks who want to fundamentally undermine our American way of life,” Springsteen told those in attendance at the rally. “Donald Trump doesn’t understand this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American.”
Springsteen’s appearance at the Philadelphia rally took place just days after he appeared at Harris’ rally in Georgia, wherein he told supporters that while Harris is “running to be the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant”.
Bruce Springsteen has no plans to hang up his guitar anytime soon.
The legendary rocker, who has been a cornerstone of rock music for over five decades, made it clear during his Aug. 23 performance at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia that rumors of his impending retirement are far from the truth.
In front of a passionate crowd, Springsteen dismissed any talk of a farewell tour with his signature sass. “We’ve been around for 50 f***ing years, and we ain’t quitting!” he declared. “We ain’t doing no farewell tour bullsh*t! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band!”
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He added, “Farewell to what? A thousand people screaming your name? Get the hell out. I ain’t going anywhere!”
The statement came in response to ongoing speculation about the longevity of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s current tour.
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The show was part of the North American leg of their ongoing tour, which has seen them play across the U.S. and Europe despite setbacks, including Springsteen’s battle with peptic ulcer disease last year.
While rumors of a possible farewell tour have swirled of late, guitarist Steven Van Zandt also dispelled any notion of an imminent end, saying recently, “I don’t see the end anywhere in sight, to be honest, especially in Europe, where we’re bigger than we’ve ever been. I think we can play every summer for evermore, man.”
In a review of Springsteen’s Pittsburgh show earlier this month, Billboard noted Springsteen’s “earth-quaking exuberance” and the band’s ability to deliver “magic moments” night after night. The same energy was palpable in Philadelphia, where the band delivered a set that spanned decades of hits.
However, the tour has not been without its challenges. Last September, Springsteen was forced to postpone several dates due to health issues, rescheduling them for 2024.
The current leg of the tour will continue with performances in Toronto and Vancouver before wrapping up on Nov. 22.
Fans can also look forward to the upcoming documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, set to be released on Disney+ and Hulu this October.
During the triumphant return of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band to Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday (April 1), one lyric captured the powerful core of Springsteen’s first tour in more than six years.
Deep into the show, with the sold-out crowd at The Garden singing along, and the E Street Band roaring behind him, The Boss shouted out a line from “Badlands,” that had more meaning than ever on this night: “it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive!”
From the opening chords to the final encore of this 27-song, three-hour performance, Springsteen, 73, reflected on aging, death, friendship and passion with the insight and joy that only a great rock’n’roll show can offer.
As the evening began, the expanded E Street Band — pianist Roy Bittan, guitarists Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt, bassist Garry Talent, drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardist Charlie Giordano, saxophonist Jake Clemons, guitarist/violinist Soozie Tyrell, and percussionist Anthony Almonte — climbed the stairs to the stage (Patti Scialfa was absent), followed by Springsteen. He held up his right hand and waved it in small circles, egging on the rising roars of the crowd before shouting a greeting: “New York City!”
Here are the 12 best moments Springsteen’s MSG show on April 1.
“I’m Ready to Grow Young Again”
Seven years after Springsteen & the E Street Band last played Madison Square Garden on March 28, 2016; six years after the close of their most recent tour in February 2017; five years after the debut of Springsteen on Broadway in October 2018; and three years after the pandemic lockdown of March 2020, fans cheered the news that Springsteen would return to the road for this tour which opened Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla.
After the pandemic years and so much sadness and loss, what song would Springteen select to open his shows? The choice was inspired. “No Surrender” introduced The Garden concert as it has almost every one of the preceding 21 shows on the tour to date. (“Night” preceded it in Houston). With Van Zandt joining him at the mic, Springsteen offered the song from his Born in the U.S.A. album with its images of youth, rebellion, and rage against the dying of the light. “Cause we made a promise we swore we’d always remember/ no retreat, baby, no surrender.”
“Your Spirit Filled With Light”
Across the generations, Springsteen’s Irish blood still burns in his veins. (His great-great-great-grandparents came from County Kildare). And the Irish have an often-raucous tradition of celebrating the dead in stories and songs. As Springsteen sang “Ghosts” from Letter To You — ”it’s your ghost moving through the night/ your spirit filled with light” — and later the title track of that album, he was backed by bandmates all distinctively dressed — and every single one of them garbed in black. It became apparent that this show was one hell of an Irish wake.
“A Kiss to Seal Our Fate Tonight”
Springsteen’s shows draw from five decades of songwriting and recording. But some of his most intense songs in concert come from Darkness on the Edge of Town, the album he had just released when the E Street Band headlined The Garden for the first time in August 1978. On Saturday night, four songs from that album — not only “Badlands” but also the scorching “Prove It All Night,” the ferocious “Promised Land” and impassioned “Candy’s Room” — all singed the set list.
“Here She Comes, Here She Comes”
If Springsteen had to suffer the “new Dylan” comparisons with the release of his debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, in January 1973, by the time he returned with The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle in November of that year, it was clear his musical imagination was incomparable. Saturday’s performances of “Kitty’s Back,” from the latter album, was the first song of the night to feature the four-man horn section — Barry Danielian, Eddie Manion, Ozzie Melendez, Curt Ramm — along with saxophonist Jake Clemons. It was a sprawling, jazzy jam that recalled the breadth of Springsteen’s musical ambition from the start.
“I Know You’re Not Alone”
Springsteen surprised fans last November with the release of Only The Strong Survive, a collection of cover versions of classic soul and R&B songs. From that set, his choice of “Nightshift” — a tribute to the late, great Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, which the Commodores brought to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985 — fit perfectly with the tenor of the night. And Springsteen’s duet with Curtis King Jr., joined by backing vocalists Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore and Ada Dyer, was the most soulful performance of the show. Staring upward, straight into the spotlight, Springsteen sang: “You found another home/ I know you’re not alone/ on the nightshift.”
“So Many More Goodbyes”
Throughout the night, in comparison to other tours, Springsteen said little between songs. But to introduce “Last Man Standing,” he spoke of joining his first rock’n’roll band, The Castilles, on a summer afternoon, at age 15, at the invitation of a high school friend, George Theiss. “The greatest adventure of my young life. This was in 1965, ’66 and ’67. We lasted for three years! Teenagers! It was the all-time School of Rock! An explosive time in American history — and an amazing time to be in a rock group.
“But if you cut forward 50 years from that summer afternoon, to another summer day, I found myself standing at the side of George’s deathbed,” he said. “He fought lung cancer for the last years of his life and he only had a few days left to live. And I realized that his passing would leave me as the last surviving member of that first small group of guys that put that little band together.
“The dead’s great and final gift to the living is expanded vision,” Springsteen said. “At 15, everything is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and hello and hello. And later on, through so many more goodbyes… Now, it just makes you realize how important living every moment is. So be good to yourselves and be good to those you love and be good to this world around you.”
“We Swore Forever Friends”
Springsteen’s set choices draw connections for his fans across the years. From “Last Man Standing,” he led the band into “Backstreets.” Roy Bittan’s cascading piano was followed by Max Weinberg’s drums rolling in like heavy surf. It was a majestic performance, made all the more poignant as Springsteen riffed on the lyric “we swore forever friends, on the backstreets until the end” by repeating the line, “to the end, to the end, to the end.” He told of “saving the box of 45s” of his beloved friend, of the photos “of the two of us sitting on your porch.” And “everything else,” he intoned, “I’ll carry right here,” clutching his fist to his heart.
“Come On Up For the Rising”
In New York City, no performance by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band would feel complete without “The Rising,” Springsteen’s tribute to the firefighters who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, carrying “a 60-pound stone” and “a half-mile line” — until the towers collapsed upon them. Starkly lit, half in shadow and half in bright light, Springsteen sang, accompanied by Lofgren’s slide guitar, while spotlights shining from the floor evoked the Tribute In Light that continues to shine from the site of the towers every September. Springsteen’s juxtaposition of songs again was key — as “The Rising” gave way to the life-affirming blast of “Badlands” to conclude the pre-encore segment of the show.
“Beneath the City Two Hearts Beat”
“Something special for New York City,” said Springsteen, as the show’s extended encore began with the epic “Jungleland,” the nine-minute-plus song that closed the Born to Run album in 1975, with its tale of the Magic Rat, the barefoot girl and “soul engines running through a night so tender.” Although he has masterfully performed it many times before, when Jake Clemons soared through the extended saxophone solo of “Jungleland,” originated by his late uncle, E Street Band founding member Clarence Clemons, Springsteen gave Jake a shout-out.
“Living in a Dump Like This”
The encore continued with “Thunder Road” then — house lights, ignition! — the anthemic “Born to Run,” followed by the wild romp of “Rosalita,” during which Springsteen and Van Zandt mugged like two of the Three Stooges. The pure goofiness of Springsteen onstage should never be understated. “Glory Days” led into “Dancing in the Dark” and a moment where Springsteen pulled open his shirt to reveal a still-muscular bare chest, declaring “I don’t want to go home! I just don’t want to go home!”
“Scooter and the Big Man”
Ramps allowed Springsteen to strut midway out into the arena floor for “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out,” where he declared to the crowd, “This is the important part!” As he sang of that long ago night when “Scooter and the Big Man” promised to “bust this city in half,” Springsteen pointed up to the video screens. Images of the departed members of the E Street Band, Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, crossed the scenes, joined by an impossibly young Bruce Springsteen.
“When All the Summers Have Come to an End”
The show closed in on the three-hour mark as Springsteen came out alone, carrying his acoustic guitar. As he has done for years, in one of the most modest, effective and enduring steps of activism by a touring artist, Springsteen drew the crowd’s attention to the volunteers collecting donations from a local food pantry, “our friends from the Saint Francis Food Pantries and Shelters,” based around the corner from The Garden. “They provide food, clothing and shelter for New York City neighborhoods in need,” he said.
Then he began to sing. And for many in the audience, memories flowed with tears, thinking of loved ones lost to age, illness or the pandemic; of friends who shared books and films and music — and other Bruce Springsteen concerts in years gone by. Springsteen sang: “We’ll meet and live and love again/ I’ll see you in my dreams/ Yeah, up around the river bend/ For death is not the end/ And I’ll see you in my dreams.”
Here’s the setlist for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at MSG on April 1:
“No Surrender”
“Ghosts”
“Prove It All Night”
.“Letter To You”
“Promised Land”
“Out In The Streets”
“Candy’s Room”
“Kitty’s Back”
“Night Shift”
“Trapped”
“E Street Shuffle”
“Johnny 99”
“Last Man Standing”
“Backstreets
“Because The Night”
“She’s The One”
“Wrecking Ball”
“The Rising”
“Badlands
ENCORE
“Jungleland”
“Thunder Road”
“Born To Run”
“Rosalita”
“Glory Days”
“Dancing In The Dark”
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
“I’ll See You In My Dreams”
Stevie Van Zandt, Sam Moore, Darlene Love and Steve Earle are the inaugural recipients of the American Music Honors, to be presented by the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. The event will be held April 15 on the campus of its home, Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.
Van Zandt, Moore and Love have all been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Van Zandt was inducted as member of Springsteen’s E Street Band in 2014, Moore as a member of the classic R&B duo Sam & Dave in 1992, and Love as a solo artist in 2011.
Moore, Love and Earle are Grammy winners. Moore won best R&B group performance, vocal or instrumental for the Sam & Dave classic “Soul Man” (1967); Love won best music video, long form for her role in 20 Feet From Stardom (2014); and Earle is a three-time Grammy winner for best contemporary folk album.
“American Music Honors aims to celebrate those artists who have demonstrated artistic excellence, creative integrity, and a longstanding commitment to the value of music in our national consciousness,” Robert Santelli, founding executive director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music said in a statement. “All of our inaugural honorees are worthy of acknowledgment and appreciation.”
American Music Honors will take place in Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre. Jon Stewart will open the evening as a welcoming host, while the Disciples of Soul will serve as the event’s house band. Award presenters include Springsteen, his wife and bandmate Patti Scialfa, E Street Band member Garry Tallent, and Southside Johnny Lyon of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Tickets for the event will go on sale to the public on Monday, March 13. Ticket information is available on the Archives’ website.
“This event showcases the ‘American Music’ part of our name and mission,” added Dr. Patrick Leahy, Monmouth University president and board chair of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. “By honoring American music greats, such as those named today, and by creating dynamic education and public programs, along with major museum exhibitions, we make valuable contributions to the understanding and importance of American music in our lives.”
The Bruce Springsteen Archives serves as the official repository for the music of Bruce Springsteen, plus photographs, periodicals, oral histories, rare recordings, films, and artifacts related to Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Center for American Music produces museum exhibitions, symposia and seminars, teacher workshops, concerts, internships, and various public programs to promote and celebrate the many forms of American music and their impact on our culture and national identity.
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Let’s open the latest mailbag.
Hi Gary,
Bruce Springsteen debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart this week with Only the Strong Survive, scoring his 22nd top 10 album. He has notched top 10s in each of the last six decades, from 1970s to the 2020s. How rare is that feat, and are there any other notable chart achievements of his that we can celebrate this week?
Thanks,
Raditya Gunardisurya Jakarta, Indonesia
Hi Raditya,
Springsteen is one of only three artists with newly charting top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in each of the last six decades, having joined James Taylor when the former’s Letter to You launched at its No. 2 best in 2020. Paul McCartney made the elite club a trio (including his work with Wings) in 2021.
The three Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ Billboard 200 top 10 totals by decade:Paul McCartney: ’70s: 10 / ’80s: two / ’90s: one / ’00s: four / ’10s: three / ’20s: one (21 total)Bruce Springsteen: ’70s: two / ’80s: five / ’90s: three / ’00s: six / ’10s: four / ’20s: two (22 total)James Taylor: ’70s: six / ’80s: one / ’90s: one / ’00s: two / ’10s: two / ’20s: one (13 total)
Per the breakouts above, Springsteen, with the debut of the aptly titled Only the Strong Survive, becomes the only act to have earned multiple top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, ’10s and ’20s.
Notably, Barbra Streisand, if she can notch a pair of top 10s in the ’20s, would surpass Springsteen’s streak (and potentially McCartney and Taylor’s, if they can each add a top 10 this decade) of multiple Billboard 200 top 10s in each of six decades, as she tallied more than one in each decade from the ’60s through the ’10s, having most recently reached the region in 2016. Here are Streisand’s decade-by-decade totals – with the fellow superstar, who boasts the most top 10s among soloists (34, second overall only to the Rolling Stones’ 37) having notched at least four top 10s in each of those decades: ’60s: nine / ’70s: seven / ’80s: six / ’90s: four / ’00s: four / ’10s: four.
Meanwhile, Springsteen’s latest chart feat – with Only the Strong Survive also new at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums – accompanies that of another legend: Elton John, who crowns Adult Pop Airplay with “Hold Me Closer,” alongside Britney Spears. Similar to Springsteen’s new Billboard 200 accolade, the song itself traverses decades, as it reimagines the hook of John’s 1972 classic “Tiny Dancer” and the verses of his 1992 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “The One.” John also upped his career Billboard Boxscore touring total to a near-record level, thanks to his three shows Nov. 17, 19 and 20 at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium.
Springsteen and John have long been linked on Billboard‘s surveys, even if they haven’t combined for any hits, dating to Springsteen’s first charted song. On the Hot 100 dated Sept. 20, 1975, Springsteen made his first appearance at No. 68 with “Born to Run.” One notch lower, John charted with an enduring single of his own: “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”
Springsteen scored his first Hot 100 top 10, “Hungry Heart,” in December 1980, after John reached the tier that June with “Little Jeannie.” They also each earned top 10s in the same year in 1984-86, 1988 and 1994.
(As for their most-streamed songs in the U.S. to-date, according to Luminate, John’s “Rocket Man,” from 1972, has drawn 738 million official on-demand streams and Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” from 1984, 318.6 million.)
“He’s probably one of the nicest people in rock and roll I’ve ever met in my life,” John said of Springsteen in 1980 on the Australian TV show Countdown, helping introduce a performance of the latter’s “The River.” “One of the sweetest and sincerest people. At the moment in America, he’s the biggest cheese going and good luck to him, because someone that nice deserves it.”
Taylor Swift’s Midnights returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Nov. 26) for a third nonconsecutive week on top, as the set rebounds 2-1 in its fourth week on the list. It earned 204,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 17 (down 32%), according to Luminate. The album spent its first two weeks atop the list, then stepped aside for one week when Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss bowed at No. 1.
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Midnights is the first album to earn at least 200,000 units in each of its first four weeks of release since Adele’s 25 saw its first six weeks reach 200,000-plus (Dec. 12, 2015–Jan. 16, 2016).
Also in the new Billboard 200’s top 10: Louis Tomlinson lands his highest charting album with the No. 5 debut of Faith in the Future, Bruce Springsteen achieves his 22nd top 10-charting effort with the No. 8 arrival of Only the Strong Survive, and Nas captures his 16th top 10 with King’s Disease III’s bow at No. 10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 26, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 22). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Midnights’ 204,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 140,000 (down 19%, equaling 184.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 60,000 (down 36%) and SEA units comprise 4,000 (down 88%).
After debuting at No. 1, Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss falls to No. 2 in its second week with 170,000 equivalent album units earned (down 58%). Two fellow former No. 1s are next on the list, as Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti rises 4-3 (56,000; down 3%) and Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me dips 3-4 (52,000; down 15%).
Tomlinson’s second solo album, Faith in the Future, debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, securing the pop artist his highest-charting effort and his best week yet in terms of both equivalent album units earned (43,000) and traditional album sales (37,500). It surpasses his previous high-water mark, logged with the No. 9 debut and peak of his first album Walls (Feb. 15, 2020, chart; 39,000 units — of which album sales comprised 35,000).
As album sales comprise 37,500 of Faith’s total first-week units, the remainder consists of SEA units (5,500; equaling 7.27 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and a negligible amount of TEA units.
Faith’s first-week sales figure was bolstered by its availability across multiple collectible physical variants of the album. The set was preceded by the single “Bigger Than Me,” which became Tomlinson’s fourth solo hit on the Pop Airplay chart (outside his tenure in One Direction).
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover on the Billboard 200 at No. 6 (41,000 equivalent album units earned; down 1%) while The Weeknd’s The Highlights is also steady at No. 7 (40,000; up 2%).
Springsteen achieves his 22 nd top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as his new covers set, Only the Strong Survive, debuts at No. 8 with 39,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 36,500, SEA units comprise 2,000 (equaling 2.87 million on-demand streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 1,000. The soul and R&B covers collection includes Springsteen’s takes on such oldies as The Commodores’ “Night Shift,” Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” and Diana Ross & The Supremes’ “Someday We’ll Be Together.”
With a 22nd top 10 album on the Billboard 200, Springsteen now solely has the eighth-most top 10s overall and the sixth-most top 10s among solo artists.
Here’s an updated look at all the acts with at least 20 top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 from March 24, 1956, when the list began publishing on a regular, weekly basis, through the latest chart, dated Nov. 26, 2022.
Most Billboard 200 Top 10s:37, The Rolling Stones34, Barbra Streisand32, The Beatles32, Frank Sinatra27, Elvis Presley23, Bob Dylan23, Madonna22, Bruce Springsteen21, Elton John21, Paul McCartney/Wings21, George Strait20, Prince
(Notably, the Kidz Bop Kids music brand has collected 24 top 10s, in 2005-16, with its series of kid-friendly covers of hit singles. The franchise’s early albums were performed by mostly anonymous studio singers, although later releases focused on branding named talent.)
Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House drops 8-9 on the new Billboard 200 with 30,000 equivalent album units (down less than 1%).
Nas rounds out the top 10 as his latest release King’s Disease III starts at No. 10 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 20,000 (equaling 26.47 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 8,500 and TEA units comprise 500.
King’s Disease III is the third in the King’s Disease series — the first two albums debuted and peaked at Nos. 5 and 3 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
King’s Disease III marks Nas’ 16th top 10 on the Billboard 200, tying him with Jay-Z for the most top 10s among rap artists. Nas’ first top 10 came with It Was Written in 1996 (No. 1 for four weeks). Jay-Z logged his first top 10 in 1997 with In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (No. 3) and last notched a new top 10 set with 4:44 in 2017 (No. 1 for two weeks).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Following the ticket chaos of Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour this week, the conversation has shifted to Ticketmaster’s monopoly in the business and their out-of-control “dynamic pricing” model.
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It’s hardly the first time that an artist’s tour tickets have been blown into wildly expensive territory on Ticketmaster. When Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s 2023 tour tickets went on sale a few months back, some ended up costing thousands of dollars.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen gave his two cents on the struggle between balancing affordable tickets and making enough money for his band. “What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.’ That’s generally the directions,” he shared. “They go out and set it up. For the past 49 years or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve pretty much been out there under market value. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s been great for the fans.”
He added, “This time I told them, ‘Hey, we’re 73 years old. The guys are there. I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.’ So that’s what happened.”
The Boss followed up by nothing that “ticket buying has gotten very confusing, not just for the fans, but for the artists also,” and that “most of our tickets are totally affordable.” He then concluded by noting, “We have those tickets that are going to go for that [higher] price somewhere anyway. The ticket broker or someone is going to be taking that money. I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?’ It created an opportunity for that to occur. And so at that point, we went for it. I know it was unpopular with some fans. But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.”
“Once Bruce walks out on stage, the only question in my mind is: is this going to be an absolutely great show, one of the greatest shows he’s ever done or the greatest show he’s ever done? That’s the range,” says Bruce Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau in a video at the new Bruce Springsteen Live! Exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
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While that may be a bit (but only a little) hyperbolic, The Boss is renowned for both the high caliber and marathon duration of his concerts, and the exhibit — which officially opens Saturday (Oct. 15) and runs through April 2 — gives fans a backstage pass to five decades of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s live shows, including rare memorabilia and clothing, instruments, photographs and interactive displays. The exhibit was co-curated by the Grammy Museum and Eileen Chapman, director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives & the Center for American Music at Monmouth University.
As Springsteen and his band get ready to return to the road next year for the first time since 2017 (excluding his solo runs on Broadways in 2018 and 2021), the exhibit serves as the perfect way for fans to whet their appetite. Taking a little license with some Springsteen lyrics, here are five of the best displays/experiences at the exhibit.
“I Got This Guitar and I Learned How to Make It Talk”
The exhibit features a number of Springsteen’s guitars, but perhaps none as gloriously roadworn and famous as his 1950s Fender Esquire (the display IDs it as 1953-1954). The beat-up butterscotch beauty, well known to fans, features a Fender Telecaster body and Esquire neck and Springsteen used it on the road from 1972 until 2005. Alone in its own glass case, it feels as if it still reverberates with a thousand songs in it waiting to be played. Even those who didn’t get to see Springsteen play it live will recognize it from the album covers for Born to Run, Live 1975-95, Human Touch and Wrecking Ball.
“I Got Debts No Honest Man Can Pay”
In an undated letter from what is likely the early ‘70s, Springsteen writes a charming note to his landlord, apologizing for not paying his rent on time. Addressed to “Dear Landlordess,” and penned on a torn-out page from a spiral notebook, he adds not one, but two endearing postscripts: “P.S.: Do you like this classy writing paper?” and “P.P.S: I’m practicing my autograph. Whadya think?” In the same display case, there is a scrapbook from the ‘70s that his mom kept as her son’s career took off. It was opened to a page that included a 1972 review from Variety — one of his first — and a postcard from the road from his then-manager, Mike Appel, as a reminder that Springsteen, too, was once a struggling artist.
“I Want Pounding Drums”
For an exhibit devoted to touring, there is very little footage of Springsteen playing live, but in one of the most enjoyable displays, drummer Max Weinberg gives wannabe drummers a tutorial and then the chance to play along with a video of Springsteen performing before tens of thousands of people at a stadium gig. Fans sit at a mini-drum kit while Weinberg teaches them how to play bass drum, snare drum and hi-hat to “Born in the U.S.A.,” a song the longtime E Street Band member says is one of his favorites to play, before turning them loose to play along with the video.
“Is There Anybody Alive Out There?”
In one of the many interactive elements, fans can build their own five-song encore to a live show and see how close they come to what Springsteen played that actual night. For someone who is revered for his ability to call an “audible” and change up the set at a moment’s notice, it turns out a great deal of thought goes into the encore. In a video, Springsteen, with guitar in hand, explains how he selects the encore songs based on smooth key changes and rhythm changes as he slides from “Born to Run” into “Devil With the Blue Dress On” (usually part of what is known as “The Detroit Medley”) into “Glory Days” into “Land of Hope and Dreams.” “You want to constantly kick it up,” he says.
“A Prayer for the Souls of the Departed”
While casual fans may pass right by the displays to beloved late E Street musicians Danny “The Phantom” Federici, who died in 2008, and Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons, who died in 2011, longtime devotees will appreciate the mementos that celebrate the longtime members. Federici is feted by a display with one of his accordions, a photo of him as a young boy playing the instrument and a note from his son talking about how Federici, who was also Springsteen’s organist, began playing the accordion at 5. For Clemons, one of his saxophones is on display, but the item that will tug at hard-core fans’ heartstrings is “The Throne,” the upholstered, gold-painted armchair that Clemons had onstage with him so he could sit as he got tired in later years and where he reclined and took in his adoring fans when the rest of the band left the stage before returning for the encore. Both are gone but never forgotten.
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