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Bruce Springsteen Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

Bruce springsteen at pechanga arena, san diego, ca, usa.

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Bruce Springsteen at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA

  • Roll of the Dice
  • Lonesome Day
  • Prove It All Night
  • No Surrender
  • Letter to You
  • The Promised Land
  • Spirit in the Night
  • Don't Play That Song (You Lied)
  • Mary's Place
  • Hungry Heart

Bruce Springsteen at Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

  • Darlington County
  • Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen at St. Rose Of Lima Church, Freehold, NJ, USA

Bruce springsteen at musicares person of the year 2024.

  • Who Says You Can't Go Home

Bruce Springsteen at Five Rings Farm, Wellington, FL, USA

  • Money (That's What I Want)
  • Twist and Shout

Bruce Springsteen at Stand Up for Heroes 2023

  • Addicted to Romance
  • The Power of Prayer
  • Working on the Highway
  • Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, USA

  • Something in the Night
  • Kitty's Back
  • Atlantic City
  • The E Street Shuffle
  • Out in the Street
  • Sherry Darling

Bruce Springsteen setlists

Bruce Springsteen

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Most played songs

  • Born to Run ( 1816 )
  • Thunder Road ( 1521 )
  • The Promised Land ( 1477 )
  • Badlands ( 1278 )
  • Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out ( 1182 )

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21,530 people have seen Bruce Springsteen live.

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bruce springsteen tour years

The Boss is back: Bruce Springsteen launches 2024 tour with a joyous Phoenix concert

bruce springsteen tour years

When Rolling Stone invited readers to vote for the greatest live acts of all time in 2011, it’s doubtful the results came as a huge surprise to anyone.

Not only did Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band win the popular vote, they did it without “a close second anywhere in sight."

And that’s because their concerts were — and are , as they reminded us as Springsteen relaunched his postponed world tour on Tuesday, March 19, at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix — the stuff of legends.

Springsteen and The E Street Band stretch the boundaries of what it means to prove it all night while chasing moments of transcendence that can range from deeply moving to profoundly silly.

Bruce Springsteen setlist 2024: Every song he sang at Phoenix tour relaunch

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band relaunched their tour in Phoenix

The last time Springsteen brought the E Street Band to Phoenix , on a tour in 2016 re-exploring “The River,” they turned in a 3½-hour concert whose truly awe-inspiring six-song encore ended in a spirited revival of the Isley Brothers’ “Shout.”

The fans who flocked to Footprint Center on Tuesday night were on a pilgrimage to see the relaunch of the E Street Band’s first tour since then — a tour cut short in 2023 as Springsteen was treated for peptic ulcer disease, a potentially serious gastrointestinal condition.

Springsteen turned 74 in late September 2023. Four days later, he broke the news that he’d been forced to postpone all remaining concerts booked for 2023 “out of an abundance of caution.”

Naturally, I went into the Springsteen concert on Tuesday night assuming I might feel the need to make allowances for age and health and everything those words imply, especially when used that close together.

But the Springsteen who rocked that arena in Phoenix on Tuesday didn’t need my well-intentioned qualifiers.

He 'just kind of shot through the roof': How Phoenix radio made Bruce Springsteen the Boss

Springsteen brought his A-game to the relaunch of his world tour

The man brought his A-game at the helm of an 18-member E Street Band (or 17 if you’re not counting Springsteen as a member of that band, which seems a bit ridiculous) in a breathless journey through their glory days with an energy that only seemed to flag in the course of their nearly three-hour performance when the song itself demanded it.

He’s certainly scaled back on the physicality of his performance style.

There were no bent-knee slides across the stage. No leaping to rival a young Pete Townshend. But the sense of showmanship remains, from the playful rapport of Springsteen's onstage antics with the members of the E Street Band to the charming self-awareness of his dance moves to that moment toward the end where he tore his shirt open for no apparent reason other than to entertain.

His voice has aged a bit since the first time he followed that iconic shout of “1-2-3-4” with “the highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive.” But he’s too good a singer to let that compromise the essence of his vocals, settling into a more conversational delivery on “Born to Run” that made it feel like you were hearing those same lyrics for the first time after knowing them for nearly 50 years while also sidestepping the high notes.

Springsteen and the E Street Band are on a search-and-rescue mission

My favorite Springsteen memory is the E Street Band reunion show I saw in 1999 at the Meadowlands in Jersey, where the Boss announced that they were on a “search-and-rescue mission” to regenerate, rejuvenate and otherwise rekindle the spark that is “the majesty, the mystery and the ministry of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Of course they were.

And 25 years later? Springsteen seemed as committed as ever to that search-and-rescue mission, from the time he and his bandmates made their entrance one-by-one to set the tone with “Lonesome Day,” one of three songs they played from “The Rising,” to the raucous rendition of “Twist and Shout” that brought the encore to a joyous climax, having been requested by an 18-year-old fan whose sign said this was his first Springsteen concert.

That kid obviously picked a good night to be introduced to what it means to witness Springsteen in his element, leading the E Street Band in a 29-song overview of his career.

Highlights ranged from 'Born to Run' to 'Dancing in the Dark'

The setlist made its way through countless classics, reaching back to his first album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” for a loose-limbed “Spirit in the Night,” and touching on a number of the most beloved songs on “Born to Run” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” as well as “No Surrender,” “Dancing in the Dark” and other crowd-pleasing highlights of “Born in the U.S.A.,” a 17-times-platinum mainstream-saturating exercise in world domination that remains his most successful album.

They also dusted off a handful of the soul and R&B songs Springsteen covered on his latest album, 2022’s “Only the Strong Survive,” and three songs from his latest album of original material, “Letter To You,” including the solo acoustic version of “I’ll See You In My Dreams” that brought the encore to a haunted finish.

But what made that concert special went beyond what songs they played.

The E Street Band remain a force of nature, despite the loss of Clarence Clemons — “the Big Man” as his joining of the band is celebrated even now in “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” — and Danny Federici, who played organ, glockenspiel and accordion from the time they put the band together in Belmar, New Jersey, until his death in 2008.

Springsteen honored their memory during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," during which their images were flashed across the screens above the stage.

The new, expanded E Street Band was brilliant

The current edition of the E Street Band is a three-guitar army with Springsteen, the Valley's own Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt taking turns in the spotlight, two great keyboard players (Roy Bittan and touring member Charles Giordano), violinist Soozie Tyrell, the stellar rhythm section of drummer Max Weinberg and bassist Garry Tallent, and 44-year-old Jake Clemons still doing an excellent job of honoring his uncle, Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011, with the swagger (and physical stature) one would need to even try to fill those shoes.

There’s a flashiness to Lofgren’s soloing that’s undeniable while Springsteen squeezes out the sparks in solos that rely more on the power of each individual note and how it’s phrased, as evidenced on “Prove It All Night,” in particular, while indulging in some low-end twang Duane Eddy would’ve envied on a fantastic “Letter to You.”

The E Street Band’s ranks are further fleshed out in their current incarnation by four backup singers, a four-man horn squad and percussionist Anthony Almonte.

It was quite the crowded stage.

Springsteen kept the banter to a minimum in Phoenix

Springsteen's legend is based in part on his conversational approach to showmanship, as evidenced by the classic monologues captured on “Live/1975–85.” 

But he kept the chit-chat to a minimum for much of Tuesday’s concert.

Taking the stage in a red-and-black flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled extra high, he greeted the fans with a quick “Good evening, Arizona. 1-2-3-4” and barely said another word until he’d made it through “The Promised Land,” the 10th song of the night.

Springsteen eulogized his teenage bandmate George Theiss

His first big monologue was 14 songs deep, after “Mary’s Place,” when he introduced the poignant “Last Man Standing” with the story of George Theiss, a bandmate he met at 15.

“It was 1965,” he began.

“I was 15 years old and I had been playing guitar for about six months when one summer afternoon, I heard a knock on my door and it was George Theiss, a school friend of mine, and he was looking for a guitar player to audition for his band.”

Springsteen passed the audition in a “shotgun shack” and “embarked on the greatest adventure of my life,” he said. “I played in my first real rock ‘n’ roll band and it lasted for three years. As kids. Three years! That’s a lifetime for teenagers.”

Fast forward 50 years and a much older Springsteen is visiting Theiss on his deathbed as his former bandmate is dying of cancer.

“He only had a few days to live,” Springsteen said. “And I realized that his passing would leave me as the last living member of that first band, the Castiles.”

Springsteen spoke of 'death's final and lasting gift to us'

Death brings a certain clarity, Springsteen said. “Death’s final and lasting gift to us, the living, is you get an expanded vision of the life you can live yourself. George’s death made me realize, again, just how important it is to try and live every moment you’re here.”

And with that, the stage was set for “Last Man Standing,” a haunted highlight of his latest album of original material, “Letter to You.”

The tribute to his fallen bandmate carried over into “Backstreets,” one of several emotional highlights that ventured into existential territory.

He didn’t mention the loss of his mother, Adele Ann Springsteen, who died in January at 98. But there’s no doubt that she was on his mind.

Even "Night Shift," the Commodores cover from "Only the Strong Survive," felt like it tied into the existential theme.

After bringing the show to a crowd-pleasing climax in an encore packed with some of Springsteen’s most enduring calling cards, from “Born to Run” to “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Glory Days,” an anthemic “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” Springsteen sent the other members of the E Street Band away after a joyous “Twist and Shout” to end the night with a solo acoustic rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

"I'll see you in my dreams," he sang. "We'll meet and live and laugh again. I'll see you in my dreams, yeah, around the river bend. For death is not the end and I'll see you in my dreams."

Springsteen apologized for postponing his Phoenix concert

But first, he said he was sorry he had to reschedule his world tour.

“First, I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time,” he said. “I had a mother (expletive) of a bellyache. I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much.”

Then after making a plea on behalf of St. Mary’s Food Bank , he brought the concert to an existential close with “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” a suitably haunted reflection on the friends he lost along the way.

It was a fitting close to a concert steeped in existential musings by a legend who invited us to take that long walk on his first release with “Growin’ Up.”

More than 50 years later, Springsteen is still growin’ up, inviting us to come along. It’s a beautiful thing if you’re willing to let your guard down and experience the ride.  

Bruce Springsteen setlist 2024: Every song he played in Phoenix

Here’s every song Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

  • “Lonesome Day”
  • “No Surrender”
  • “Two Hearts” (with snippet of “It Takes Two” by Marvin Gaye/Kim Weston)
  • “Darlington County”
  • “Prove it All Night”
  • “Darkness on the Edge of Town”
  • “Letter to You”
  • “The Promised Land”
  • “Spirit in the Night”
  • “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” (Ben E. King cover)
  • “Night Shift” (Commodores cover)
  • “Mary’s Place”
  • “Last Man Standing”
  • “Backstreets”
  • “Because the Night”
  • “She’s the One”
  • “Wrecking Ball”
  • “The Rising”
  • “Thunder Road”
  • “Born to Run”
  • “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”
  • “Glory Days”
  • “Dancing in the Dark”
  • “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
  • “Twist and Shout” (The Top Notes/Isley Brothers/Beatles cover by sign request)
  • “I’ll See You in My Dreams”

Reach the reporter at  [email protected]  or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X  @ EdMasley .

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Announce First Tour in Six Years: 'I'm Just Aching to Play'

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will launch an international tour in February 2023

bruce springsteen tour years

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will soon perform worldwide together for the first time in years — and the rocker is raring to go.

Springsteen, 72, and his band have announced a massive international tour that will kick off in 2023, six years after they last hit the road.

"It's kind of mind-boggling, to be honest with you," the singer told SiriusXM channel E Street Radio host Jim Rotolo . "It doesn't feel that long, but… I've got the jones to play live very badly at this point. So I'm deeply looking forward to getting out there in front of our fans."

Though the "Born to Run" singer and the E Street Band did reunite briefly for a performance on Saturday Night Live in December 2020, the new string of dates will be the first since 2017's The River Tour, which lasted 14 months.

RELATED VIDEO: Despite Fame And Success, Bruce Springsteen Has Always Stayed Close To His Roots

Since then, Springsteen's released two new albums ( Western Stars in 2019, and Letter To You in 2020), and launched a solo New York City concert residency called Springsteen on Broadway , which wrapped in 2021 after more than 200 shows. He also launched the Renegades podcast with former President Barack Obama , and joined fellow rocker John Mellencamp on his single "Wasted Days."

"It's been a while and I'm just aching to play, and to actually not just play, but to travel and see our fans in all our different cities and feel that life again and see their faces again," the New Jersey native told Rotolo.

The 20-time Grammy winner said that he and his bandmates will begin rehearsals in January before starting U.S. arena dates in February. European stadium shows will kick off in April before they return to North America for a second leg in August.

"It's an old school E Street Band lengthy tour that we're gonna be involved in, and everybody's very excited about it," he said. "It'll have a significant amount of some recent material, and then of course we'll be playing a lot of the music that the fans have become familiar with and love to hear. It should be a balance of good things. The show should feel contemporary and it should also make you feel at home at the same time. So that's our goal."

"People can expect a full-tilt rock and roll show," Springsteen added.

The E Street Band is Patti Scialfa, Nils Lofgren, Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent, Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, with Soozie Tyrell, Jake Clemons and Charlie Giordano.

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Announce 2023 North American Tour

  • By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Bruce Springsteen has announced the dates for his long-awaited 2023 North American tour with the E Street Band. It kicks off on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Florida, and wraps up on April 14 in Newark, New Jersey. Ticket sales begin July 20.

Springsteen last played a concert with the E Street Band when their River tour wrapped up on Feb. 25, 2017, at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. But they haven’t played in North America since September 2016, and their sole live performance of any sort in the past five years took place in 2020 when they did two songs on Saturday Night Live to promote Letter To You . This has been their longest period of time off from the road since Springsteen reunited with the band in 1999 following an 11-year hiatus where he toured both solo and with another backing group.

They were originally slated to hit the road in 2020 to support Letter To You , and dates were later penciled in for 2022, but the pandemic forced them to ultimately delay the tour until 2023. “I’m just aching to play,” Springsteen told SiriusXM’s E Street Radio earlier this year. “Not just play but to travel and see our fans in all those distant cities.”

In that same interview, he said the tour would be a mixture of classics and selections from his newer albums. “it will have a significant amount of some recent material, and then, of course, we’ll play a lot of the music that fans have become familiar with and love to hear,” he said. “It should be a balance… the show should feel contemporary, and it should also make you feel at home at the same time.”

That doesn’t mean he’ll attempt to play many songs from Western Stars . “I’d like to keep it a rock show,” he said. “Once you’re out in an arena or stadium, people have come to see a rock ‘n’ roll show… But you never know, something may squeak in there from that record. It’s not impossible. That one, I’m gonna have to wait and see.”

The tour heads to the U.K. and Europe for a run of stadium shows that run from April 28 through July 25. It then heads back to America for a late summer/early fall stadium run, though those dates have yet to be announced.

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Here are Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s complete North American tour dates.

February 1, 2023 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena February 3 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena February 5 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center February 7 – Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live February 10 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center February 14 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center February 16 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center February 18 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center February 21 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center February 25 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center February 27 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena March 2 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena March 5 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center March 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum March 9 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena March 12 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun March 14 – Albany, NY @ MVP Arena March 16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center March 18 – State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center March 20 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden March 23 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center March 25 – Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum March 27 – Washington D.C. @ Capital One Arena March 29 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena April 1 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden April 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center April 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse April 7 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Arena April 9 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena April 11 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena April 14 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center

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I promised my kid I'd take her to see Bruce Springsteen. Why it took 12 years to get there

bruce springsteen tour years

Years ago Mary Michael, my oldest daughter, and I were in the car when “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen came on the radio.

She liked it immediately. I offhandedly mentioned that he’s really great live, you should see him play it, with the same amount of attention I’d give to telling her to make sure the lid is on her McDonald’s Coke. Maybe less.

But she heard me, and she listened, and somehow that turned into me promising her that the next time Springsteen came to town I would take her to see the show, no matter what.

Well, "what" actually happened. Time and again.

Seeing Springsteen became a quest

It took us more than 12 years to get there. But we finally did, seeing Springsteen and the E-Street Band in Phoenix on Tuesday, Mar. 19 , the destination of a journey that was waylaid by work and school and illness (even including Springsteen’s) — life, in other words, which seems fitting, because life and all of its complexities is one of the most prevalent themes in Springsteen’s songs.

Man, was it worth the wait.

The show was great, as good as I’ve seen. The experience was even better: She finally saw “Born to Run” live, and in the context of a brilliant performance. About damn time.

Let's be clear, I'm not a Bruce Springsteen mega fan

Some background: Despite what The Arizona Republic music critic Ed Masley would have you believe, I am not a Springsteen fanatic. I like him, a lot, have a few albums, all that — but I love seeing his shows. I have gone to seven, I think, which, when you add up the expense, maybe gives Ed’s argument some credence.

I think his best album is probably “Tunnel of Love,” “The River” was one of my favorite Christmas presents, I appreciate the grittiness of “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” all of the usual things. But I am particularly glad Mary Michael latched onto “Born to Run.”

It’s not just a great song. It’s a great album. The summer after college one of my best friends and I would stay up long into the night listening to it, parsing the meaning in each lyric. (There was beer.) We lived in a small town and wanted to get out, to find something bigger. Which, of course, is the overarching theme of the album. (My friend had just graduated from Princeton and was on his way to Harvard Law School, so this was more or less a theoretical discussion for him. Meanwhile, I was desperately looking for a newspaper job.)

We both did get out, and both came to realize maybe every aspect of that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He is gone now, never having seen a Springsteen show, which is too bad, and lends a bittersweet air to my feelings about the album.

Of course, Mary Michael can’t have that experience with that album, or with this artist. Hers is different. And a big part of that was just trying to see Springsteen play. But I did want her to know that, if this particular thing didn't resonate that way with her, it’s at least a sign that something could.

Why did I choose 'The Hobbit' over a Springsteen show?

The first time Springsteen came to town after my promise was in 2012 — the same night as a screening of “The Hobbit.” Duty called, I thought.

Stupid thought. Even Barry Bruno, the film buyer for Harkins Theatres and a big Springsteen fan, told me to go to Springsteen instead. But I didn’t, and the next day Barry said he had seen Springsteen several times and that had been maybe the best.

Also, "The Hobbit" was terrible.

Next up was 2016, when Springsteen was playing “The River” in its entirety . Another conflict. Another miss. Another promise broken.

Then Springsteen didn’t play Phoenix for a while. He was, not to put too fine a point on it, getting older. The whole point of this exercise was to see one of his marathon shows, capped with an encore performance of “Born to Run.” How much longer could he tour? And how much energy would he still have?

Plenty, from reports from other shows in other places.

Along the way, Mary Michael grew up, graduated from college and became a teacher in Dallas. She would occasionally remind me that the promise I’d never kept was a bit of a lingering disappointment. There ain’t no disappointment like disappointing your kid.

Then, finally, Springsteen announced a major tour with the E-Street Band for 2023 — and he was playing Dallas on my birthday. This was it! At long last. My wife and I bought tickets, booked flights and a hotel, rented a car. Perfect.

Two days before we left, Mary Michael called, in tears. She had COVID-19.

Finally, she got to sing 'Born to Run'

This quest was starting to look cursed. Then Springsteen added some shows to his tours, including Phoenix, a few days after Thanksgiving 2023. My daughter could just stick around a couple of extra days after the holiday and we could finally see him.

Then Springsteen announced that he had peptic ulcer disease and would be postponing shows, including Phoenix.

Definitely cursed.

He rescheduled, for March 19. This meant a flight from Dallas, but at this point that seemed like a small obstacle. We got tickets and didn’t speak of it, for fear of jinxing it again.

Could The Boss live up to 12 years of anticipation?

It finally happened.

The Boss is back: Bruce Springsteen launches 2024 tour with a joyous Phoenix concert

My wife and Mary Michael and I sat in the literal last row at Footprint Center — if we were on a plane we couldn’t have reclined our seats. But it was fantastic. The show was a blast, start to finish. And Mary Michael finally got to sing, “Whoaaa!” along with the crowd during “Born to Run,” something she’d been promised since she was a little girl. And now she was old enough to have a beer.

It took a while to make it happen. It turns out that maybe that was the point. I don’t know that everything really happens for a reason; sometimes a stubbed toe is a stubbed toe, probably. But sometimes the things that seem like a problem wind up being the solution to something bigger, something better. And occasionally those parts of life involve a great soundtrack.

Bill Goodykoontz is an entertainment reporter in Phoenix.

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Inside Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s Return to the Stage: The 6 Best Moments From Phoenix

After a six-month break, half of it unintentional, Springsteen opened the new leg of his tour in Arizona, where he showed he was in peak form.

By Melinda Newman

Melinda Newman

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Bruce is back. 

If there was any doubt that Bruce Springsteen hadn’t fully recovered from the peptic ulcer disease that caused him to postpone 29 dates on his world tour with the E Street Band last fall, he dispensed of that notion within minutes of taking the stage Tuesday (March 19) at Phoenix’s Footprint Center for the first time in six months.

The Boss, clad in a red and black checkered shirt with rolled-up sleeves and black jeans, was in top form from show opener “Lonesome Day” and fully had his sea legs back by third song, “No Surrender,” when he gave his first trademark shout out, “C’mon, Steve!” beckoning for his brother-in-music for over half a century, Steven Van Zandt, to join him on the mic.  

For more than 50 years, Springsteen’s live shows have been about two things above and beyond the superb musical performance: Feeling alive and trusting in the communion between the Boss and his fans. 

For longtime fans such as myself (I’ve seen more than 50 shows over more than 30 years), a Springsteen concert is one of the places where we feel most vibrant. There’s the unbridled joy of hearing the music that has given meaning and voice to our life experiences in the company of likeminded souls. For many of us, Springsteen has been the best traveling companion through life imaginable. Part of that also comes from the trusting communion at any show: there’s the implicit understanding that Springsteen is going to take care of us and entertain us during that concert the best way he can—by pouring everything he has into the performance— and, in return, we’re going to send that energy back to the stage by being as present as we can be. 

That’s why when he postponed nearly 30 shows after his Sept. 3 dates at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. because of his illness, fans feared that this could be the end. Even though he has long prided himself on being in superhuman physical condition (and proved he still is in Phoenix by ripping his shirt open to show his toned chest), at 74, it’s clear that the road will end eventually for Springsteen. But as Tuesday night showed, he’s returned at the top of his game and the end feels far into the future if he wants it to be (though for longtime fans, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that on this tour Springsteen does not end the shows with his former trademark line, “We’ll be seein’ you.”)

When this world tour started in February 2023, Springsteen was working a theme built around “Last Man Standing,” an emotional song featured on his underrated 2020 album,  Letter to You . Like on the earlier shows on the tour, Springsteen addressed the Phoenix audience (in this case, for the first time all night more than an hour in), giving a beautiful speech about playing in his first band, The Castiles, when he was 15 in the mid-‘60s, and how more than 50 years later, he stood by the bedside of his friend and bandmate George Theiss, as he lay dying, leaving Springsteen the last member of the band alive. It’s a reflection on mortality, but also on resilience and joy. Though he’s never spoken of death and the gift it brings the living from stage so eloquently before, it’s understood by fans. For example, after my mother died, I consoled myself by going to as many shows as I could on the consecutive  Magic  and  Working on a Dream  tours because standing in the pit of a Springsteen show was where I felt most alive. 

Unlike the setlists from earlier shows that seemed slightly more reflective and wide-ranging, Tuesday’s show was a high-octane freight train of a rock show. The message is that life is to be savored and, more than anything, celebrated and met head on at full-speed. Springsteen and the band barreled through 29 songs, most of them full-on rockers, in 2 hours and 45 minutes. The show felt nothing if not efficient. There was no fat. The only break between songs was the few seconds it took for Springsteen to change guitars and, other than a few asides, he only addressed the audience for the speech before “Last Man Standing” and after “Backstreets.” He never brought up his illness until right before the closing song when he apologized to anyone inconvenienced by the Phoenix date shifting from Nov. 30 to March 19, adding, “I had a mother**ker of a bellyache.”

Below are six of the highlights from the Phoenix show, which had former N.J. governor Chris Christie and rocker Alice Cooper in attendance, in an evening filled with nothing but stellar moments . (Christie, by the way, said it was his 153rd Springsteen show!)

One-Two Punch of “Last Man Standing” and “Backstreets”

As mentioned above, the emotional centerpiece of the evening was when Springsteen talked about George Theiss and the revelation that he was now the last man from the band still alive and was, therefore, the keeper of the flame. “[Death] brings with it a certain clarity of thought. Death’s final and lasting gift to us the living is we get an expanded vision of the life you can live yourself,” he said, introducing “Last Man Standing.” He performed the song under a solo spotlight, otherwise bathed in darkness—even the lights lining the lip of the stage were turned off. From there the band perfectly segued into a haunting, majestic version of “Backstreets,” which looks back at Springsteen and his friend Terry, who swore they’d live forever. It was the perfect twosome—the folly and eternal optimism of youth paired with the reality of death. Most touching, at the end of the twofer, Springsteen enumerated the items he’d kept of Thiess’s, including his box of 45s, his books and an old guitar, before saying “the rest of you, I’ll carry right here,” he vowed, patting his hand over his heart. 

Springsteen’s Wall of Sound

Accompanied by 17 musicians, Springsteen is basically mayor of a small city on stage. As always, the production is minimal, but that’s in part because there’s no room on the stage for anything but the musicians and their instruments. When everyone is playing, such as on songs like “Wrecking Ball” or “Glory Days,” between the boldness of the horn section and the beauty of the backing vocalists and the craftmanship of the E Street Band, it felt like a wall of sound was crashing from the stage over the audience. It’s a powerful sound, unmatched by any other outfit on the road. It’s been 12 years since Jake Clemons joined the band, replacing his legendary uncle Clarence on saxophone. His dynamic with Springsteen is obviously different, but he’s grown into an endearing, excellent foil and the warmth between the two is palpable. On a side note, there are so many of them that after the main set, they gathered for bows, but instead of departing the stage and coming back for their encore, they all just returned to their stage spots because nobody has time for that many people to leave and come back again.

The Power of 'Ghosts'

Springsteen’s last album of original material, Letter to You , got lost in the pandemic and the band’s postponed tour that would have supported it, if not for the shutdown. It’s chockful of songs about facing your past and saluting those who have gone ahead, while finding ways to move forward through grief, fear and the grind of aging. “Ghosts,” an uplifting song about cherishing being alive while honoring those who are gone felt criminally neglected. It’s a potent rocker that Springsteen and his band brought home with a power (especially from the Mighty Max Weinberg on drums) and a grace in Phoenix that easily conjured up the spirits of not only Theiss, but Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici. 

Springsteen’s Falsetto

After a few wobbles on the opening two songs, Springsteen’s voice locked in and sounded strong and boisterous throughout the whole concert, but the first time he went into his falsetto on “Two Hearts,” the crowd went crazy. He used it sparingly, but every time he brought it out, including on “Spirit in the Night,” “Don’t Play That Song” and  “Mary’s Place,” the audience couldn’t get enough.

The Outro to “She’s the One”

Honestly, does Springsteen (or anyone) have a more joyous piece of music than the last 90 seconds or so of “She’s the One?” It soars on record, but live, it causes the roof to levitate. In Phoenix, Max Weinberg was pounding out the Bo Diddley beat, while Springsteen wailed on harmonica, and it just felt like a rocket ship catapulting into space. 

"Twist & Shout"

One of the things that Springsteen fans love is when he calls an audible– meaning he veers from the setlist and turns his back to the audience, confers with the band and adds something to the set the wasn’t originally slated to be played. The current tour, by design, hasn’t allowed for much spontaneity, so it was a particular delight when during the six-song encore, Springsteen made it seven songs. He grabbed a sign from an 18-year-old kid in the audience that read it was their first Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band show ever and would the band play “Twist & Shout?” (Next time, maybe they suggest a Springsteen song?) Springsteen grabbed the sign and held it up to his bandmates to make sure they knew what was coming next. The Isley Brothers’ classic is a song they’ve played for decades and they ripped into it with gusto and showed they really are at heart the world’s best bar band.

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Breaking News

Bruce Springsteen’s tour, delayed by illness, arrives in San Diego on Monday

Bruce Springsteen performs in the opening concert of his world tour on Tuesday in Phoenix.

The tour, which “The Boss” postponed due to a peptic ulcer, kicked off Tuesday in Arizona with the singer-guitarist in high spirits and fit shape

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“The Boss” is back, baby!

Following a peptic ulcer disease diagnosis, the “Born To Run” singer had to postpone a string of performances last year. In September, he announced he would be taking time off to recover.

But now, the rock phenom is finally back in action. His tour arrives in San Diego on Monday, March 25, with a concert at Pechanga Arena San Diego. All face-value tickets for the show are sold-out. Re-sale tickets, which are priced higher, are available.

On Tuesday, March 19, the 74-year-old Springsteen and the E Street Band played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, opening with a “Good evening, Arizona” to the crowd, followed by the crowd-stirring “Lonesome Day.”

His 29-song performance proved to be a “triumphant reboot” for the iconic musician, who showed no signs of his past ailment during the three-hour show, according to the Associated Press.

Aside from “Born in the U.S.A.,” Springsteen performed signature hits like “Rosalita,” “No Surrender,” “Glory Days” and “Dancing In The Dark,” while adding a few covers to the mix. According to ABC News, the heralded rocker played “Nightshift” by the Commodores and a surprising rendition of “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers.

“Phoenix, first I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time ... I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much,” Springsteen, who postponed nearly 30 shows on his world tour last year, said before closing out the show.

Springsteen, decked in a red plaid flannel shirt and dark jeans, was lauded by fans for his lively energy and physique. While many marveled at the 74-year-old artist’s very fit shape, others jokingly compared Springsteen to svelte British actress Tilda Swinton.

“Absolutely thought this was Tilda Swinton in a new role where she plays a wrestler,” one Twitter/X user commented on a picture of Springsteen with his half-unbuttoned shirt.

“Actually, (we) never seen (Tilda) Swinton and Bruce Springsteen in the same room… new conspiracy just dropped,” the same user later tweeted.

Springsteen’s Phoenix date marked the first stop on his 2024 world tour. Before ending in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Nov. 22, he and the E Street Band will play in 17 countries across 52 dates.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 25

Where: Pechanga Arena, 8500 Sports Arena Blvd., San Diego

Tickets: Sold-out; only re-sale tickets, at increased prices, are available

Online: axs.com

Hopkins writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Ultimate Classic Rock

Bruce Springsteen Promises ‘Wider Song Selection’ on 2024 Tour

Bruce Springsteen is looking to mix things up as he heads back on the road following an unanticipated break.

“I think we’re approaching [the 2024 World Tour] like it’s a new tour," the rock legend explained during a conversation with SiriusXM’s E Street Radio host Jim Rotolo. “There will be some things from last year’s tour that will hold over; some of my basic themes of mortality and life. Those things I’m gonna keep set, but I think I’m gonna move around the other parts of the set a lot more. So there’ll be a much wider song selection going on.”

Springsteen’s words will undoubtedly be music to the ears of some fans who openly criticized the lack of variety in his 2023 set lists. This was in stark contrast to his long-held reputation for making each concert different than the next.

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Bruce Springsteen Album

“We're looking at it like it's a little bit of the old tour, but we're looking at it like a new tour,” the Boss asserted once more. "We're looking to kill the crowd and send them home just having had the time of their lives and that hasn't changed and that's what we plan to be doing for the rest of this tour.”

Why Was Bruce Springsteen's Tour Postponed?

Many of Springsteen’s 2024 dates consist of shows originally planned for 2023. The Boss was forced to reschedule his tour as he suffered through peptic ulcer disease.

“When I had the stomach problem, one of the big problems was that I couldn’t sing,” Springsteen explained. “You sing with your diaphragm. My diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me. So I literally couldn’t sing at all."

The health woes plagued Springsteen for several months and had him questioning when he'd be able to return to performing.

READ MORE: How Bruce Springsteen Got His Nickname 'The Boss'

"During the course of it – before people told me, ‘Oh no, it’s going to go away and you’re going to be OK’ – you know, you’re thinking, ‘Hey, am gonna sing again?’" the rocker admitted. "This is one of the things I love to do the most. And right now, I can’t do it."

Now back on the road, Springsteen is scheduled to tour across America through the end of April. At that point he'll head overseas for a run of European dates, before returning for another leg of US. shows beginning in August.

Bruce Springsteen Albums Ranked

Gallery Credit: Dave Lifton

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Bruce Springsteen says 2024 set list will change, promises wider song selection

After restarting his world tour, the Boss assures fans that his song selection will be more flexible than last year.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

bruce springsteen tour years

The Boss is back — and he's ready to guard his fans' dreams and visions.

Earlier this week, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rebooted their world tour, following a pause that began last fall due to Springsteen's health concerns. And there's more good news: The set list is going to be a lot more flexible this go-round.

When Springsteen launched his first tour in more than five years in 2023, one aspect of it was met with disappointment by fans. Diehard listeners regularly attend multiple Springsteen shows in a single city because of his long tradition of changing up the set list every night. But the Only the Strong Survive tour seemed to change course, with the Boss and his band playing the same tracks night after night (with a small amount of variation).

Now it seems he's changed his tune. Calling into E Street Radio, the SiriusXM radio channel dedicated to all things Springsteen, he revealed to host Jim Rotolo that they're going with a different approach in 2024.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

"We're approaching it like it's a new tour," Springsteen said. "There will be some things from last year's tour that will hold over, some of my basic themes of mortality and life and those things, you know, I'm going to keep set."

But, he continued, "I think I'm gonna move around the other parts of the set a lot more, so there'll be a much wider song selection going on. So we're looking at it like, you know, it's a little bit of the old tour, but we're looking at it like a new tour."

During the conversation, Springsteen also elaborated on why his peptic ulcer disease, which he was diagnosed with last fall, forced him to cancel two September shows before ultimately rescheduling all the tour stops through the end of the year.

"When I had the stomach problem, one of the big problems was I couldn't sing," he said. "You sing with your diaphragm. My diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me. I literally couldn't sing at all, and that lasted for two or three months, along with just a myriad of other painful problems."

Springsteen even admitted that there was a period of time when he feared he might not be able to return to live performance. "During the course of it, before people told me, 'Oh no. It's gonna go away and you're gonna be okay,' you're thinking like, 'Hey, am I gonna sing again?'" he said. "This is one of the things I love to do the best, the most, and right now I can't do it. It took a while for the doctors to say, 'Oh no. You're gonna be okay.' At first nobody was quite saying that, which made me nervous. At the end of the day, I found some great doctors and they straightened me out."

Springsteen and the E Street Band currently have tour dates scheduled through the end of November, including a summer leg in Europe.

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Bruce Springsteen in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Boss is back, as 74-year-old Bruce Springsteen returned to the concert stage this week in Phoenix after postponing his world tour last September.

But in an interview with SiriusXM ’s E Street Radio host Jim Rotolo, Springsteen said the peptic ulcer disease that sidelined him had him concerned he might not be able to sing again.

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“You sing with your diaphragm. My diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me, you know? So, I literally couldn’t sing at all, you know, and that lasted for two or three months, along with just a myriad of other painful problems.”

Things got so bad, Springsteen admitted that he feared that he might never regain his ability to sing.

“I was, during the course of it, before people told me, ‘Oh no. It’s gonna go away, and you’re gonna be OK,’ you know, you’re thinking like, ‘Hey, am I gonna sing again?’ and you know, this is one of the things I love to do the best, the most, and right now I can’t do it.,” Springsteen said.

He continued, “You know, I can’t do it, and it took a while for the doctors to say, ‘Oh no. You’re gonna be OK.’ At first, nobody was quite saying that, which made me nervous, you know, and at the end of the day, I found some great doctors, and they straightened me out, and I can’t do anything but thank them all.”

The current tour will conclude on November 22 in Vancouver, Canada, visiting 17 countries across 52 dates, including a September 15 when Springsteen headline date at the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

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COMMENTS

  1. Tour History

    Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Summer '17 Tour. 14 shows • 9 locations. Auckland • NZ. Mt Smart Stadium. 25 Feb 2017. Mt Smart Stadium. 25 Feb 2017. Christchurch • NZ.

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  3. Category:Bruce Springsteen concert tours

    B. Born in the U.S.A. Tour. Born to Run tours. Bruce Springsteen 1992-1993 World Tour. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour. Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band Tour.

  4. Tour

    Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band kick off their 2023 international tour with performances across the United States, before heading to Europe, and then returning to North America. The shows mark Springsteen and The E Street Band's first tour dates since February 2017, and their first in North America since September 2016.

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  6. Bruce Springsteen

    Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", he has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band.Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics ...

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    The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuilding, the singer had bulked up considerably.The tour was the first since the 1974 portions of the Born to Run tours without guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who ...

  8. The Band

    Before the success and accolades, fiercely loyal New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen first assembled the E Street Band on the state's beaches and boardwalk clubs — featuring many members who still tour with him till this day. In 1999, after 10 years apart, Springsteen reconvened the E Street Band for a historic series of shows documented on the ...

  9. Bruce Springsteen Tickets, 2024 Concert Tour Dates

    Bruce Springsteen's recording career spans over 40 years, beginning with 1973's 'Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ' (Columbia Records). He has released 18 studio albums, garnered 20 Grammys, won an Oscar, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received a Kennedy Center Honor, and was MusiCares' 2013 Person of the Year.

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  18. Bruce Springsteen's tour, delayed by illness, arrives in San Diego on

    Bruce Springsteen performs in the opening concert of his world tour on Tuesday in Phoenix. ... who postponed nearly 30 shows on his world tour last year, said before closing out the show.

  19. Home

    Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band 2023 tour dates, concert recordings, new album Only The Strong Survive, news, songs and more. ... Bruce Springsteen is one of the world's best-selling artists. Long recognized as an incomparable live performer, he has won 20 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and a Special Tony Award. ...

  20. Bruce Springsteen Resuming Tour After Six-Month Health Break

    The Boss is back. After health problems derailed Bruce Springsteen's 2023 tour, the rock legend is poised to return to the stage on March 19.. Things started out well enough for the Boss' 2023 ...

  21. Bruce Springsteen Promises 'Wider Song Selection' on 2024 Tour

    Bruce Springsteen promised a 'wider song selection at his 2024 shows during an interview in March 2024. ... "There will be some things from last year's tour that will hold over; some of my ...

  22. Bruce Springsteen promises wider song selection, new set lists in 2024

    Bruce Springsteen says 2024 set list will change, promises wider song selection. After restarting his world tour, the Boss assures fans that his song selection will be more flexible than last year.

  23. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Kick Off 2024 World Tour This

    Across the entire year, and despite the postponed North American dates, Springsteen and The E Street Band's international run finished as the No. 3 tour of 2023 per Pollstar, behind only Taylor Swift and Beyonce. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND 2024 TOUR DATES. March 19 - Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center

  24. Bruce Springsteen Feared He Might Not Regain His Ability To Sing

    The Boss is back, as 74-year-old Bruce Springsteen returned to the concert stage this week in Phoenix after postponing his world tour last September. But in an interview with SiriusXM's E Street ...

  25. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Announce 2023 International Tour

    Get tickets now! Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will mark their return to the road in early February, 2023 with a string of to-be-announced US arena dates, followed by European stadium shows kicking off on April 28th in Barcelona and a second North American tour leg starting in August. Said Springsteen: "After six years, I'm ...