First European Fall tour dates announced

As Bruce announced in the Spring at shows in Italy and Spain, The Seeger Sessions Band is coming to Europe for a second leg of shows in the Fall. And the first dates, in Ireland, have been announced today. Bruce will perform at these venues on these dates:

17 & 18 November 2006 - The Point, Dublin, Ireland
21 November 2006 - The Odyssey, Belfast, Northern Ireland

The info comes from Ticketmaster in Ireland.
Tickets for these shows go on sale Wed. July 5th at 9am.

A show in Koln, Germany, scheduled for Nov.6th, is now on the Koln Tickets website.
Furthermore, italian and spanish newspapers are talking about other possible shows in cities such as Pistoia, Verona (Oct. 5th), Zaragoza, Sevilla or Granada, though nothing has been officially confirmed (see copies of those newspapers below, plus a great view of the Verona Arena).

Springsteen's Seeger Sessions tour ends at home

Two wonderful shows put to an end the US tour. Bruce himself announced these were the last shows in the U.S., leaving little hope for a second leg. Both concerts featured "American Land" opening the show. On saturday Bruce played "Maria's Bed" by request (and sounded pretty much as good as the studio version), and had a special guest for "My Oklahoma Home": banjo player Mark Clifford. Mark plays on the album We Shall Overcome, but decided not to go on tour.

The second night featured a longer set (two hours and 45 minutes) which included "Long Black Veil", "Long Time Comin'", "Devils & Dust" and an unexpected, wonderful version of "Man in the Flying Trapeze" to close the show and the U.S. tour. (the song can now be seen on AOL Music, along with "Johnny 99" from the NY concert, and "When The Saints Go Marching In" from saturday's gig in Holmdel).

Check out the full set lists at our Concerts page.

Seeger Sessions tour hits New York City

Springsteen's return to the great Madison Square Garden brought an unexpected surprise: an unreleased song titled "American Land", opening the show. It's still unknown whether this is a cover or a new Springsteen tune. The lyrics are certainly different to the Pete Seeger song "He lies in the American Land".

New York got also a solo acoustic version of "Bring Them Home" which received a huge ovation. It was followed by a powerful version of "My City of Ruins".

Double debut in Cleveland

Two interesting tour debuts in Cleveland. First, "Long Time Comin", with the full band and sounding similar to the studio version. A great debut that sounded like they've been playing it forever. Later in the set, a solo, 12-string guitar version of "Into the Fire", dedicated to a group of marines who died in Iraq. Before "Bring Them Home" Bruce made some comments about the death penalty, and someone yelled "kill the killers!" to which Bruce responded: "That kind of stupidity gets us nowhere. You, my friend, should be the first at the table".

A video of last night's performance of "We Shall Overcome" can now be seen at AOL Music. Check the full set list at our Concerts page.

"Further On (Up The Road)" debuts in Chicago

It had been a while with no new tour debuts. Until Chicago, where "Further" made its first tour appearance, in a completely re-arranged version. "Erie Canal" was dropped from the set for the first time, and "Long Black Veil" took its place. Last night in Milwaukee, "Further" stayed on the set, "Erie Canal" was back, and the encores featured 6 songs. Check out full set lists here.

And don't forget to watch videos from those shows at the AOL website. There's "Eyes on the Prize" from Milwaukee, and "My Oklahoma Home" from Chicago.

"Long Black Veil" returns at St. Paul show

As the tour progresses, the set lists are more stable, with few changes every night and no new songs debuted. Yesterday in Saint Paul, "Long Black Veil" found its way back in the set list after a few weeks (since its last performance, in Stockholm 5/21) substituting "Devils & Dust". No "Ramrod" nor "My City of Ruins" last night, with "Bring Them Home" and "Buffalo Gals" in their place. Patti was absent.

Listen to "Bring Them Home" at Bruce Springsteen's official site

The new studio recording of the Pete Seeger tune "Bring Them Home" is now available to hear at Bruce's official web site.

The song was recorded in January of 2006 and Bruce added some new vocals at a studio in Oslo in May. Rumour is that this song, along with "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" and perhaps other songs, will be part of an expanded edition of the album We Shall Overcome, to be re-issued this summer.

At last night's show in Iowa Patti was back in the band, in a set list without much changes, except for "My City of Ruins" being back on the set. Check out the full set lists.

Visit AOL Music to watch a video from this show later today.

San Francisco gets the longer set so far

A 22-song set with 6 encores and one special guest: Joan Baez, onstage for "Pay Me My Money Down".

Check out full set list in the Concerts page.

The E Street Band meets the Seeger Sessions Band

At the last 2 tour stops, E Street Band members have joined the Seeger Sessions Band onstage during "Pay Me My Money Down". First was Nils Lofgren, who joined the band in Glendale, Arizona, in a half-empty arena (the Phoenix Suns game at the NBA playoffs being on TV might be one of the reasons) . And yesterday it was Roy Bittan who came onstage in Los Angeles to play some piano and be the last band member to leave the stage at the end of "Pay Me My Money Down". A video of "Jesse James" from the Glendale show, plus "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" from Los Angeles are now up on AOL Music.

Check out full set lists in our Concerts page.

Finally, there was another performance yesterday in L.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band performed "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

Bruce confirms Fall Tour to Norweggian newspaper

Last wednesday Springsteen had a phone interview with the newspaper VG from Norway, where he confirms a Fall tour with the Seeger Sessions Band and the reason of his recording session at a studio in Oslo.

About the Fall tour:

"We end the tour June 25 and might be doing a small tour after summer, but it will not be like in the 80's when we did 130 shows a year, or something like that. The D&D tour also became quite big, but I have bigger children now, and they don’t like me being away too long, and I really don’t want to be an absent dad. I love this life, the music, the tours... but there must be a balance."

About his recordings in Oslo:

"We found this lovely little studio down by a canal. I had written some new lyrics to “Bring them home" on the way to Oslo, so I recorded the vocals there. I hope we can use it sometime, maybe on a 'Seeger Sessions Vol. 2" , who knows? But at least it’s the first recording I have made in Oslo."

And finally about a new E Street Band album:

"You know, it was something like that I had in mind before I stumbled across the Seeger Sessions songs. I wrote a lot of new songs already during the D&D tour, and I’m really looking forward to work with them again. But first I must close this chapter."

Auction for Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Tour Tickets

Musicians On Call and The Kristen Ann Carr Fund have secured 2 great tickets for each show of Bruce Springsteen's U.S. and European Tour! This is your chance to bid on and win a pair of tickets for the tour, which runs through June 25th. In Europe, the tickets will be General Admission in the Pit. In the U.S. tickets are directly in front of the stage, either GA pit where applicable, or first or second row seats. All winning bids will be tax deductible above the face value of the tickets. To bid, just click here.

18 Nights of Bruce Springsteen... on video

Since yesterday, Bruce Springsteen has teamed up with AOL Music to offer a live video from each of the 18 concerts from this leg of the U.S. tour. Bruce is choosing a different song from every show, and AOL Music offers it on their site the morning after each show.

Four videos are already available on AOL Music:

John Henry (27-05-2006, Mansfield, MA)
Erie Canal (28-05-2006, Bristow, VA)
O Mary Don't You Weep (30-05-2006, Columbus, OH)
Old Dan Tucker (31-05-2006, Indianapolis, IN)

Visit now AOL too see the videos.

Double debut in Indianapolis

Indianapolis got no less than two tour premieres last night. First off, "Atlantic City" opened the show in a joyous full-band version. Later in the night, "Froggie Went A Courtin'" made its tour debut after a boy's request. "Rag Mama Rag" kept its spot in the encores

Check out the full set list at the Concerts page.