April 28: Philadelphia

A good first night with "The Fever", "Fire", "Mountain of love" and "You Can't Sit Down". Full review soon.

See complete set list.

April 26: Atlanta

Another night of intense rock'n'roll, tonight with Jay Weinberg playing drums on 6 songs, and 3 tour premieres: "96 Tears" (the classic tune by Question Mark and the Mysterians), "Trapped" and the "Detroit Medley" closing the show. Tomorrow: the first of two nights in Philadelphia.

See complete set list.

The original "96 Tears", an eternal classic:

April 24: Hartford

Bruce shakes up the set list again. "Outlaw Pete" goes on the 2nd spot, followed by the tour debut of "Jackson Cage", and then "She's The One" next. Moments later Jay Weinberg takes the stage and plays drums on "Radio Nowhere", "Seeds", "Johnny 99" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad", some of them songs he hadn't played at yet.

The sign requests bring cover versions of The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and Fogerty's "Rockin' All Over The World", plus a Bruce song: "The E Street Shuffle". The main set ends with yet another surprise, 'cause Bruce doesn't stop with "Born to Run" and keeps playing an unexpected "Cadillac Ranch". "Rosalita" is the song that sends people home.

See complete set list.

‘Photographers Against Hunger’ Donate Signed Prints of Bruce Springsteen

World-Renowned Photographers Band Together to Raise Money For – and Awareness About – Hunger in America

Hillside, N.J., April 23, 2009 – People say a picture is worth a thousand words, but “Photographers Against Hunger” is hoping that fourteen photographs of Bruce Springsteen prove to be even more valuable. In partnership with Backstreets magazine, the group is seeking to raise funds for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, member of Feeding America, by providing fourteen photographs—spanning over three decades of the iconic rocker’s career—for a very special charitable effort. For each $25 donation to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Springsteen fans will have the chance to receive one of the photographs, signed by the photographer. Fans can view the images and enter at www.backstreets.com/hunger.

The photographers have made most, if not all, of the iconic images of Springsteen, including the album covers for Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska, Born in the U.S.A., Tunnel of Love, Lucky Town, The Rising, Devils & Dust and The Seeger Sessions. The fourteen photographers are: Mary Alfieri, Danny Clinch, Anton Corbijn, Lynn Goldsmith, David Michael Kennedy, Annie Leibovitz, Eric Meola, Neal Preston, Barbara Pyle, David Rose, Pam Springsteen, Frank Stefanko, Albert Watson and Timothy White.

Donations may be made starting on April 23, 2009, and 100 percent of each donation of $25 will go toward supporting the FoodBank's efforts. Once 14,000 donations have been made, 14 lucky fans will be chosen at random to each receive a print.

Among the unique prints are a limited edition palladium print by David Michael Kennedy which was part of the series he made for Nebraska; a Frank Stefanko print which was used as the jacket sleeve for Darkness on the Edge of Town; and a rare photograph by Barbara Pyle which was made during the Born to Run studio sessions and which few people have ever seen.

“Each of the photographers who contributed to this has personally worked with Bruce Springsteen and has been touched by his generosity and passion for helping others,” said Eric Meola, esteemed photographer, and well-known in the Bruce Springsteen world for the Born to Run album cover. “This project has allowed each of us to follow his lead and ‘pay-it-forward,’ combining a cause that is close to Bruce’s heart with our love of photography; but we also want Bruce's fans and the readers of Backstreets to realize that they are the most important part of this effort."

Helping the Hungry

As a result of the recession, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey—which provides food for more than 500,000 New Jersey residents—has been struggling to keep up with increased demand for food. Sadly, this is a situation that is playing out in food banks across the nation.

“The current economic crisis has placed people from all walks of life in difficult financial situations. Families are turning to emergency food providers in record numbers,” said Kathleen DiChiara, founder of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. “We hope that Bruce Springsteen’s words will once again be a symbol of hope and that these photos will inspire people to give back to their communities in whatever way they can.”

"I credit Bruce with raising my own awareness about the issue of hunger, and he's always been passionate about giving back to the community; so it's fitting that the proceeds from these photographs that mark defining moments in his career will help many families in New Jersey who are struggling to redefine their lives," said Chris Phillips, editor of Backstreets.

To learn more about the project or to make a donation, please visit: www.backstreets.com/hunger.

Springsteen on the cover of Uncut

The May issue of Uncut features Bruce on its cover. The magazine includes a CD with 15 songs handpicked by Bruce as his "walk-in" music for his live shows. Steve Van Zandt writes about Bruce's long career and is interviewed by the magazine. Read more.

April 22: Boston #2 (I Wanna Be Sedated)

27 songs, nearly 3 hours, special guests and three tour premieres: "I Wanna Be Sedated", the great Ramones punk-rock song, by popular request; "For You", and "So Young and In Love" (video), back since its last performance in Belgium last year. Plus a perfect "Jungleland" (in lieu of "The Wrestler"), "She's the One", and a long set of encores which ended with "Seven Nights to Rock".

During encore time Tim Brennan (from Boston's Dropkick Murphys) came up to play on "So Young and In Love", and was later joined by another two members of the Murphys on "American Land". It was a great night for Jay Weinberg too, who got to play on the last 4 songs of the main set, plus "American Land" and "Glory Days" in the encores. A great show for a great crowd, which Bruce acknowledged by saying goodbye with these words: "You guys never disappoint. You still stoke the fire in our belly when we get here".

See complete set list.

April 21: Boston

The first of two shows in Boss-ton featured the tour debut of the great ZZ Top tune "I'm Bad I'm Nationwide" (see the video at bs.net now), a song Bruce performed in clubs and various shows with the E Street Band in 1984 and 1987.

Patti is still absent, though this time due to a small horse-riding accident which Bruce explained: "She wasn't riding with Madonna—it wasn't a Madonna-like spill".

The 2-hour and 45-minute show shared some songs with the recent L.A. shows: "Adam Raised a Cain", "Growin' Up" or "I'm Goin' Down", and Bruce kept taking sign requests while the band was playing the intro to "Raise Your Hand".

The handwritten set list included "Jungleland" (in the "Radio Nowhere" spot) though it was skipped. Once again Jay Weinberg joined the band for the last 4 songs in the main set.

See complete set list.

April 16: Los Angeles #2

The second show in LA brought changes, new songs and a special guest: Mike Ness, from southern California punk-rock band Social Distortion. Bruce and Mike dueted on "Bad Luck" (from Social Distortion's classic album Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell), in one of the most impressive moments of the show, and the whole tour. Later on, Ness helped playing guitar on "The Rising". The second, and unexpected, guest of the night was Jay Weinberg, who played drums on three songs ("Lonesome Day", "The Rising" and "Born ro run").

Other notable changes and additions to the show: "Candy's Room" (right after "Badlands"); "No Surrender" and "Adam Raised a Cain", a high-energy two-fer (in the place of "Out in the Street"); plus stupendous versions of "Raise Your hand", "Hungry Heart", "Growin' Up" and Creedence's classic "Proud Mary". Some moments later another tour debut arrived, with the classic "Backstreets", one of the show's many highlights.

See complete set list.

Record Store Day

Today, April 18th, is the "Record Store Day" in the U.S. Bruce Springsteen has given his support by publishing an exclusive vinyl 7" single that will be available only at those indie shops (see full listing).

The single features "What Love Can Do", plus "A Night With the Jersey Devil" on the flip side. No doubt this will become an instant collector's item. So get out there, support indie stores, and take the singles while they last!

April 15: Los Angeles

The reports from Los Angeles talk about a high energy show. Patti Scialfa was absent last night, though Bruce had a special guest: Tom Morello who came onstage to play on the powerful "The Ghost of Tom Joad".

The nearly-three-hours-long show featured the tour debuts of "Darkness", "Raise Your Hand" and "Spirit in the Night", and one of the highlights was an extra long "Racing in the Street". Bruce sent the happy fans home with the classic "Rosalita".

See complete set list.


Official clips from the Houston show:

From the pit

in Houston, Texas, April 8th 2009:

April 10: Denver

The sixth stop of the tour finally brings some set list shake up. After a rousing "Badlands", Denver got the tour debut of "The ties that bind", later followed by some more premieres: "Tougher than the rest", "The E Street shuffle" and the superb "Racing in the street".

The tour now takes a break until Bruce starts playing in cities with two shows (and a strong and veteran fan base), like Los Angeles (April 15 + 16), Boston (April 21 + 22) or Philadelphia (April 28 + 29).

Still no sign of most of the songs off the new album Working on a Dream.

See complete set list.

Cadillac, Cadillac...

Second show in Texas this week, and Springsteen reminds the crowd again about his early days in the state of Texas ("We didn't know who was going to come and listen to four or five guys from New Jersey").

Houston gets a high-energy show that features two tour premieres (both sign requests): "Cadillac Ranch" and "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City". "Radio Nowhere" is back in the set which, surprisingly, once again features only 4 songs off the new album.

See complete set list

April 7th: Tulsa

A couple of tour premieres for Bruce's debut in Tulsa: "I'm on Fire" and "I'm Goin' Down", both from Born in the USA. "My Lucky Day" is dropped, leaving only 4 songs off the new album in the set. Springsteen hadn't played in Oklahoma since December of 1978.

See complete set list.

Austin, April 5th: Seeds

3-hour set in Austin

In part thanks to the many fan requests, last night's show in Austin was extra long, with 28 songs and lasting almost 3 hours. Again, only 5 songs off the new album were performed, though the show featured 7 tour premieres: "Sherry Darling", "I'm a Rocker", "Youngstown", "Prove it All Night", "She's the One", "Glory Days" and the epic "Jungleland".


See complete set list.

Glendale April 3rd: "Because the Night" & "Downbound Train"

In the official Bruce Springsteen website you can also see a video of the song The Wrestler, recorded live at the Glendale show.

Glendale, AZ April 3rd

The second stop of the 2009 tour, in one of the venues with the weirdest name, featured 4 tour premieres ("Rosalita", "Working on the Highway", "Downbound Train" and "The Rising"), but only 5 songs off the new album.

See complete set list from Glendale.

Springsteen's new tour takes off in San Jose

Bruce Springsteen opened his 2009 world tour with a show in San Jose, California, which included only 6 songs off his new album Working on a Dream, along with classics (from the opening "Badlands", to the set closer: "Born to run") and a few covers and surprises.

The set list was nearly identical to the 2nd Asbury rehearsal from March 24th, with only two additions: "Good Rockin' Tonight" (which was on the handwritten set list) and "Growin' Up" (fan request). "Kingdom of Days" plus the trio formed by "Seeds", "Johnny 99" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (all of them full band electric versions) were amongst the highlights. The overall feeling, though, is that this set lists needs some work, as it is pretty much the same as on the Magic tour with a few new songs added in.

See complete San Jose set list.

Bruce Springsteen's tour kick-off

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will offer today at San Jose's HP Pavillion the first official show of the Working on a Dream tour. After a month of rehearsals in Asbury Park and two public rehearsal shows, the new show will be revealed today.

If you're going GA, please read the new pit procedures for this tour.