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Bruce Springsteen never stops. On tour or not, he’s always working on something.

Today Patti Scialfa has published a new video on her Instagram account where we see Bruce directing a string quartet. When? Is this for a new album? Is it a collaboration for another artist? For a soundtrack? The question remains open, and the only clues are Patti’s text under the video:

Mariachi real de Mexico @ThrillHill Rehearsal/Recording for The Lost Charro

What we know: Mariachi Real de México is a New York City mariachi group who’ve worked with many artists (Springsteen appears in the list of artists in their site) and this recording was done at Springsteen’s Thrill Hill studios (and being a NYC group we assume it was at Thrill Hill’s NJ studios). What was this recording for? No answers yet. Time will tell.

Even more interesting was Bruce’s interview for E Street Radio last Sunday before the last show in Uncasville. Though it only lasted 15 minutes, Bruce talked about a variety of things, including future plans, archival releases and the inner mechanics of the current E Street Band:

• The end of the tour and the future: This is the last show of the Wrecking Ball/High Hopes tour. Something different will be happening next, I’m not sure exactly what.
• Official videos on his website: I’m very proud of them, and we’re going to continue posting once the tour is over. I’m going to continue to go through the catalog and post things…
• Official downloads: It’s just a way of getting great things out to the audience. These are things that would get lost and put aside until we put them on a box in 10 years and then we’d seek them out, so it’s just very immediate and it gives you full sense of the band visually and sonically and some of the things were just so good I don’t want see them sitting around. I’d rather give them away and let people have them, let people experience them.
• The archive: Our next step will be to go back in history and dig out classic shows, get them remixed and be able to make those available to our fans. We’ve got a lot of projects of all different kinds comin’ up. We have a beautiful video of ‘Hunter of Invisible Game’ that I’m currently working on that hopefully we’ll have very soon; I think Thom Zimny’s outdone himself on it. So it’s all coming to… a lovely break; I won’t say ‘close’.
• The fans: I just wanted to get a chance to thank all of the fans who came to all of the shows. We’ve had incredible audiences in Europe, South America, Africa, down under in Australia and here in the United States. Our reach has been greater than it’s ever been before, the audiences have never been greater, and we’re looking forward to nothing but more in the future.
• The E Street Band: This is the greatest E Street Band of its kind that we’ve ever staged, and the greatest show that we’ve ever put on, because it’s so unbelievably fluid and flexible. And then a lot of things that could’ve really hurt other groups — the loss of Clarence, the loss of Danny, Steve comin’ and goin’ — we managed to find ways to be creative with those things that could’ve diminished other bands. Somebody up there likes me and sent me Jake Clemons… Tom Morello… Everett [Bradley]…Charlie [Giordano]… We take big chances at night on things that could fall flat, but I have a lot of confidence in the band and its musicians. I figure we’ll pull it off somehow
• The mechanics of the ‘expanded’ E Street Band: What you’re looking at is really three separate units. There’s the core E Street Band; that’s the rhythm section, the guitar players and keyboards. There’s the horn section; that’s a separate entity run by Curt Ramm. And there’s the singers; that’s a separate entity run by Curtis King. Those men have got to get those entities to act like one thing, so that when I turn around I’m not lookin’ at 17 people; I’m kinda lookin’ at four or five people who are able to respond to me like a very tight, small unit because those units themselves are so very, very tight. That then allows me to pull signs out of the crowd and do just about anything that comes into my mind within reason, and know that those units are tight enough to where five guys are gonna figure out a horn arrangement, three vocalists are gonna figure out a vocal arrangement… And so it’s left us very, very free, with a very deep and broad palette of sound to get things done.

«We want to take a moment and thank yourselves for coming out and seeing us, I appreciate the support after all of these years. And I want to thank all the four million-plus people that have seen us on the Wrecking Ball/High Hopes tour. They made this simply one of the greatest musical stretches of our lives».

With these words Bruce said goodbye to his fans after 26 months on tour, first for the Wrecking Ball album and this year for High Hopes. His words gave way to an emotional version of «Dream Baby Dream» to end a tour full of surprises, trips, memories, songs and emotions of all kinds for many of us.

Bruce saved his last bits of energy for the two farewell shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Both shows featured impressive set lists with lots of amazing songs and performances, some of them unique. It’d be almost impossible to say which show was best.

Saturday’s show opened with a totally unexpected «Racing in the Street (’78)», the rock version of the song as released on The Promise, followed by intense versions of «Clampdown» and «Badlands» and a trio of songs that featured the compadre Steve Van Zandt (back from Norway where he was filming the 3rd season of the Lilyhammer series): «The Ties That Bind», a joyous «Two Hearts» and «Frankie Fell in Love». The show was unpredictable, and after the regular «High Hopes» came «Raise Your Hand», the first version of «Quarter to Three» since August 2012, then the great arrangement of the Bee Gee’s «Stayin’ Alive», then a couple of the songs Bruce gave to Southside Johnny in the 70’s («Hearts of Stone» and «Talk to Me»), and then «The Price You Pay», one of the treasures of his songbook and unfortunately very rare to see in concert (it’s the 4th time he’s played it live… since 1981!).

The encores featured 4 solo acoustic songs, including a great «Growin’ Up» (with a long story preceding it), «I’ll Work For Your Love» and «If I Should Fall Behind».

Round two on Sunday was no less impressive, with 7 tour premieres including the world live debut of the Human Touch outtake (released on Tracks) «Seven Angels». And it was good, as Bruce himself confessed «That was pretty good. That one should be played!». Earlier, the show kicked off with a couple of 1992 songs: «Roll of The Dice» and «Leap of Faith». Bruce was in great mood, moving around, dancing, playing tambourine and singing, and even drinking champagne and spraying the audience.

From then on it was a non-stop flow of rock’n’roll, with Van Halen’s «Jump» following, then a beautiful and extended «Frankie» (the only ballad in the show), «Seven Angels», «Don’t Look Back», «You Can Look», «Adam Raised a Cain»…

The pace did not slow at any time, and the guitar players all had their moment: Lofgren shining on «Youngstown», Morello on «The Ghost of Tom Joad», Steven on «Murder Incorporated» and Bruce himself on the fiery «Adam Raised a Cain». Steven’s presence sure allowed for the high number of songs from the River-era («You Can Look» , «Cadillac Ranch», «I’m a Rocker» , «Ramrod» and the great «Loose Ends») plus a trio of songs off Darkness («Adam Raised a Cain», «Darkness» and «Badlands» ).

After a jubilant set of classic encores (including the tribute to Clarence and Danny during «Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out») the moment arrived to get emotional, and Bruce delivered an impressive version of «Jungleland», with a great sax solo from Jake, who nailed it. Then Bruce called the band down front and sent them off with the words «The legendary E Street Band!».

Springsteen, alone on stage, thanked the audience and performed a powerful «Dream Baby Dream» on the pump organ. He said «We’ll be seeing you!» and off he went.

In a live interview with E Street Radio’s Dave Marsh before Saturday’s show, Bruce mentioned this was the end of the tour. He also commented on the possibility of a bootleg series and confirmed they’re in the process of remastering classic shows, for future release. He said he had some ideas for the future, though nothing was revealed («We’ll see» were his words). Here’s hoping the bootleg series start soon and we also get this year the long-awaited River box set.

Photo: Mitch Slater

See complete Night #1 setlist and more videos

See complete Night #2 setlist and more videos