You can make a case for that this year’s Wrecking Ball World Tour is the best in the long and illustrious history of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Boss and his crew have been dusting off gems from every era, crushing the new material and have welcomed a slew of guests since embarking on the lengthy run in March. That trend continued last night at the band’s first of two Chicago performances when Springsteen delivered a ridiculous setlist strewn with rarities and appearances from Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder at Wrigley Field.

[Photo via @backstreetsmag]

The lengthy set began with Prove It All Night, complete with the ’78 intro that fans had been pining for since 1978 and recently returned. Morello, who has guested with the E Street Band at various points throughout this tour, emerged for the Wrecking Ball tracks Death To My Hometown and Jack of All Trades. You can only imagine how crazy the audience went when The Boss welcomed Evanston native Vedder out for a powerful take on Atlantic City. Take a look…

Later in the main set, Morello returned for his signature sit-in song – The Ghost of Tom Joad – as well as the Land of Hope and Dreams that ended the stanza. The encore saw the tour’s third version of Jungleland followed by Vedder coming back for Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out and a Twist and Shout closer that also featured Morello. Fans were treated to 28 songs and three and a half hours worth of music by the time the band left the stage – not too shabby for a 63-year-old.

Set: Prove It All Night (’78 Version), My Love Will Not Let You Down, Out in the Street, Hungry Heart, We Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball, Death to My Hometown (w/ Tom Morello), My City of Ruins, Spirit in the Night, Trapped (Jimmy Cliff cover), Jack of All Trades (w/ Morello), Atlantic City (w/ Eddie Vedder), Lonesome Day, I’m Goin’ Down, Darlington County, Shackled and Drawn, Waitin’ on a Sunny Day, None But The Brave, The Ghost of Tom Joad (w/ Morello), Badlands (w/ Morello), Land of Hope and Dreams (w/Morello)

Encore: We Are Alive, Thunder Road, Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, Jungleland, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (w/ Vedder and Morello), Twist and Shout (w/ Vedder and Morello)

[via Consequence of Sound]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band return to Wrigley Field tonight.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off the second North American leg of their Wrecking Ball World Tour with three shows in the Boston Area this week culminating at Gillette Stadium last night. The Boss has kept the tour’s trend of marathon performances with rarities galore going into Beantown. The leg’s opening show at Fenway saw the band cover John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom and The Standells’ Dirty Water, both tour debuts, while the second Fenway performance brought tour debuts of Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd and Gary U.S. Bond’s Quarter To Three.

[Photo via @theladygoodman]

Last night in Foxboro, Springsteen bid adieu to New England with a 28-song, 3:15 scorcher that included two more tour debuts. Bruce recorded Open All Night for his Nebraska album in 1982 and rarely played it afterwards until 2006′s Seeger Sessions Tour when he re-imagined the tune into a folk-rocker. In response to a sign from a crowd member, Springsteen and the E Street Band offered their first-ever electric version of Open All Night which resembled the Seeger Sessions arrangement. And believe it or not that wasn’t the most rare song of the night. During the encore The Boss and his band covered Dobie Gray’s timeless one-hit-wonder Drift Away – a song Springsteen and the E Street Band had only performed twice previously with both prior versions coming in 1984. Take a look…

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Drift Away

The Foxboro crowd was also treated to the first U.S. version of Jungleland since the Big Man passed.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Jungleland

Next, the tour crosses into Canada for a show at Rogers Centre on Friday.

When many big name American artists head over overseas for a European leg of a huge tour, they often spend a few weeks traipsing around the continent before moving on. Never content to do things the normal way, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band spent nearly 12 weeks hitting almost every major European city between a May 13th performance in Seville, Spain and tonight’s tour closer in Helsinki, Finland. The tour has been winning rave reviews from hardcores as The Boss has been dusting off multiple tour debuts at most stops including eight tonight as part of a massive 38-song performance that will go down as the longest Springsteen show of all-time.

[Photo by Jo Lopez for BruceSpringsteen.Net]

In a treat for those who entered Helsinki Olympic Stadium early this evening, Springsteen busted out his acoustic guitar and delivered a five-song unplugged set two hours before he usually goes on. The mini-set included tour debuts of I’ll Work For Your Love off 2007′s Magic, Leap of Faith off 1992′s Lucky Town and Blinded By The Light – the first song off Springsteen’s first album (Greetings From Asbury Park) which Manfred Mann’s Earth Band turned into a hit in 1976.

When the full band hit the stage a few hours later they did so with the tour debut of Rockin’ All Over The World by John Fogerty. While this was the E Street Band’s first take on the tune this tour, Springsteen had performed it with Fogerty last month at the Hard Rock Calling festival. Tonight’s main set included another Prove It All Night with the 1978 intro, Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? played by request and the tour debut of fan-favorite Back In Your Arms from the Tracks box set. There were still more surprises in store during the ten-song encore (!!!) as The Boss and his band tackled their pairing of Devil With The Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly / CC Rider and Jenny, Jenny best known as “The Detroit Medley.” Bruce and the band also unveiled tour debuts of Steven Van Zandt’s 1976 gem I Don’t Wanna Go Home and Jackie Wilson’s Higher And Higher.

Acoustic Set: I’LL WORK FOR YOUR LOVE, LEAP OF FAITH, No Surrender, For You, BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

Electric Set: ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD, Night, Out In The Street, Loose Ends, We Take Care of Our Own, Prove It All Night (78 Intro), Wrecking Ball, Death To My Hometown, My City of Ruins, Does This Bus Stop @ 82nd Street? (request), Be True, Jack of All Trades, Downbound Train, Because The Night, Lonesome Day, Darlington County, Light Of Day (request), Shackled & Drawn, Waitin’ On a Sunny Day, BACK IN YOUR ARMS, The Rising, Badlands, Land of Hope & Dreams

Encore: We Are Alive,  Born In The USA, Born To Run, DETROIT MEDLEY, Glory Days, Dancing In The Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, I DON’T WANNA GO HOME (request), HIGHER & HIGHER, Twist & Shout

[via Backstreets Forum]

By the time the night was over, Springsteen had delivered a total of 38 songs tying his own record for most songs performed at one show and finally bested the four hour mark. Since The Detroit Medley was perhaps the last remaining repertoire staple on the shelf, it’ll be interesting to see what The Boss pulls out of his bag of tricks for the next U.S. leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour which starts on August 14th in Boston.

When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band embark on a tour it usually lasts over a year, so it’s no big shock that The Boss has just added a six-week jaunt through North America to his Wrecking Ball World tour. Following previously announced dates that extend until September, the legends of rock return to the road on October 19th at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa and continue through early December. Along the way he hits arenas across the continent.

Here’s a list of remaining tour dates for The Wrecking Ball Tour…

07/27 – Gothenburg, SE @ Ullevi
07/28 – Gothenburg, SE @ Ullevi
07/31 – Helsinki, FI @ Olympic Stadium
08/14 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
08/15 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
08/18 – Boston, MA @ Gillette Stadium
08/24 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
08/26 – Mocton, NB @ Magnetic Hill
08/29 – Veron, NY @ Vernon Downs Raceway
09/02 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Parks
09/03 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Parks
09/07 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
09/08 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
09/14 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park
09/19 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
09/21 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
09/22 – E. Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
10/19 – Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
10/21 – Hamilton, ON @ Copps Coliseum
10/23 – Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
10/25 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
10/27 – Pittsburgh, PA @ CONSOL Energy Center
11/01 – State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
11/03 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
11/11 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
11/15 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Arena
11/17 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
11/19 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
11/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
11/28 – Portland, OR @ The Rose Garden
11/30 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
12/04 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
12/06 – Glendale, AZ @ Jobing.com Arena

[via Consequence of Sound]

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of two terrorist attacks in Norway which killed a total of 77 innocent civilians. To mark the occasion musicians, authors, officials and others came together for a memorial concert in Oslo that was broadcast nationwide. According to a Backstreets report, over 50,000 attendees were on hand despite the rainy weather. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band had an off-day on Sunday following a concert at Oslo’s Valle Hovin on Saturday evening, leading to speculation that the Boss would participate in the ceremony.

The rumors turned out to be true as Springsteen and E Street Band guitarist “Little” Steven Van Zandt emerged towards the end of the program to perform We Shall Overcome. The Boss introduced the protest song by saying, “Steve and I are honored to be included here tonight, and for all of us who love democracy and tolerance, it was an international tragedy. I want to send this out as prayer for a peaceful future for Norway, and dedicate it to the families who have lost their loved ones.”

Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven – We Shall Overcome

Speaking of Springsteen, the New Yorker just published a must-read profile of the legendary singer-songwriter penned by David Remick.

[via Backstreets.com]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage tonight for the first time since English officials pulled the plug on the end of a Twist and Shout they were playing with Paul McCartney at London’s Hard Rock Calling festival this past Sunday. Always a jokester, The Boss and guitarist Steven Van Zandt wheeled out a generator at the start of this evening’s show at RDS Arena in Dublin and picked up Twist And Shout from the point where the sound was cut off on Sunday, telling the crowd “before we were rudely interrupted.” Then, the group gave the curfew enforcers the proverbial middle finger by covering I Fought The Law.

[Photo by @Joclogg]

Irish fans were also treated to tour debuts of My Hometown, which was dedicated to Bono, and I’m A Rocker, which was played in response to a fan’s sign. Towards the end of the show, the band was in the middle of reprising Twist And Shout when a man dressed as a cop came on stage and pretended to end the show. The fake cop then pulled the plug during the American Land that closed the show only to have Van Zandt plug them back in. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band return to the RDS Arena in Dublin tomorrow.

Watch Bruce fight “the cop” during American Land…

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have defied curfews for the length of their current Wrecking Ball Tour (and for their whole career for that matter) without any repercussions noticeable to fans. That streak came to an end at a most inopportune time last night at London’s Hyde Park where The Boss and his band were headlining this year’s Hard Rock Calling festival. Springsteen welcomed one of his idols, Paul McCartney, out to end the 29-song set, that already included sit-ins from Tom Morello and John Fogerty, for the Beatles classic I Saw Her Standing There and The Isley Brothers’ Twist and Shout. Just as Twist and Shout was about to reach a crescendo, the sound suddenly cut out when festival organizers decided not to risk huge fines by defying the park’s sound curfew.

[Photo via Backstreets.com]

E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt took to his Twitter account to rant about the curfew cutoff, asking “when did England become a Police State?” He went on to say, “The cops got nothing more important to do? How about they go catch some criminals instead of fucking with 80,000 people having a good time?” Springsteen and McCartney shared vocals on I Saw Her Standing There, while Bruce handled most of the vocals for Twist and Shout (which John sang with The Beatles).

I'm sorry but I have to be honest I'm pissed. Like I said, it didn't ruin the great night. But when I'm jamming with McCartney don't bug me!

Saturday, July 14, 2012 10:21 pm via UberSocial for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@StevieVanZandt

Steven Van Zandt

Earlier in the evening, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello augmented Springsteen and his band on Death To My Hometown, Jack of All Trades, The Ghost of Tom Joad, The Rising and Land of Hopes and Dreams while John Fogerty sat in on The Promised Land. McCartney and Springsteen last collaborated at February’s Grammy Awards ceremony when they were joined by Joe Walsh and Dave Grohl for a romp through the Abbey Road medley.

Here’s video of the Springsteen/McCartney summit including the plug-pulling…

Back in March when Late Night with Jimmy Fallon dedicated a week’s worth of shows to Bruce Springsteen, the final performance featured The Boss, The E Street Band, The Roots and Tom Morello absolutely crushing the E Street Shuffle. On Saturday night in Denmark, as part of Springsteen’s headlining set at Roskilde, Bruce brought out The Roots for another take on the 1973 classic.

The Roots also helped out on the Twist and Shout that brought Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s set to a close later that night. Unfortunately Roots drummer Questlove couldn’t make it to The Boss’s performance, but the rest of The Roots were on hand.

Thanks to Springsteen’s team for sharing this fantastic video of E Street Shuffle from Roskilde…

It’s only fitting that an artist as quintessentially American as Bruce Springsteen has not one but two songs about the Fourth of July. Not only did The Boss pen 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) in 1973 for The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, he also wrote the more tender Independence Day for The River in 1980. Springsteen performed both on Wednesday night in Paris for the first time all tour. In fact, the New Jersey native unveiled a solo piano version for the tour debut of Independence Day. Check it out…

Bruce Springsteen – Independence Day

We continue to be amazed by what 62-year-old rock immortal Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have accomplished on their Wrecking Ball World Tour, which has entered its fifth month. A group that has delivered tons of marathon concerts over the past 40 years broke their own record for longest show by dropping a 32-song, three hour and 48 minute performance at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain on Sunday night. The previous mark of three hours and 43 minutes was established on December 31, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum and was almost eclipsed back on June 7th, when The Boss and his mates treated a crowd in Milan to a three hour and 38 minute show. Clearly the band had a mission to set a new record and accomplished their goal on Sunday.

But Sunday’s show wasn’t just about quantity – quality was there also. Springsteen welcomed longtime friend Southside Johnny for Talk To Me, a song Bruce wrote and Johnny recorded in 1978, as well as the show’s finale – a cover of Twist & Shout. Another memorable moment took place just after Southside Johnny’s first sit-in, when Springsteen went into the crowd and returned with a sign that said “Spanish Eyes.” Previously unplayed until this night, Spanish Eyes was a song Springsteen recorded for the Darkness On The Edge of Town sessions that never saw the light of day until The Promise box set was released in 2010. Here’s a clip of Bruce debuting the tune…

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Spanish Eyes

The show ended at 1:24AM local time. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band return to the stage tonight at Park & Suites Arena in Montpellier, France. Do we hear four hours???

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have used nearly every trick in the book to impress their fans over the past few months as the Wrecking Ball Tour has traversed North America and Europe. Whether it’s busting out material they haven’t played in decades, drinking beers with the people, dusting off old versions of common tunes, welcoming guests or paying tribute to Levon Helm by debuting The Weight, there’s no doubt this tour has been among the group’s best.

Last night in Berlin Springsteen and his long-time band completed a run through Germany that saw the ensemble play before tens of thousands in Frankfurt, Cologne and Berlin. As a treat for the German fans, The Boss kicked off his show at Olympic Stadium with a debut cover of British folk musician Wizz Jones’ 1973 classic When I Leave Berlin. A professionally-shot video of the tune was posted this morning on BruceSpringsteen.com…

Bruce Springsteen – When I Leave Berlin

Last night Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed out the Pink Pop Festival in Laandgraf, Netherlands with a bang as the group offered the tour premiere of I’m On Fire and welcomed guests Garland Jeffreys and Mumford and Sons. The members of Mumford and Sons emerged towards the end of the show to help out on vocals for the 1980 classic Hungry Heart.

Here’s the best video we could find…

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band w/ Mumford & Sons – Hungry Heart

And check out a clip of Garland Jeffreys leading the band through a cover of 96 Tears…

READ ON

New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen was a ’70s rocker who embraced the video revolution in the ’80s, becoming a(n even bigger) megastar on the back of MTV heavy rotation clips for Dancing In The Dark, Born In The U.S.A. and Glory Days. The Boss is still making videos and today released a new one for the Wrecking Ball track Rocky Ground.

Springsteen’s first foray into hip-hop, Rocky Ground actually features a 16-bar rap delivered by gospel singer Michelle Moore and thrives from electronic drums and loops. Lyrically, the song is about staying strong while everything around you turns to shit. Check it out…

Bruce Springsteen – Rocky Ground

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Wrecking Ball World Tour may have left the states, but the group has continued their M.O. of dusting off long lost material as the European leg gets underway. Last night at the Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona, Spain, The Boss shocked his fans by playing the oft-requested extended intro version of his 1978 single Prove It All Night for the first time since 1980.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Prove It All Night (1978 Version)

Prove It All Night may be a staple for the band, but until last night every take over the past 32 years has stayed true to album version when upon its debut PIAN was an in-concert epic that featured a ferocious guitar solo before the song kicked in. While last night’s solo doesn’t quite compare to some of the PIAN solos from the band’s fabled Darkness Tour in 1978, it’s certainly a fantastic start to what many fans are hoping will be a bright future for the tune as the tour continues.

Yesterday’s performance also saw the tour debuts of You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) and Hungry Heart as well as the second version on this tour of two of The Boss’s biggest hits – The River and Born In The U.S.A. All in all, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band continue to dig deep in creating the setlists for each show this tour. The band returns to Estadi Olímpic again tonight.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band just added another gig to their Wrecking Ball Tour and it will take place at Boston’s iconic Fenway Park on August 14. The performance will come just a few days before The Boss takes the stage at the city’s football stadium, Gillette Stadium, on August 18.

The group last played at Fenway in 2003. Tickets go on sale May 19 at 10AM ET.