Over the past few years, everyone from Kiss and the Eagles to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Aerosmith, the B-52’s, Foreigner, Dead and Company, and Lynyrd Skynyrd have launched farewell tours. But when Bruce Springsteen played Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park on Friday night, he made it very clear the E Street Band would never be one of them.
“We’ve been around 50 fuckin’ years,” he told the capacity crowd. “And we ain’t quitting. We ain’t doing no farewell tour bullshit! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band. Hell no. Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name? [Cries of “Brooooce” filled the stadium.] Yeah, I’m gonna quit that! That’s all it takes. I ain’t going anywhere.”
The E Street Band was originally supposed to play the ballpark last August, but Springsteen’s peptic ulcer forced them to delay for a full year. They made up for lost time Wednesday and Friday night by digging deep and rewarding the patient fans with three-hour sets packed with surprises. Here are eight of the many highlights:
“Streets of Philadelphia”
Springsteen picked up an Academy Award for this song from the 1993 Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia, and it was a Top Ten hit all across the planet, but he struggled to find a way to make it work live once the E Street Band reformed, and largely dropped it from their repertoire after the 1999 reunion tour. It’s only appeared nine times since the turn of the millennium, and seven of those have been in Philadelphia. (The others were a 2009 tribute to Tom Hanks in New York, and a 2012 gig in Louisville, Kentucky.) On the first night at Citizens Bank Park, he pulled it out for the first time anywhere since 2016. Max Weinberg did an excellent job recreating the drum loop from the original recording, just as he did at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.
“Long Walk Home”
The shows happened to coincide with the Democratic National Convention, and Springsteen introduced “Long Walk Home” both nights as a “prayer for our country.” The song was written at the end of the George W. Bush era in 2007 when hope for our future was mixed with a sense of dread that we might continue down a dark path. He didn’t have to explain why it made sense to revive it now. We missed the extended vocal coda that Steve Van Zandt cooked up for the song in 2008, but it was still very powerful.
“Youngstown”
The E Street Band kicked off their abbreviated North American summer tour earlier this month in Pittsburgh, which is just an hour outside the Northeastern, Ohio town of Youngstown. It inspired Springsteen to dig out “Youngstown” from 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad. Even though it’s a six-hour schlep down I-76 E from Youngstown to Philadelphia, they played it again the first night at Citizen Bank Park. Nils Lofgren revived the soaring guitar solo he crafted for the song on the 1999/00 reunion tour.
“My Love Will Not Let You Down”
The Born In The U.S.A. outtake “My Love Will Not Let You Down” was a favorite on the reunion tour, but in recent years you’ve had to travel over to Europe to hear it live. He brought it back stateside for the first time since 2016 as the third song of the Friday show in Philly. (Fun fact: At the climax of 2015’s Ricki and the Flash, Jonathan Demme’s final movie, Meryl Streep sings the song with the drummer Joe Vitale and bassist Rick Rosas, who both played with Buffalo Springfield on their 2011 reunion tour.)
“Two Hearts”
We’re calling this out since Springsteen and Van Zandt got a little lost midway through this River song and messed up the lyrics, grinning widely the whole time. It was tremendous fun. “We fucked it up!” Van Zandt Tweeted shortly after the show. “You witnessed a very rare E Street train wreck. No idea how it happened. Very unusual. Very weird. But fun!”
“Growin’ Up”
Springsteen dedicated “The E Street Shuffle” on night two to “those who remember the Main Point,” referring to the tiny Philly coffee house the band regularly played in their earliest days. He followed it up by going even further back in their catalog to “Growin’ Up.” Midway through, he paused the song to reflect on the ulcer that forced him off the road last year. “There I was, on the Jersey Shore,” Springsteen said. “My belly was fuckin’ killing me! It hurt when I breathed. Anything I did. If I got up out of a chair, my belly hurt. If I tried to sing, my belly hurt. If I went to play the guttier, my belly hurt. If I want to kiss my baby, my belly hurt. All in all I just laid there there thinking, ‘Fuck, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.’”
“Atlantic City”/”Reason To Believe”
After leading the stadium (and two little girls in front) on a singalong rendition of “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,” the set took a bleaker tone when Springsteen played two consecutive songs from Nebraska. Oddly enough, a movie about the creation of Nebraska has been announced with The Bear‘s Jeremy Alan White playing Springsteen, and Succession‘s Jeremy Strong playing Jon Landau. That means we might see a scene where a Hollywood version of the E Street Band attempts these two songs in the studio before movie-Springsteen decides it simply isn’t working, and opts to release his homemade demo tape instead. It’s been clear for a quite a while, however, that these two songs in particular work well with a band. (“State Trooper,” “Used Cars” and “My Father’s House” are a different story.)
“I’m on Fire”
The Born In The U.S.A. hit single remains in heavy rotation on classic rock radio, but it only makes select appearances onstage. It wasn’t on the printed setlist Friday night in Philadelphia, but Springsteen called an audible by throwing it in between “Because The Night” and “She’s the One.” It was a great way to throw some unpredictability into the second half of the set, which is pretty locked in most nights. (We’re expecting even more surprises when Springsteen headlines Sea.Hear.Now in his adopted hometown of Asbury Park next month.)