Tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | |
Associated album | High Hopes |
---|---|
Start date | January 26, 2014 |
End date | May 18, 2014 |
Legs | 3 |
No. of shows | 34 |
Box office | $65 million |
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert chronology |
The High Hopes Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with special guest guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. [1] The tour was seen as a continuation of his previous tour and was in support of eighteenth studio album, High Hopes , which was released in January 2014.
Longtime E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt missed most of the tour's North American leg due to the filming of his television series, Lilyhammer , while Patti Scialfa appeared on a few North American dates. 182 songs were performed on the High Hopes Tour and Springsteen announced at the tour's conclusion the band would be taking a break for the remainder of the year.
Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, said in a statement that the band's shows in Australia earlier in 2013 were among the best and most satisfying of the 128-date Wrecking Ball Tour. Landau further stated the 2014 tour had been in the works since the previous Australian leg, in large part due to its success and huge response from younger fans. A goal was to expand the number of places the band performed to include Perth and Adelaide, two places Springsteen had never performed, and Auckland, where Springsteen had not performed in over a decade. [2] During the previous Australian tour, Tom Morello stood in for Steven Van Zandt, who was absent due to filming of his television series, Lilyhammer . Springsteen told Rolling Stone that he had written and recorded a substantial amount of new music with the E Street Band and Morello. That material, along with others, would eventually make up the High Hopes album.
Initial tour dates in Australia and New Zealand were announced on August 15, 2013, with additional dates announced over the ensuing months. Subsequently, on October 28, 2013, Springsteen's management announced additional concerts in South Africa. [3] The tour was the first time Springsteen and the E Street Band played in South Africa; [4] their only prior performances in Africa occurred during the Human Rights Now! Tour in 1988, which visited Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast. [5]
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon dedicated the entire show on January 14, 2014, to Springsteen and the new album. Springsteen and Fallon, who were dressed as Springsteen from the Born in the U.S.A. era, performed a parody song titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam" set to the tune of "Born to Run". The parody poked fun at the Fort Lee lane closure scandal. Fallon said he warned Christie about the skit prior to doing it because he knew it could possibly sting a bit. [6] The E Street Band (with Patti Scialfa and minus Van Zandt, who was again filming Lilyhammer ), along with Tom Morello, joined Springsteen throughout the show for performances of three songs from the new album. Fallon also interviewed Springsteen. [7]
Rehearsals for the tour began in the U.S. around January 21, 2014, again without Van Zandt, who joined the band in Cape Town for final rehearsals prior to the tour's opening night. [8] [9] Patti Scialfa, who appeared at the U.S. rehearsals, did not tour with the band for the first two legs (Africa and Oceania) due to family commitments but rejoined the tour when it returned to the United States.
The tour kicked off on January 26, 2014, with the first of three shows in Cape Town, South Africa. Springsteen opened with a cover of "Free Nelson Mandela" by the Special AKA. [4] "We Are Alive" was also dedicated to Mandela later in the set. During the second show in Cape Town, Springsteen dedicated "We Shall Overcome" to Pete Seeger, who died on January 27 at the age of 94. "I lost a great friend and a great hero last night, Pete Seeger", Springsteen said before introducing the song. The third show featured a cover of "Sun City", an anti-apartheid song written by Van Zandt in 1986 and originally recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid. Springsteen had also appeared in the song's music video. Mos Def made a surprise appearance during the song's performance. Over the course of the three Cape Town shows, 57 different songs were performed. Prior to his show in Johannesburg, Springsteen reprised an occasional practice from past tours and took the stage a few hours prior to showtime to perform a brief acoustic set for early-arriving fans. [10] The supporting act for the Johannesburg concert was South African blues guitarist Dan Patlansky.
The Oceanic leg of the tour kicked off in Perth, where Bruce and the band played for the first time ever. The schedule included stops in Adelaide and Hunter Valley, where he also had never played before; and return dates to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The tour concluded with two shows in Auckland, New Zealand, where Springsteen had not performed in over a decade.
During the run of the leg, several songs from the new album were premiered, including "Frankie Fell in Love" and "Hunter of Invisible Game". "The Wish" was also played for the first time ever at an E Street band show (although performed by Springsteen as an acoustic version). During many shows Bruce would incorporate cover songs from local artists. "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC proved very popular and was played on several occasions; the band was joined by Eddie Vedder twice for that song. Other covers by Australian artists included INXS ("Don't Change"), the Easybeats ("Friday on My Mind"), and the Bee Gees ("Stayin' Alive"). The shows in Hunter Valley took place at the Hope Estate, a local winery. Bruce used the opportunity to bring out some unlikely covers, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee and "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon and War. In Auckland, he opened both shows with a cover of the Lorde song "Royals", his most up-to-date cover ever.
Springsteen reprised the practice of performing full albums in the cities he had been to during the last tour. Born in the U.S.A. , Born to Run , Darkness on the Edge of Town and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle were played top to bottom. For the latter one Bruce and the band were joined by the string ensemble Cooper + Koo, who also were on stage during the "Stayin’ Alive" cover.
Other notable shows were the last show in Perth, where Springsteen did not play a single song from The Rising album, something that had not happened since its release in 2002. The show in Brisbane featured eleven songs from the first two albums, something that had never previously happened at a Springsteen show. During the shows in Auckland, Springsteen mentioned Christchurch and the recent happenings several times and dedicated songs on both nights to it.
Jake Clemons was not present at the Sydney show due to the death of his father, Clarence's brother Bill, earlier in the week.
Springsteen and the E Street Band, who would be minus Steven Van Zandt for most of the leg but were re-joined by Patti Scialfa, returned to North America for the first time since December 2012 by kicking off the leg in Dallas, Texas. The show was part of the March Madness Music festival and was free and to open the public, a first in over 40 years for Springsteen. [11] [12] As with the previous legs, Springsteen continued to open with an obscure cover song, this time Van Halen's "Jump", a reference to the NCAA men's basketball tournament's Final Four that was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Prior to the show in Charlotte, North Carolina, Springsteen shot a music video for the song "American Beauty". [13]
During the North American leg, the E Street Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Springsteen (who was inducted in 1999 as a solo artist) on April 10. Springsteen and E Street Band were joined by former members Vini Lopez and David Sancious for a three-song performance.
Prior to the tour, Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special $40 USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single show of the purchaser's choice. The wristband would also function as a reusable USB flash drive. [14] [15] Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly from Springsteen's website as downloads, priced at $9.99 for MP3, and $14.99 for FLAC.
The idea of having wristbands came about through a conversation between Springsteen and Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas. Springsteen stated, "I think we live more in a Grateful Dead touring idea that everything you do is recorded now. And that's okay with me, you know. As a matter of fact, I believe on this tour, we're starting to do something like you can come in, you can buy a [wrist]band, you can get a copy of the night's show. So hopefully we're gonna do that at a really nice quality level." [16] "We started out as being very, very controlling. Now it's just a different playing field and so it's exciting." Springsteen said.
Fans had until June 30, 2014, to purchase downloads through Springsteen's website. They would no longer be for sale following that date. All but one show were restored on November 17, 2014, upon the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Archives.
As with Springsteen's previous tours, tickets were in high demand among fans, selling out very quickly in some areas despite many fans spending large amounts of time online only to come up with bad seats or without tickets. When tickets for Springsteen's first U.S. dates went on sale on February 14, 2014, Ticketmaster again was faced with major problems and delays. Tickets at much higher costs than face value were even available at re-sale sites such as StubHub before going on sale to the general public. Fans vented their frustration through Springsteen message boards and his Facebook page. Problems also occurred outside the United States. In Australia, fans complained of ticket scalping and scalpers re-selling for high prices. Unlike in the United States, which has admitted and tried to correct problems with scalping, the entertainment and ticketing industry of Australia claims not to have a scalper or ticket sale problem despite many complaints from fans, who blame corporate scalpers being able to find ways to get the better tickets prior to the public sale. [17] When Springsteen first announced the Australian dates in September 2013, Frontier Touring's Michael Gudinski said more dates were being added in response to the inflated tickets flooding eBay, viagogo and other sites. Many of the tickets have been originally secured by "bots" which buy up allotments via official sellers including Ticketek and Ticketmaster. Gudinski also warned fans to not buy from these outlets that re-sell tickets because some might not be real tickets. [18]
On April 4, 2014, HBO aired Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes , a 30-minute documentary on the making of the High Hopes album, which featured footage of the band in the studio recording the album along with rehearsals for the tour. [19] In May 2014, Sony Music Netherlands released a 45-minute documentary to YouTube titled High Hopes In South Africa , which documented Springsteen and the E Street Band's first concerts in South Africa. [20]
On May 18, 2014, prior to the tour's final show, Springsteen gave an interview for E Street Radio in which he issued his response on this tour and the previous tour:
"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."
Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Revenue | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Africa [21] | ||||||
January 26, 2014 | Cape Town | South Africa | Bellville Velodrome | 23,973 / 23,973 | $1,848,788 | |
January 28, 2014 | ||||||
January 29, 2014 | ||||||
February 1, 2014 | Johannesburg | FNB Stadium | 55,385 / 55,385 | $3,409,720 | ||
Oceania [22] | ||||||
February 5, 2014 | Perth | Australia | Perth Arena | 41,682 / 41,682 | $6,469,241 | |
February 7, 2014 | ||||||
February 8, 2014 | ||||||
February 11, 2014 | Adelaide | Adelaide Entertainment Center | 18,644 / 18,644 | $3,007,786 | ||
February 12, 2014 | ||||||
February 15, 2014 | Melbourne | AAMI Park | 62,950 / 62,950 | $9,185,208 | ||
February 16, 2014 | ||||||
February 19, 2014 | Sydney | Allphones Arena | 17,736 / 17,736 | $2,693,911 | ||
February 22, 2014 | Hunter Valley | Hope Estate Winery | 34,338 / 34,338 | $5,418,005 | ||
February 23, 2014 | ||||||
February 26, 2014 | Brisbane | Brisbane Entertainment Centre | 12,648 / 12,648 | $1,974,358 | ||
March 1, 2014 | Auckland | New Zealand | Mount Smart Stadium | 73,958 / 73,958 | $10,221,082 | |
March 2, 2014 | ||||||
North America [23] | ||||||
April 6, 2014 [A] | Dallas | United States | Reunion Park | — | — | |
April 8, 2014 | Cincinnati | U.S. Bank Arena | 12,728 / 14,534 | $1,312,323 | ||
April 12, 2014 | Virginia Beach | Farm Bureau Live | 15,157 / 19,501 | $1,148,389 | ||
April 15, 2014 | Columbus | Nationwide Arena | 13,226 / 16,547 | $1,314,957 | ||
April 17, 2014 | Nashville | Bridgestone Arena | 14,684 / 16,550 | $1,229,977 | ||
April 19, 2014 | Charlotte | Time Warner Cable Arena | 12,372 / 13,706 | $1,316,489 | ||
April 22, 2014 | Pittsburgh | Consol Energy Center | 16,372 / 17,514 | $1,750,727 | ||
April 24, 2014 | Raleigh | PNC Arena | 12,243 / 13,456 | $1,348,630 | ||
April 26, 2014 | Atlanta | Aaron's Amphitheatre | 12,193 / 18,658 | $1,073,059 | ||
April 29, 2014 | Sunrise | BB&T Center | 14,327 / 18,859 | $1,434,757 | ||
May 1, 2014 | Tampa | MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre | 14,207 / 19,128 | $1,114,737 | ||
May 3, 2014 [B] | New Orleans | Fair Grounds Race Course | — | — | ||
May 6, 2014 | The Woodlands | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion | 16,158 / 16,158 | $1,215,604 | ||
May 13, 2014 | Albany | Times Union Center | 14,937 / 14,937 | $1,658,178 | ||
May 14, 2014 | Hershey | Hersheypark Stadium | 28,398 / 30,261 | $2,984,798 | ||
May 17, 2014 | Uncasville | Mohegan Sun Arena | 15,716 / 15,716 | $1,798,990 | ||
May 18, 2014 | ||||||
TOTAL | 554,032 / 586,839 (94.6%) | $64,929,714 |
Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
|
The Essential Bruce Springsteen
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Other/non-album tracks' |
|
|
and
with
The E Street Horns:
The E Street Choir:
The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing career, the band included guitarists Steven Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, and Patti Scialfa, keyboardists Danny Federici and Roy Bittan, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg and saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
The Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band Tour, afterward sometimes referred to simply as the Sessions Band Tour, was a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band playing what was billed as "An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues", otherwise seen as a form of big band folk music. The tour was an outgrowth of the approach taken on Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions album, which featured folk music songs written or made popular by activist folk musician Pete Seeger, but taken to an even greater extent.
The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003. It followed the release of their 2002 album The Rising.
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000.
The Bruce Springsteen 1992–1993 World Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and a new backing band, that took place from mid-1992 to mid-1993. It followed the simultaneous release of his albums Human Touch and Lucky Town earlier in 1992. It was his first of four non-E Street Band tours, later followed by the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour (1995–97), the Devils & Dust Tour (2005), and the Seeger Sessions Tour (2006). The tour was not as commercially or critically successful as past tours, due to poor reception of Human Touch and Lucky Town as well as changes from previous tours. According to Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh, die-hard fans have informally referred to the backing band as "the Other Band".
"Cover Me" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. It was the second single released from his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.. Springsteen wrote the song for Donna Summer. However, his manager, Jon Landau, decided the song had hit potential, and so he kept it for the upcoming Springsteen album. It has been certified Gold in the US.
The Tunnel of Love Express Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and featuring the E Street Band with the Horns of Love that began at the end of February 1988, four and a half months after the release of Springsteen's October 1987 album, Tunnel of Love. Considerably shorter in duration than most Springsteen tours before or since, it played limited engagements in most cities which fueled the high demand. The tour finally grossed US$50 million not counting merchandise. Shows were held in arenas in the U.S. and stadiums in Europe. A historic performance in East Berlin took place on July 19, 1988.
The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River.
The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuilding, the singer had bulked up considerably. The tour was the first since the 1974 portions of the Born to Run tours without guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who decided to go solo after recording the album with the group. Van Zandt, who was replaced by Nils Lofgren, would appear a few times throughout the tour and in some of the music videos to promote the album. It was also the first tour to feature Springsteen's future wife, Patti Scialfa.
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–08 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.
"Out in the Street" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen from the 1980 album The River. It was recorded at The Power Station in New York between March and May 1980, as one of the last songs recorded for the album. Originally, Springsteen was going to keep the song off the album because it was so idealistic.
The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009. It followed the late January 2009 release of the album Working on a Dream. This was the first full E Street Band tour without founding member Danny Federici, who died during the previous tour in 2008, and the final tour for founding member Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011.
The Wrecking Ball World Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to promote Springsteen's seventeenth studio album, Wrecking Ball, which was released on March 5, 2012. It was the first tour for the E Street Band without founding member Clarence Clemons, who died on June 18, 2011. The worldwide tour in support of the album, which ended in September 2013, reached 26 countries, the most ever for one of Springsteen's tours. The tour resumed in January 2014 to promote Springsteen's new album, High Hopes, and went under that album's name.
"High Hopes" is a song that was recorded by American musicians Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band during their 1995 Greatest Hits sessions and eventually released on the Blood Brothers (EP) in 1996. The song was written and originally recorded in 1985 by Tim Scott McConnell. on his album High Lonesome Sound. The song was also released on a record with McConnell's band The Havalinas in 1990.
High Hopes is the eighteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on January 14, 2014, by Columbia Records. It went to the top of the charts in eleven countries, and was Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 album in the United States, a record surpassed only by the Beatles and Jay-Z. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK putting him on par with the Rolling Stones and U2. Rolling Stone named it the second-best album of 2014.
American Beauty is a four-song EP by Bruce Springsteen that was released on limited edition 12-inch vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day on April 19, 2014. A digital download version was also released on April 22, 2014. The four songs that appeared on the EP are outtakes from Springsteen's 2014 album High Hopes. Springsteen said of the four songs, "they're just good music that didn't get onto this record, and was sitting there. I thought it's a nice time to support the record stores, which are dwindling and get some new music out at the same time."
Apollo Theater 03/09/12 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, released in November 2014 and was the first official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The concert is available on CD and digital download at http://live.brucespringsteen.net.
The River Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in support of Springsteen's 2015 The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set and in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Springsteen's 1980 album, The River. The River Tour ended in September 2016. Subsequently, the Summer '17 tour in Australia and New Zealand continued the tour using the same promotional image from the original legs.
Springsteen on Broadway is a concert residency by Bruce Springsteen held at the Walter Kerr Theatre and St. James Theatre in New York City. The original residency at the Walter Kerr Theatre consisted of Springsteen performing five shows a week, Tuesday through Saturday. Preview performances began on October 3, 2017, followed by the official opening on October 12, 2017. The run was originally expected to conclude on November 26, 2017; however, due to high demand for tickets and issues with scalpers, additional dates were added through June 30, 2018. The show was extended a second time on March 20, 2018, extending the run through December 15, 2018. On June 7, 2021, Springsteen announced a limited 31-show run of Springsteen on Broadway at the St. James Theatre beginning on June 26, 2021, with additional performances through September 4, 2021.
The Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour is an ongoing concert tour by American singer Bruce Springsteen and his backing band the E Street Band. The tour began on February 1, 2023, in Tampa, Florida; it marks the first time since 2017 that Springsteen and the E Street Band have toured together. The tour is currently scheduled to conclude on July 3, 2025, in Milan. Due to band member illnesses and Springsteen suffering his own health issues, twenty-four dates of the tour were postponed and were rescheduled for 2024. Four dates in May and June 2024 were also postponed due to vocal issues suffered by Springsteen.