springsteen ghost of tom joad tour

Ghost Of Tom Joad Tour

• Edit source
• View history

The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad .

The tour represented Springsteen's first full-length, solo tour; he traveled with only an instrument technician and a sound engineer. As such it was a marked departure from the high-energy shows with the E Street Band that Springsteen had become famous for. The album itself was quiet, dark and angry, and Springsteen presented it as such in the shows on the tour. Older songs from Springsteen's catalog, such as "Born in the U.S.A.", were presented in very different, often harsh re-arrangements.

The result, especially in the tour's first leg of shows, was an uncompromising portrayal of pessimism; Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that with the tour's performances, Springsteen "has taken his music to an extreme, a depressive's view of tedious, unending woe." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "In contrast to past tours, which have been celebratory events tinged by introspection, Springsteen brought a sobering sense of solitude" to the shows of this tour. By some of the later shows of the tour, however, Springsteen relaxed the mood a bit by interweaving a few new songs with an almost comedic bent.

The tour began on November 21, 1995, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North American cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio due to "Youngstown" being the album track most (relatively) played on radio.

February and March saw shows in Western Europe, followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through early May.

A family man with three small children at the time, Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started again in the U.S. in mid-September, playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, and finishing in mid-December.

Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show to Japan and Australia for three weeks. In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm to accept the Polar Music Prize, then he toured Central Europe, seeing Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world.

Broadcasts and Recordings [ ]

Portions of the December 8 and December 9, 1995, shows from Philadelphia's Tower Theater were later broadcast on the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour on U.S. album-oriented rock stations.

Several shows were released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives:

• Kings Hall, Belfast March 19, 1996 , released September 1, 2017
• Freehold, NJ 1996 Saint Rose of Lima School Gym , released May 4, 2018
• Asbury Park 11/24/96 , released November 1, 2019
• Nice France 1997 , released February 5, 2021
• ‘’Philadelphia 12/9/95’’ released February 4, 2022
• "Asbury Park, 11/26/96" released November 4, 2022
• 1 Born In The U.S.A. Tour
• 2 The E Street Horns
• 3 Cindy Mizelle

• McCartney's Fave Beatles Song
• Springsteen Albums Ranked
• The Women of Mick Jagger
• Triumph Won't Make Rock Hall
• Frehley : Too Nervous to Stand
• Skid Row Parts Ways With Singer

When Bruce Springsteen Launched His First Solo Tour

Bruce Springsteen embarked on his first-ever solo tour in support of The Ghost of Tom Joad , having spent more than 20 years fronting bands. The initial concert took place on Nov. 22, the day after the album's release, on familiar ground – the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, N.J.

Five years earlier, he had performed a solo concert for the first time since 1972 when he played two benefits for the Christic Institute, but Springsteen had never undertaken a full-scale tour without a band. (He didn't tour behind 1982's Nebraska .) And even though Springsteen had been playing at least arena-sized venues regularly for nearly two decades, he went for the intimacy of theaters that held between two and five thousand people.

The Ghost of Tom Joad , a threadbare collection of acoustic songs that mainly deal with migrant workers and other marginalized people in the Southwest, had been released the day before. Fittingly, he opened, as he did for nearly every date on the tour, with the title track. On a handful of other nights, his first song of the evening was “The Ballad of Tom Joad,” Woody Guthrie ’s retelling of John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath .

After the first song, he would usually address the crowd by asking for as much silence as possible while he was playing. What could have come across as a condescending move was quickly undercut by Springsteen’s self-aware humor, saying something like, “Don’t make me come down there and smack you around. It’ll ruin my nice-guy image.”

Watch Bruce Springsteen Perform 'Pilgrim in the Temple of Love'

From there, it was a large percentage — and, on some nights, all — of the new album with some cuts from his catalog that worked off of similar themes. So chestnuts like “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Born in the U.S.A.” were re-cast for acoustic guitar and stood by side-by-side with “Straight Time,” “Sinaloa Cowboys” and “The Line.” Kevin Buell, Springsteen’s guitar tech, played keyboards offstage for some songs.

The result was the most serious tour Springsteen had launched to date. The setlist left little room for that mixture of light and dark that typified a Springsteen concert. The only levity came in the form of his stage banter and one or two songs. Early in the tour, he would break out “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street” from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. toward the end of the set. But in early 1996, perhaps sensing the tour needed some humor, he added an unreleased satire of late-night infomercials, “Sell It and They Will Come,” to the first half of the set.

By the time he reached England in April 1996, he replaced that with “Pilgrim in the Temple of Love” (a story about running into Santa Claus in a strip club) and “Red Headed Woman” (which described the joys of having one’s “tires rotated” by a ginger – and, more graphically, vice versa) to the first half of the set. Later on, another silly tune, “There Will Never Be Any Other for Me But You,” replaced “Pilgrim” but served a similar purpose.

Brucebase lists 77 songs performed during the tour, which ran — with only about six months off — until late-May 1997 and included stops in Japan and Australia. Two years later, Springsteen’s next tour would see him reunited the E Street Band. He wouldn’t tour solo again until 2005, in support of Devils & Dust , which contained several songs that were originally written for The Ghost of Tom Joad .

See Bruce Springsteen and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the '70s

More from ultimate classic rock.

• facebook-rs

Bruce Springsteen Finds “A Sense of Place”

By Fred Shruers

Fred Shruers

S UNRISE, FLA.: “Don’t make me come out there and slaaaap that tan off ya.” Bruce Springsteen ‘s warnings to potentially restless crowds tend to have a local flavor. In September 1995, he began his tour in support of The Ghost of Tom Joad by telling a Los Angeles crowd to turn off their cellular phones. Here at the 3,968-seat Sunrise Musical Theater, in early December, some 100 shows later, he’s still asking for quiet. What’s changed is that a show he admits was initially “austere” is now a kaleidoscope of jokes, shaggy-dog stories, paeans to cunnilingus and, yes, plenty of the brooding, socially conscious fare that marks the album.

If a few fans out there still holler for “Thunder Road” (one Floridian reprovingly shouted, “Rock & roll,” mid-show, before exiting), most are attentive as Springsteen works with his 17 acoustic guitars, his harmonicas and a vocal attack that now includes an evocative, high-pitched keening. He will rock, slamming out a percussive “Johnny 99” or “Working on the Highway,” but pointedly deconstructs certain old rockers like the much-misinterpreted “Born in the U.S.A.”

Sitting backstage after a strikingly eclectic set on his second night at Sunrise, Springsteen notes, “Tonight was a bit experimental. I’ve tried to rearrange a lot of the Darkness [ on the Edge of Town ] stuff, because it was some of the first adult music I wrote – really about people hanging by a thread. That music fits real well into what I’m doing now.”

500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Bruce Springsteen, ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’

Springsteen has gained momentum from events along the road, including a benefit for the John Steinbeck Center, at California’s San Jose State University. Days later, he performed at a Los Angeles rally against the California state proposition blocking affirmative action. ( Jesse Jackson stood beside him as the singer warned, “The seeds of racism and injustice do not sleep.”) And in places like Fresno, Calif., and San Diego, backdrops for current, edgy songs, he jabbed at then-campaigning Bob Dole.

Editor’s picks

The 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

Springsteen is aware that some found his sobering record to be an arbitrary departure, but he explains, “[ Tom Joad ] wasn’t that different from the legacy of my own family. My parents struggled a lot. The material followed ideas that I started out with – things that bothered me, and I wrote about them. You’ve got to find your own isolation, your own sense of being between the road and the void. . . . After that, what else does a writer do? He looks around.”

What Springsteen found, he says, is “a sense of place” – namely his adoptive California and the long scar marking its border with Mexico. His sets close with a suite of brooding songs from Joad. The show’s reflective stretch can be “challenging,” he admits. “I’m trying to hold my place and write about the things that I felt were, and still are, important.”

Bruce Springsteen Album-By-Album

The newest song in Springsteen’s repertoire was introduced with a mention of his wife, Patti Scialfa . It’s a plain, pure love song called “There Will Never Be.” “I never played anything quite like that before,” he says. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Springsteen’s last trips to his other home, in New Jersey, were for a benefit show and then a trio of homecoming gigs in Asbury Park, with one set featuring Scialfa on vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin and Danny Federici on accordion – a possible preview, he confirms, of the next record’s instrumentation. “I’ve got probably half a record,” he says, “and I don’t know if it’s any good. I’ve got to wait and see, record it and hear it back.” His reunion with the E-Street Band was “fun” (“I love the guys – if I was going to go out and play with a rock band, that’s the one”), but don’t look for a major reunion soon: “I’m not sure exactly what I’d do that would be new.” Studio plans aside, Springsteen will play a series of shows in Japan and Australia early this year, after which he’ll probably tour further in the States. “I certainly don’t feel like stopping now,” he says. “I feel I have a chance to be a fresh force with these things . . . fundamentally drawn from my personal emotional experience.

Obama to Protester Interrupting:  'Can’t Just Talk and Not Listen'

Gop lawmaker thinks he exposed busload of 'illegals' ... it was the gonzaga basketball team, this moment to arise: the revisionary genius of beyoncé’s 'blackbird', giddy up: beyoncé's country opus 'cowboy carter' is here.

“There was a period after 1985 where I didn’t know if I’d write about them again,” he continues. “I didn’t know if I had anything new to say. And then, with this record, I really felt a deep re-connection to that part of my own life. And, you know, 30 years down the line, I feel pretty lucky that I’ve got a job to do.”

This story is from the February 6, 1997 issue of Rolling Stone.

Beyoncé Rewrites 'Jolene' — And Five Other Takeaways From 'Cowboy Carter'

• By Mankaprr Conteh and Joseph Hudak

Beyoncé's Country Album 'Cowboy Carter' Also Showcases Her Opera Skills

• By Emily Zemler

Beyoncé, Post Malone Celebrate Cowboy Couture on 'Levii's Jeans'

Kings of leon unveil moody single 'split screen', beyoncé boosts rising black country singers on 'cowboy carter' song 'blackbiird'.

• Dead of Night

Most Popular

Anne hathaway lost roles after oscar win because of 'how toxic my identity had become online,' says christopher nolan backed her: 'i had an angel' in him, where to stream 'quiet on set: breaking the silence' episode 5 online, body language experts believe this is the reason kate middleton was alone in her cancer announcement video, 50 cent questions jay-z's silence following diddy's homes being raided, you might also like, nelson peltz claims he backs disney ceo bob iger, but his investment firm withheld votes for iger’s election to the board, this celeb-loved quiet luxury pajama brand is having its first ever 70% off sample sale — and its full of mother’s day gift ideas that are selling fast, the best exercise mats for working out, according to fitness experts, ‘lousy carter’ review: david krumholtz contemplates life after lousiness as a terminally ill loser, a sports betting plea: move slower. and don’t break things.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

How a Bruce Springsteen tale of poverty and despair was given vibrant new life by Rage Against The Machine

A Bruce Springsteen song of hardship, it’s easy to see why Rage Against The Machine were inspired to cover The Ghost Of Tom Joad

It was November 1995, and at first glance The Ghost Of Tom Joad, Bruce Springsteen ’s eleventh album, was dead on arrival (it was his first release for two decades to not make the US Top 5). Yet the record hadn’t passed entirely without ripples. 

“I was a huge fan,” Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello told Classic Rock in 2014. “It was my favourite record for a long time. I think I gave the CD to Zack [De La Rocha, RATM singer] for Christmas that year.” 

You could see why the album – and particularly its title song – might light a fire in the LA agitators. Named after the protagonist from John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes Of Wrath , and inspired by folk great Woody Guthrie’s The Ballad Of Tom Joad from the same period, Springsteen had transplanted those visions of hardship into the Clinton era, where fortune had not found everyone. 

‘Families sleeping in their cars in the South-West’, he sang. ‘ No home, no job, no peace, no rest… ’ As Springsteen revealed in his Songs lyrics book, The Ghost Of Tom Joad had shape-shifted as it moved along the timeline (“It started out as a rock song. But it didn’t feel right, so I set it aside”). He added that later, the song announced the treatment it needed – “just myself and my guitar” – and led the way for the acoustic-led parent album.

Perhaps that downbeat approach was part of the song’s failure to connect. Springsteen’s fingerpicked take was hushed and haunted, set on synth beds and more wistful than white-hot-angry. But Morello looked past the presentation. 

“We were about to set off with U2 on the PopMart tour and we didn’t have any new material. I suggested that we do a Rage-ified cover of The Ghost Of Tom Joad . The lyrics were certainly not out of context for Rage Against The Machine. And I brought a bulldozer riff or two to it that worked very well.” 

While Springsteen’s original had smouldered but not quite ignited, Rage dropped a match on the tinderbox, with a stalking groove reminiscent of their early classic Bombtrack , and De La Rocha selling the final verse as a threat: ‘ Whenever you see a cop beating a guy, whenever a hungry newborn baby cries/Wherever there’s a fight against the blood and the hatred in the air/Look for me, ma, I’ll be there …’

Classic Rock Newsletter

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

Buoyed by the response to the song during that U2 tour, RATM released it as a single in 1997. And in a serendipitous instance of art coming full circle, from 2008 Morello regularly joined the Springsteen band to perform Tom Joad live, as the song grew ever-heavier.

With Morello ultimately appearing on a grungy new take for Springsteen’s 2014 album High Hopes , the question of who is covering whom is open to debate. But one thing is undeniable: without Rage’s input, The Ghost Of Tom Joad would never have enjoyed its afterlife. As Morello says: “Tom Joad was the one I felt I really had to hit the nail on the head with.”

Henry Yates has been a freelance journalist since 2002 and written about music for titles including The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer . He is the author of Walter Trout's official biography, Rescued From Reality , a music pundit on Times Radio and BBC TV, and an interviewer who has spoken to Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Wood, Dave Grohl, Marilyn Manson, Kiefer Sutherland and many more. 

“Neoclassical metal wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t heard Selling England By The Pound”: Genesis’ Tony Banks is Yngwie Malmsteen’s prog hero

How a photo of notorious German fighter ace the Red Baron provided the cover of Led Zeppelin II

Here’s every album Tobias Forge has made outside of Ghost, ranked from worst to best

Most Popular

By Chris Cope 26 March 2024

By Niall Doherty 26 March 2024

By Vicky Greer 26 March 2024

By Matt Mills 26 March 2024

By Dave Ling 26 March 2024

By Paul Rees 26 March 2024

By Jo Kendall 26 March 2024

By Malcolm Dome 25 March 2024

By Matt Mills 25 March 2024

By Rich Hobson 25 March 2024

By Jordan Blum 25 March 2024

• The Ghost of Tom Joad

The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album, and the second acoustic album released by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on November 21, 1995, through Columbia Records. The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill West, Springsteen’s home studio in Los Angeles, CA.

Following the 1995 studio reunion with the E Street Band and the release of Greatest Hits, Springsteen’s writing activity increased significantly. He wrote and recorded the album between March and September 1995. The album consists of 7 solo tracks and 5 band tracks.

The Ghost of Tom Joad debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with 107,000 copies sold in its first-week. The album won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Track Listing

• Straight Time
• Sinaloa Cowboys
• Balboa Park
• Dry Lightning
• The New Timer
• Across the Border
• Galveston Bay
• My Best Was Never Good Enough

Ghost of Tom Joad Tour

The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. [1] It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad . [2]

Critical and commercial reaction

Broadcasts and recordings, songs performed.

The tour represented Springsteen's first full-length, solo tour; [3] he traveled with only an instrument technician and a sound engineer. [4] As such it was a marked departure from the high-energy shows with the E Street Band that Springsteen had become famous for. [5] The album itself was quiet, dark, and angry, and Springsteen presented it as such in the shows on the tour. [3] Older songs from Springsteen's catalog, such as " Born in the U.S.A. ," were presented in very different, often harsh re-arrangements. [2] [6]

The result, especially in the tour's first leg of shows, was an uncompromising portrayal of pessimism; [7] Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that with the tour's performances, Springsteen "has taken his music to an extreme, a depressive's view of tedious, unending woe." [6] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "In contrast to past tours, which have been celebratory events tinged by introspection, Springsteen brought a sobering sense of solitude" to the shows of this tour. [2] By some of the later shows of the tour, however, Springsteen relaxed the mood a bit by interweaving a few new songs with an almost comedic bent. [7]

The tour began on November 21, 1995, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey . [8] The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia , New York City, and Boston . [9]

After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North American cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio , due to " Youngstown " being the album track most (relatively) played on radio. [10]

February and March saw shows in Western Europe, [11] followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through early May. [12]

A family man with three small children at the time, [13] Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started again in the U.S. in mid-September, playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold , and finishing in mid-December. [14]

Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show to Japan and Australia for three weeks. [15] In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm to accept the Polar Music Prize , [16] then he toured Central Europe, seeing Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world. [17]

While the Ghost of Tom Joad album was in the more acoustic, somber vein of his earlier Nebraska , it did contain some limited additional instrumentation and arrangements. Given that Springsteen was famous for his full-band, high-energy, crowd-rousing concerts, this tour was sure to be a surprising departure. Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them [18] to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect.

Due to the small venues played on the tour, often in the 2,000–3,000 capacity range, tickets were often hard to get, creating a "ticket scalpers' heaven." [19] Dave Marsh 's Two Hearts biography assessed the tour as not expanding Springsteen's audience any, but helping to solidify it, especially in Europe.

The Asbury Park Press characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ... The lyrics are bleaker than usual for Springsteen and the music reflects the solemn mood." The New York Times said a December 1995 Beacon Theatre show "easily qualifies as the most earnest concert of the year," that "Where [Springsteen] once saw open highways, he now sees roads to nowhere," and that "Springsteen turned in a painstaking and convincing performance. But with that material, he has turned himself into nearly a one-note performer." [6] The Washington Post , on the other hand, found a December 1995 DAR Constitution Hall performance showing strains of the "sense of triumph" that Springsteen's previous work had evoked, although his physical appearance made him "look more like the custodian at Constitution Hall than the star attraction." [20]

The collection Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie , edited by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, found praise for the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again." [5] Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career". [3] However Guterman praised later legs that incorporated new material that was "sly, low-key, and funny." [7]

Portions of the December 8 and December 9, 1995, shows from Philadelphia's Tower Theater were later broadcast on the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour on U.S. album-oriented rock stations.

Several shows were released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives :

• Kings Hall, Belfast March 19, 1996 , released September 1, 2017
• Freehold, NJ 1996 Saint Rose of Lima School Gym , released May 4, 2018
• Asbury Park 11/24/96 , released November 1, 2019
• Nice France 1997 , released February 5, 2021
• ‘’Philadelphia 12/9/95’’ released February 4, 2022
• Asbury Park 11/26/96 , released November 4, 2022

Source: [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]

• Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen . Cambridge: DeCapo Press, 2005.
• Santelli, Robert, "Beyond Folk: Woody Guthrie's Impact on Rock and Roll", in Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, eds. Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie . Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1999.
• Santelli, Robert. Greetings From E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band . San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN   0-8118-5348-9
• Killing Floor's concert database supplies the itinerary and set lists for the shows, but does not support direct linking to individual dates.
• Brucebase the same, with ticket and promotional images as well.

Related Research Articles

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen is an American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", he has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics that feature narratives primarily concerning working-class American life. He is known for his descriptive lyrics and energetic concerts, with performances that can last for more than four hours.

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was produced from June through October 1972 by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos at the budget-priced 914 Sound Studios. The album was released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records to average sales but positive critical reviews.

The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album, and the second acoustic album, by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on November 21, 1995, by Columbia Records. It reached the top ten in two countries, and the top twenty in five more, including No. 11 in the United States, his first studio album to fail to reach the top ten in the US in over two decades. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing career, the band consisted of: 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 Ghost of Tom Joad " is a folk rock song written by Bruce Springsteen. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album, released in 1995. The character Tom Joad, from John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath , is mentioned in the title and narrative.

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 Devils & Dust Tour was a 2005 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage on a variety of instruments. It followed the release of his 2005 album Devils & Dust . The tour was named the Top Small Venue Tour of 2005 by the Billboard Touring Awards.

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, Springsteen had more non-E Street Band tours, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, the Seeger Sessions Tour, and the Devils & Dust Tour. 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".

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 19th 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 .

" Fade Away " is a 1980 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band. It is included on his album The River , and the second single released from it in the United States, reaching the top twenty in both the United States and Canada.

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 Angel " is a song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973. It was also released as the B-side to Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" single. The song was part of the demo that Springsteen recorded for John Hammond of CBS Records in advance of getting his first recording contract. At the time Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was released, Springsteen considered it his most sophisticated song. It has had very few live performances.

" Youngstown " is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad . Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin on keyboards, and Marty Rifkin on pedal steel guitar. The song has also been covered by Kenny Greco, Blue Moon Rising, Show Of Hands, The Stairwell Sisters, Steve Strauss and Matthew Ryan.

" New Timer " is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad . Springsteen performs the song solo on the album, with only guitar accompaniment.

" Land of Hope and Dreams " is a 1999 song written by Bruce Springsteen and performed by Springsteen and the E Street Band. After being performed on tour and released on multiple live albums, a studio recording was released for the first time on Wrecking Ball in 2012.

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.

• ↑ Santelli, Greetings From E Street , pp. 83–84.
• 1 2 3 Kot, Greg (December 5, 1995). "Boss' new sound hauntingly familiar" . Chicago Tribune . p.   12 (Section 2) – via Newspapers.com.
• 1 2 3 Guterman, Runaway American Dream , pp. 86–87.
• ↑ Santelli, Greetings From E Street , p. 83.
• 1 2 Santelli, "Beyond Folk: Woody Guthrie's Impact on Rock and Roll", p. 54.
• 1 2 3 Pareles, Jon (December 14, 1995). "Pop Review: Hard Times and No Silver Lining" . The New York Times . p.   C11.
• 1 2 3 Guterman, Runaway American Dream , p. 87.
• ↑ "Bruce Springsteen Setlist at State Theatre, New Brunswick" . setlist.fm . Retrieved June 9, 2023 .
• ↑ "Tour History" . Bruce Springsteen . Retrieved June 9, 2023 .
• ↑ "25 years ago, Bruce Springsteen releases 'Youngstown' and stops by the city" . WKBN.com . November 19, 2020 . Retrieved June 9, 2023 .
• ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (December 10, 1998). "Bruce Springsteen's Secret History" . Rolling Stone . Retrieved June 9, 2023 .
• ↑ "Bruce Springsteen — Polar Music Prize" . www.polarmusicprize.org . Retrieved June 9, 2023 .
• ↑ [ dead link ]
• ↑ "IN BRIEF – Springsteen Concerts Test New Ticket Scalping Law" . The New York Times . November 26, 1995 . Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
• ↑ "Springsteen, An Austere Power" . Archived from the original on October 2, 2012 . Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
• ↑ "RockinConcerts.com – For all your favorite artists shows on DVDs, CDs and MP3s" . Archived from the original on January 24, 2013 . Retrieved 12 June 2015 .
• ↑ "2014–2015 Setlists (Apr-Nov)" . Backstreets.com . Retrieved June 12, 2015 .
• ↑ "Bruce Springsteen Setlists – Greasy Lake" . Archived from the original on October 26, 2012 . Retrieved June 12, 2015 .
• ↑ "The Official Bruce Springsteen Website" . Brucespringsteen.net . Retrieved June 12, 2015 .
• Video Anthology / 1978–88 (1989)
• In Concert/MTV Plugged (1992)
• Blood Brothers (1996)
• The Complete Video Anthology / 1978–2000 (2001)
• Live in New York City (2001)
• Live in Barcelona (2003)
• VH1 Storytellers (2005)
• Wings for Wheels (2005)
• Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 (2005)
• Live in Dublin (2007)
• Magic Tour Highlights (2008)
• London Calling: Live in Hyde Park (2010)
• The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (2010)
• Springsteen & I (2013)
• Born in the U.S.A. Live: London 2013 (2014)
• A MusiCares Tribute to Bruce Springsteen (2014)
• Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes (2014)
• High Hopes in South Africa (2014)
• Hunter of Invisible Game (2014)
• Born to Run tours (1974–77)
• Darkness Tour (1978)
• The River Tour (1980–81)
• Born in the U.S.A. Tour (1984–85)
• Tunnel of Love Express (1988)
• Human Rights Now! (1988)
• Bruce Springsteen 1992–1993 World Tour (1992–93)
• Ghost of Tom Joad Tour (1995–97)
• Reunion Tour (1999–2000)
• Rising Tour (2002–03)
• Vote for Change (2004)
• Devils & Dust Tour (2005)
• Seeger Sessions Band Tour (2006)
• Magic Tour (2007–08)
• Working on a Dream Tour (2009)
• Wrecking Ball World Tour (2012–13)
• High Hopes Tour (2014)
• The River Tour (2016)
• Summer '17 (2017)
• Springsteen on Broadway (2017–18; 2021)
• 2023 Tour (2023–24)
• Jessica Springsteen
• Pamela Springsteen
• John Hammond
• Phil Petillo
• Marie Castello
• Southside Johnny
• Brendan O'Brien
• Ron Aniello
• Bob Clearmountain
• Chuck Plotkin
• Jimmy Iovine
• Frank Stefanko
• Lynn Goldsmith
• Annie Leibovitz
• Danny Clinch
• Discography
• E Street Band
• The Sessions Band
• The Miami Horns
• Born to Run autobiography
• E Street Radio
• Little Steven's Underground Garage
• Outlaw Pete
• Columbia Records
• 914 Sound Studios
• Record Plant
• Power Station
• The Hit Factory
• The Max Weinberg 7
• Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska
• Greetings from E Street
• Backstreets Magazine
• The Upstage Club
• The Stone Pony
• Fender Telecaster
• Freehold Borough, New Jersey
• Asbury Park, New Jersey
• " Because the Night "
• " Jersey Girl "
• " Springsteen "
• Blinded by the Light (film)

• Springsteen is finally changing his setlist. We have suggestions.
• Updated: Mar. 23, 2024, 8:03 a.m. |
• Published: Mar. 23, 2024, 8:00 a.m.
• Bobby Olivier | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

And the angels sang!

During a Thursday interview with E Street Radio on SiriusXM, Bruce Springsteen noted that as his and the E Street Band’s tour rolls on — the 2024 continuation of last year′s international roadshow kicked off in Phoenix Wednesday — he’ll be altering the nightly setlist.

“I think we’re approaching it like it’s a new tour,” Springsteen said. “There will be some things from last year’s tour that will hold over some of my basic themes of mortality and life and those things I’m going to keep in the set, but I think I’m going to move around the other parts a lot more. So there’ll be a much wider song selection going on.”

Such a declaration is music to fans’ ears, as the primary gripe from dissenters and critics (myself included) last year was the lack of variety and spontaneity in the setlist from night to night. It was a stark contrast to previous E Street treks where it was understood that very few shows on a given tour would look and sound the same.

This was sadly not the case in 2023, when the band stuck to more or less the same 25 songs per night and worked in only a handful of alterations. A telling statistic: Upon the tour’s abrupt postponement in early September — due to Springsteen’s peptic ulcer illness — the band had played 68 different songs across 66 concerts. In 2016-17, on their 75-date “The River” anniversary tour, they played 144 different songs, including 64 unique songs at their trio of 2016 MetLife Stadium dates alone.

MORE: Springsteen feared he’d never sing again during recent illness

So it’s plenty exciting that Springsteen, 74, is ready to change things up and bring a new set to fans — especially those ready to crowd onto the Asbury Park beach Sept. 15 as the he and the band will headline the monstrous Sea Hear Now music festival for the first time. The festival is unsurprisingly sold out.

Of course, the next logical step for fans is to speculate which songs should be clipped from the current setlist and which should be added in. These are my picks.

What Springsteen should cut:

First, a preface that as Springsteen said “my basic themes of mortality and life” will remain in the show, I don’t expect any of the thematically corresponding “Letter to You” (2020) songs to be sliced, as tiresome as a couple of them might be (cough, “Last Man Standing, cough).

“Lonesome Day” - This “Rising” jammer is perfectly fine, but not an “every night” sort of song, especially as an opener. The same goes for “Night,” which kicked off some performances. I don’t hate “No Surrender” as the curtain-raiser it was much of 2023 but would love more swap-ins.

“Nightshift” - His smarmy cover of this late-era Commodores hit has run its course. Nothing from his soul album “Only the Strong Survive” should be a nightly occurrence going forward.

“Because the Night” - It’s a fun singalong but overly simple, and his songbook is better served with this one stashed for special occasions.

“Kitty’s Back” - This is promising, as “Kitty’s Back” was already nixed from opening night in Phoenix, but for the love all holy horns, let’s put this nine-minute beast back in the vault for a while. It’s a showstopper, yes, but it loses some luster when it’s in every show, and cuts into a setlist that’s already truncated when compared to the marathons of yesteryear.

“She’s the One” - We already have “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Backstreets” built into the set — and none of that should change. We don’t need this second-tier “Born To Run” cut as a guarantee, too. Sometimes, sure, but “She’s the One” doesn’t deserve a concrete spot.

What Springsteen should add:

Another preface that some of my picks are informed by a previous story laying out exactly what a perfect Springsteen set would look like. Some of it has come to pass, but a lot of it hasn’t. Let’s fix it!

“Growin’ Up” - Yes, “Spirit in the Night” appeared on the Phoenix setlist and two of the MetLife shows, but the lack of “Greetings” tracks on this tour so far has been criminal otherwise. “Growin’ Up” is a huge crowd-pleaser, a nice acoustic break and the sound of the “ooh-ooh’s” with an arena behind Bruce offers goosebumps just thinking about it.

“Land of Hope and Dreams” - It’s one of the most anthemic tunes the band has ever unleashed — especially in the last 25 years — and deserves a permanent spot in the set. It was played sporadically (five times total) last year.

“Brilliant Disguise” - If you thought “Greetings” representation has been scant on this tour, “Tunnel of Love” has been even more invisible. The only song to be played across the first 68 shows of this 2023-24 run has been the album’s single “Brilliant Disguise,” performed only once last year. The “Tunnel” erasure must end and “Brilliant Disguise” should be added full-time.

“If I was the Priest” - The best song off 2020′s E Street comeback “Letter to You” was actually a tune Bruce wrote in the early ‘70s, prior to his “Greetings” debut in ‘73, and never officially released until now. It’s a terrific showpiece, complete with a sweeping, sing-along chorus and wordy verses akin to Springsteen’s early Bob Dylan obsession. The song was played a few times in 2023, but should be given its due if the band is still actively celebrating “Letter to You.”

“The Ghost of Tom Joad” (rock version): Yes, the “Tom Joad” (1995) stuff is a little polarizing — I know plenty of fans who can’t stomach any of the doleful campfire grit — but the pumped-up rock version of the title track released on “High Hopes” (2014) really revamped the dirge for a stadium crowd. That rendition was recorded with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who obviously can’t pop on stage every night for a duet, but what if that mic is left open to a list of pals who want to sing the verse? Imagine all different takes from Morello, Eddie Vedder, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Southside Johnny — whoever’s in town!

More Springsteen coverage:

• Springsteen headlining massive N.J. beach festival this summer
• Bruce Springsteen tour 2024: Where to buy tickets for rescheduled shows
• Springsteen spotted at his go-to New Jersey diner
• Springsteen stiffed my dad after using his GTO on album cover, N.J. man says in suit
• Springsteen MetLife Stadium concert review: Cookie-cutter thrills, N.J. fans deserve better

Stories by Bobby Olivier

• Kate Middleton reveals she has cancer
• Springsteen feared he’d never sing again during recent illness

Bobby Olivier may be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook .

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement , and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 12/31/2023).

© 2024 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved ( About Us ). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.

YouTube’s privacy policy is available here and YouTube’s terms of service is available here .

Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information

If you opt out, we won’t sell or share your personal information to inform the ads you see. You may still see interest-based ads if your information is sold or shared by other companies or was sold or shared previously.

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Springsteen, Bruce
• Tour Statistics
• Song Statistics Stats
• Tour Statistics Stats
• Other Statistics

All Setlists

• All setlist songs  ( 2898 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 8 )
• 2023  ( 67 )
• 2022  ( 7 )
• 2021  ( 37 )
• 2020  ( 4 )
• 2019  ( 7 )
• 2018  ( 178 )
• 2017  ( 80 )
• 2016  ( 80 )
• 2015  ( 10 )
• 2014  ( 42 )
• 2013  ( 50 )
• 2012  ( 104 )
• 2011  ( 9 )
• 2010  ( 13 )
• 2009  ( 99 )
• 2008  ( 74 )
• 2007  ( 46 )
• 2006  ( 68 )
• 2005  ( 77 )
• 2004  ( 20 )
• 2003  ( 86 )
• 2002  ( 67 )
• 2001  ( 7 )
• 2000  ( 47 )
• 1999  ( 95 )
• 1998  ( 16 )
• 1997  ( 33 )
• 1996  ( 90 )
• 1995  ( 29 )
• 1994  ( 9 )
• 1993  ( 31 )
• 1992  ( 83 )
• 1991  ( 1 )
• 1990  ( 4 )
• 1989  ( 2 )
• 1988  ( 93 )
• 1987  ( 8 )
• 1986  ( 3 )
• 1985  ( 76 )
• 1984  ( 84 )
• 1981  ( 99 )
• 1980  ( 49 )
• 1979  ( 8 )
• 1978  ( 111 )
• 1977  ( 38 )
• 1976  ( 69 )
• 1975  ( 96 )
• 1974  ( 136 )
• 1973  ( 209 )
• 1972  ( 58 )
• 1971  ( 76 )
• 1969  ( 3 )
• 1968  ( 2 )

Show all tours

• Born in the U.S.A.  ( 156 )
• Born to Run  ( 85 )
• Bruce Springsteen 1992–1993 World Tour  ( 106 )
• Chicken Scratch Tour  ( 35 )
• Darkness  ( 112 )
• Devils & Dust  ( 72 )
• Forward  ( 7 )
• Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.  ( 165 )
• High Hopes  ( 34 )
• Human Rights Now!  ( 20 )
• Lawsuit Tour  ( 57 )
• Magic  ( 102 )
• Reunion Tour  ( 133 )
• Seeger Sessions  ( 58 )
• Springsteen & E Street Band 2023 Tour  ( 66 )
• Springsteen On Broadway  ( 236 )
• Springsteen On Broadway 2021  ( 30 )
• Springsteen & E Street Band 2024 World Tour  ( 5 )
• Summer '17 Tour  ( 14 )
• The Ghost of Tom Joad  ( 133 )
• The Rising  ( 123 )
• The River  ( 145 )
• The River Tour 2016  ( 75 )
• The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle  ( 207 )
• Tunnel of Love Express  ( 68 )
• Vote for Change  ( 10 )
• Working on a Dream  ( 88 )
• Wrecking Ball  ( 136 )
• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for tour: The Ghost of Tom Joad

Note: only considered 128 of 133 setlists (ignored empty and strikingly short setlists)

• The Ghost of Tom Joad Play Video
• Atlantic City Play Video
• Adam Raised a Cain Play Video
• Straight Time Play Video
• Highway 29 Play Video
• Darkness on the Edge of Town Play Video
• Johnny 99 Play Video
• Nebraska Play Video
• Red Headed Woman Play Video
• Brothers Under the Bridge Play Video
• Born in the U.S.A. Play Video
• Dry Lightning Play Video
• Spare Parts Play Video
• Youngstown Play Video
• Sinaloa Cowboys Play Video
• The Line Play Video
• Balboa Park Play Video
• Across the Border Play Video
• Bobby Jean Play Video
• This Hard Land Play Video
• Streets of Philadelphia Play Video
• Galveston Bay Play Video
• The Promised Land Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

• Mar 27, 2024
• Mar 26, 2024
• Mar 25, 2024
• Mar 24, 2024
• Mar 23, 2024
• Mar 22, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Feature requests
• Songtexte.com

Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999

From the cover of T he Ghost of Tom Joad (Columbia, 1995)

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ Calls Out to Us

Bruce Springsteen's 1995 album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inherited and built upon some powerful 20th century American literary, political, and pop culture themes. Can we hear its haunting call in these times?

Marshall Amp by tookapic ( Pixabay License / Pixabay )

The 2019 Bruce Springsteen release Western Stars (Columbia) is seen by some as another of his introspective solo albums, but that summation is too easy, too dismissive. It is a character-driven collection of songs about the open road and prairies and lost dreams expressed through a variety of characters. It’s also an outlier amongst Springsteen’s “solo” albums. Technically, 1982’s Nebraska was (and remains) his most pure and stark solo effort. It features a title track about a serial killer. Desperation is heard in songs “Atlantic City”, and “Highway Patrolman”, the latter inspiring the 1991 Sean Penn film, The Indian Runner.

Springsteen’s 2005 album, Devils and Dust is a collection of songs dating back to1996. While its title track chillingly evokes the first-person life of a troubled soldier returning from service in Iraq, the album is not a fully cohesive collection of songs. Brilliant, beautiful, and chilling, the 12 songs comprise a prelude to something else, like orphans looking for a better home.

It’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, the solo album released between Nebraska and Devils and Dust , that remains riveting and strong nearly a quarter-century after its 1995 release. Consider what happened with Springsteen’s music during that era. Born In The USA (1984) made Springsteen the prototypical American rock stadium icon of the era. Springsteen and his E Street Band toured incessantly and disbanded by decade’s end. Springsteen’s Human Touch and Lucky Town , both released in 1992, already seemed dated the moment they came into the world. He toured and made several TV appearances with an assortment of musicians that backed him up rather than assume a distinct identity of their own, and the act seemed tired. In the early ’90s, almost 20 years after his 1973 debut as a recording artist, he’d become an oldies act.

By 1995, Springsteen and the E Street band reunited for a Greatest Hits set that included the recording of four new songs. Rather than record an entire collection of new songs, release it, and tour with his band, Springsteen instead offered The Ghost of Tom Joad. The album has a dozen songs that remain special to this day. It begins with the title track, an evocation of Tom Joad that draws more from John Ford’s 1940 film version of John Steinbeck’s 1939 The Grapes of Wrath than the novel itself. It ends with the dismissive “My best was never good enough”, in which Springsteen evokes Forrest Gump touchstones.

What was it about Steinbeck’s Tom Joad that spoke to a Depression-era America in 1939, an economically depressed America in the mid-’90s, and to anybody today willing to fight against the notion that the poor will always be with us? That Springsteen “admitted” to not having read the Steinbeck novel before writing a song based on its main character was played off by some outlets like “gotcha” journalism. But inspiration comes to those who are open to it. The pontifications of Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad near the end of The Grapes of Wrath seem made to spark the fire of balladeer (Woody Guthrie ), up through Rage Against The Machine, whose guitarist Tom Morello joined Springsteen for a brutal live take of what had been a relatively calm in the studio production.

In “Straight Time”, the unnamed hero has been released from prison. We hear the standard tropes of an ex-con trying to walk “the clean and narrow”. He gets a job that will take him from where he was to where he could be, but it’s not enough. His uncle makes a living doing things under the table, in the dark shadows of commerce, and he helps out when and where he can. The story continues through different characters in his life trying to help him maintain stability, but the only solace he can find is at night, drifting off to sleep. “I got a cold mind to go tripping across that thin line”, he sings in the chorus. “I’m sick of doing straight time”.

The hero in “Highway 29” could very well be the same guy. Here, he’s a shoe salesman. He’s tempted by a female customer who slips him her number. Images of John Garfield and Lana Turner in Bob Rafelson’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) surface. Or maybe Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944). Both are noir films featuring malice-hearted women eager to find weak-willed men. Notice the economic way Springsteen wraps up the main action as he starts the second verse:

It was a small town bank/ It was a mess/ Well I had a gun/ You know the rest/ Money on the floorboards, shirt was covered in blood…

The best writers need to inhabit their characters, not simply mimic their observed actions to create a simulation. In “Sinaloa Cowboys”, Springsteen takes his time to tell the story of drug runners, street dealers, and enforcers. The amphetamine operations concocted by our heroes (Miguel and Luis) take a predictably dark turn, but the song isn’t exploitive. It isn’t cheap. In “The Line”, the hero is a border patrol officer who knows enough to understand that his job can be a pure cycle of futility.

…They risk death in the deserts and mountains/ Pay all they got to the smuggler’s rings/ We send them home, and they come right back again…hunger is a powerful thing

“Happiness” is relative and conclusions will usually always be definitive and terminal. In “Balboa Park”, characters named X-man, Cochise, and Little Spider (among others) come north to California, smuggling cocaine balloons (“poison in their blood”) for a chance at something new, something better than what they had back home. None of these songs in the middle (“Sinaola Cowboys”, “The Line”, “Balboa Park”) are sonically exciting.

The hero in “The New Timer” is a wanderer looking for purpose as he rides the rails. Deep into the song, he sees a vision of beauty (a woman relaxing in her house), a child with his father, and he wonders “…does my son miss me/ Does he wonder where I am?” In “Galveston Bay”, Springsteen writes about the Vietnamese population in the title location working as shrimp harvesters and dealing with the Texas Klan. Nothing is bright, adversities are many, and the strength is in the perseverance of the people.

Dale Maharidge’s Journey to Nowhere : The Saga of the New Underclass ” (with photos by Michael Williamson) (Hyperion, 1996) works as both a modern extension of the classic James Agee and Walker Evans Depression-era text, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and an inspiration for Springsteen. In Journey to Nowhere , Maharidge and Williamson traveled across America, from Youngstown, Ohio to Portland Oregon down to San Antonio and back again. The book speaks to the dispossessed of Reagan’s America and speaks even more clearly today, almost a quarter-century after Springsteen’s experience with it led to a re-release (with a new Introduction by the singer/songwriter) and the songs “New Timer” and “Youngstown”. It’s the latter, with its evocation of a dying steel industry, that leads the character to chillingly admit in the final verse:

When I die I don’t want no part of heaven/ I would not do heaven’s work well/ I pray the devil comes and takes me/To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell

What those lyrics lack in ambivalent subtlety they make up for in certainty.

If there is one track of pure beauty and hope on The Ghost of Tom Joad, it’s “Across the Border”, Springsteen’s best attempt at an American anthem if there ever was one. It’s a riveting prayer for the promise of something better coming after the character crosses over to the other side.

For what are we/ Without hope in our hearts/ That someday we’ll drink from God’s blessed waters/ And eat from the vine/ I know love and fortune will be mine/Somewhere across the border

It’s notable that this is the only track with backing vocals, all women, like a chorus of angels supporting a character singing about sweet blossoms and “pastures of gold and green” and cool clear waters on the other side of the Rio Bravo’s muddy waters. All the standard tropes are there, the innocence and purity of a character wishing for a better tomorrow. Coming to this song with cynical ears misses the point. We have gone through the darkness. Now, here’s our reward.

Springsteen has recently finished a successful run on Broadway (Springsteen on Broadway Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, October 2017), and released an orchestral pop record (and accompanying documentary film) Western Stars, that draws from the lush sounds of Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, Glenn Campbell and Jimmy Webb. News that Springsteen is planning to record again and tour with the E Street Band in 2020 should come as no surprise to long-time fans. The Ghost of Tom Joad drew from John Steinbeck, John Ford, and Woody Guthrie and in turn inspired Rage Against the Machine. What it might do for those willing to listen today is anybody’s guess.

• Recession Sounds: Revisiting Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska ...
• Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball - PopMatters
• Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen on Broadway (album review ...
• 'Born to Run': The Unfathomable Confessions of Bruce Springsteen ...
• Bruce Springsteen, Country Music Idol? - PopMatters
• Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind: The River Collection ...
• "Galveston Bay" and Bruce Springsteen's Search for the Promised ...
• Bruce Springsteen, 'The Ties That Bind', the Working Class, and ...
• Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars (album review) - PopMatters
• Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) | Twitter
• Bruce Springsteen - YouTube
• Bruce Springsteen - Home | Facebook
• Bruce Springsteen - Wikipedia
• Bruce Springsteen - Biography - IMDb
• Bruce Springsteen

Publish with PopMatters

PopMatters Seeks Book Critics and Essayists

Call for Papers: All Things Reconsidered – FILM Winter 2023-24

Call for Papers: All Things Reconsidered – MUSIC Winter 2023-24

Submit an Essay, Review, Interview, or List to PopMatters

PopMatters Seeks Music Writers

Bruce Springsteen Returns To Stage After Postponing 2023 World Tour Due To Health Issues; Deets Inside

B ruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage in Phoenix for a triumphant reboot of their postponed 2023 world tour, which was postponed in September due to Springsteen's recovery from peptic ulcer disease.

Bruce Springsteen returns to stage after recovering from peptic ulcer disease

"The Boss" arrived on stage, wearing dark jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, with the energy of a man of half his age. His signature "One, two, three, four" separated most songs, showing no signs of illness from the previous year. Once he shouted, “Good evening, Arizona” the show was off and running.

Springsteen spoke to the crowd briefly about his illness prior to playing his final song I’ll See You In My Dreams solo on stage. “Phoenix, first I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time. . . . I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much," he said.

The legendary E Street Band, featuring Springsteen, performed a 29-song show in just under three hours. The band included drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, keyboardists Roy Bittan and Charlie Giordano, guitarists Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, saxophonist Jake Clemons, guitarist and violin player Soozie Tyrell, a full horn and brass section, and four backup vocalists.

The only missing member was Springsteen's wife, singer and guitarist Patti Scialfa. The show showcased Springsteen's strong voice, dancing, and playing various instruments.

Springsteen performed most of the hits in his vast collection, minus Born In The U.S.A., but he added covers Nightshift by the Commodores, Because The Night by Patti Smith Group, and a surprise, Twist and Shout by The Beatles. Fans went wild for No Surrender, Born To Run, Rosalita, Dancing In The Dark, Glory Days, and Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out that left the rocker grinning from ear-to-ear as he conducted fans singing along like his own chorus.

This year has been particularly challenging for Springsteen. In addition to his health issues, in January his mother, Adele Ann Springsteen, a fan favorite who could frequently be seen dancing at his shows, died. She was 98.

Two days after her death, Springsteen performed at the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year event, which honored Jon Bon Jovi for his musical achievements and philanthropic efforts.

The 2024 edition of the tour kicked off in Phoenix and ends Nov. 22 in Vancouver, Canada. It hits 17 countries across 52 dates, including a special performance on Sept. 15 where Springsteen will headline the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in his hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Exploring Bruce Springsteen's career

Bruce Springsteen, known as "the Boss," is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With 21 studio albums and a six-decade career, he is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre that blends mainstream rock with poetic and socially conscious lyrics, primarily focusing on working-class American life. Springsteen is known for his descriptive lyrics and energetic concerts, sometimes lasting over four hours.

Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well-received by critics, neither earned him a large audience. He then changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975). This was followed by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980); The River was Springsteen's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart.

After the solo effort Nebraska (1982), he reunited with his E Street Band for Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling album of all time as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track.

Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), then solo recorded an acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), and the EP Blood Brothers (1996).

Seven years after releasing The Ghost of Tom Joad, the longest gap between any of his studio albums, Springsteen released The Rising (2002), which he dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), followed by two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009).

The next two albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. From 2017 to 2018, and again in 2021, Springsteen performed a critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed some of his songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances was released in 2018.

He then released the solo Western Stars (2019), Letter to You (2020) with the E Street Band, and a solo covers album Only the Strong Survive (2022). Letter to You reached No. 2 in the U.S., making Springsteen the first artist to release a Top 5 album across six consecutive decades.

ALSO READ:   What is Bruce Springsteen's net worth as of 2023? Exploring the wealth and fortune amassed by 'The Boss'