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Douglas Springsteen, circa 1960, as seen in the 2021 book RENEGADES: BORN IN THE USA, co-written by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen June 15, 2025 "During the pandemic," Bruce Springsteen stated in the official trailer for Tracks II: The Lost Albums , "what I did for that period of time was I finished everything I had in my vault." Well, Bruce, I sure hope that doesn't mean that "Father's Day," which didn't make the cut for Tracks II , will remain in that vault for a long time to come. On April 12, 2017, I got to hear "Father's Day" at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., along with two friends: filmmaker Nick Mead ( Swing , Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? , A Thousand Guitars , I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol , etc.) and Backstreets magazine/website editor/publisher Chris Phillips. Almost a decade later, the three of us still agree that we heard something very special that day. I wrote about the experience at Backstreets.com in a report published on Father's Day 2017. You can click here to read my archived report. At that time I described "Father's Day" as "a powerful rocker, built around scorching guitars and pounding drums that bring the noise before Bruce sings a note and continue to do so well after his singing stops...Bruce and whoever else accompanied him clearly brought their best game. On the basis of the music alone, this track ranks with other great long-unreleased Springsteen rockers of the past like 'Roulette' and 'Murder Incorporated.' (Here's hoping it eventually receives an official release, as those tracks eventually did.)" I also added that even within the limitations of the Copyright Office listening experience, in which not every detail regarding the characters and situations depicted in the song could be understood in detail, "it certainly doesn't sound like anyone's having a very happy Father's Day. The song seems to be exploring the impact of fathers who are absent, either physically or emotionally or both." I have no idea why Springsteen fans won't be able to hear "Father's Day" on Tracks II after it drops two weeks from now on June 27. Perhaps since Tracks II is built around a "lost" full-length albums concept rather than the comparatively more loosely organized collection of studio outtakes that was the original 1998 Tracks box-set, it was just too difficult to find a fitting spot for "Father's Day" on any of the seven "lost" albums that constitute Tracks II '. As my archived Backstreets.com report noted, on the same date that Bruce submitted "Father's Day" to the U.S. Copyright Office - April 7, 1995 - he also submitted "Between Heaven and Earth" and "Blind Spot," two tracks that will be included on the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions album of Tracks II , but even if "Father's Day" was recorded during the same period that tracks like "Between Heaven and Earth" and "Blind Spot" were, it doesn't share any significant sonic similarities with those two tracks or presumably the rest of the material on  Streets of Philadelphia Sessions . Perhaps it was considered instead for possible inclusion on the Perfect World album of Tracks II , which we already know was newly assembled using various tracks from the mid-1990s through 2018. But again as we also know already, for whatever reason(s,) "Father's Day" will be nowhere to be found on Tracks II . There's another intriguing possibility to consider, as long as we're just speculating... Perhaps later this year, "Father's Day" could be included on the soundtrack of Deliver Me From Nowhere , the Springsteen biopic that will be released next October. After all, with Bruce's relationship with his own father apparently being a strong plot element of the film, perhaps "Father's Day" could serve as closing-credits music and/or somewhere else on the soundtrack, especially since the song's subject has to do with father-relationships that are... er, less than ideal. In any case, here's hoping that "Father's Day" eventually gets an official release of some type, and much sooner than a few more decades from now. After all, to these ears and to those of some friends of mine, as well, it sounds just too good to remain "orphaned" by its father, getting heard pretty much only by those fans willing and able to make the trek to D.C. Happy Father's Day 2025 to all who are celebrating it today! -Special thanks to Nick Mead and Chris Philips

June 13, 2025 Additionally, in May of 2024, we at Letters To You deeply explored Brian Wilson's huge influence on Bruce Springsteen's work, as part of our feature on the release of Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny's Beach Boys documentary. It's especially worth reading/re-reading in light of this week's news. Click here to read our archived article.

June 12, 2025 Below you can listen to "Sunday Love," the opening track from the "lost" Bruce Springsteen album Twilight Hours , which will be included in Tracks II: The Lost Albums , to be released worldwide on Friday, June 27: As per today's official press release , Twilight Hours finds Springsteen exploring "orchestra-driven mid-century noir" with what Springsteen himself calls "romantic, lost-in-the-city songs" in "an ode to the great American pop music tradition." He was working on Twilight Hours while simultaneously creating what became his Western Stars album. "At one time," says Springsteen in the press release, "it was either a double record [with Western Stars ] or they were part of the same record... I love Burt Bacharach and I love those kinds of songs and those kinds of songwriters. I took a swing at it because the chordal structures and everything are much more complicated, which was fun for me to pull off. All this stuff could have come right off of those sixties albums." In the music of Twilight Hours , the release states, Springsteen also draws inspiration "from the vocal work of Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams, the prose of Flannery O’Connor and James M. Cain, and the Robert Mitchum film Out Of The Past ." In addition to the influences listed above, "Sunday Love" certainly draws lyrical if not musical inspiration from the Great American Songbook standard "A Sunday Kind of Love," recorded not just by many famous pop and jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Frankie Laine, Louis Prima and his Orchestra (w/ Anita Leonard on vocals,) and Dinah Washington, but also many major artists of the doo-wop/rock-and-roll genres, including The Del Vikings, Dion, The Four Seasons, The Harptones (on the Bruce label, no less!,) Jan & Dean, and Asbury Park, NJ's own Lenny Welch. Here are the full production credits for "Sunday Love," as written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen: Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Percussion, Vocal, Producer: Bruce Springsteen Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Recording Engineer: Ron Aniello Drums: Max Weinberg Bass: Kaveh Rastegar Keyboards: Scott Tibbs Background Vocal, Vocal: Patti Scialfa Background Vocal: Soozie Tyrell Background Vocal: Lisa Lowell Recording Engineer: Toby Scott Recording Engineer: Rob Lebret Recording Engineer: Ross Petersen Mixing Engineer: Bob Clearmountain Mastering Engineer: Ted Jensen photo by Danny Clinch - used with permission Click here to listen to "Sunday Love" via the platform of your choice . Click here to get pre-ordering information for Tracks II: The Lost Albums , which will be released worldwide on Friday, June 27.

April 4, 2025 Whew, what a week! And it's not quite over yet, Springsteen fans... Although the initial teaser-announcement dropped on Tuesday, which was April Fools Day 2025, by yesterday morning it was crystal-clear that Bruce Springsteen wasn't foolin' around at all. As per the official press release , Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released worldwide on Friday, June 27. The original Tracks box-set, released back in 1998, consisted mainly of outtakes from Springsteen's sessions for his first eleven albums. This second Tracks set, however, will contain seven full-length albums that haven't been released previously for various reasons - "...full records," says Bruce himself in the press release, "some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released... I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.” Tracks II: The Lost Albums  will be released in digital/streaming form (apparently at no extra cost to certain music-streaming-service subscribers) and in deluxe boxed sets consisting of seven CDs or nine vinyl LPs, accompanied by a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen. There also will be an abridged twenty-tracks highlights collection, Lost And Found: Selections from The Lost Albums , released in one-CD/two-LPs formats on June 27. Click here for various pre-ordering options. Here's some more information on each of the seven albums (consisting, as per the press release, of eighty-two previously unreleased tracks and seventy-four previously unheard songs) in Tracks II: The Lost Albums : L.A. Garage Sessions '83 (1983) Tracks: 1. Follow That Dream 2. Don’t Back Down On Our Love 3. Little Girl Like You 4. Johnny Bye Bye 5. Sugarland 6. Seven Tears 7. Fugitive’s Dream 8. Black Mountain Ballad 9. Jim Deer 10. County Fair 11. My Hometown 12. One Love 13. Don’t Back Down 14. Richfield Whistle 15. The Klansman 16. Unsatisfied Heart 17. Shut Out The Light 18. Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad) Streets of Philadelphia Sessions (1993) Tracks: 1. Blind Spot (update for April 17, 2025: This is now the second track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 2. Maybe I Don’t Know You 3. Something In The Well 4. Waiting On The End Of The World 5. The Little Things 6. We Fell Down 7. One Beautiful Morning 8. Between Heaven and Earth 9. Secret Garden 10. The Farewell Party Somewhere North of Nashville (1995) Tracks: 1. Repo Man (update for May 14, 2025: This is now the fourth track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 2. Tiger Rose 3. Poor Side of Town 4. Delivery Man 5. Under A Big Sky 6. Detail Man (*Check out the Facebook video below, posted by John Stamos back in 2020. It's a complete performance of "Detail Man" performed in 1995 at John Fogerty's 50th-birthday party, featuring Fogerty on backing vocals and Stamos on drums performing with Fogerty's band:) 7. Silver Mountain 8. Janey Don’t You Lose Heart 9. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone 10. Stand On It 11. Blue Highway 12. Somewhere North of Nashville Inyo (1996-1997) Tracks: 1. Inyo 2. Indian Town 3. Adelita (update for May 29, 2025: This is now the fifth track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 4. The Aztec Dance 5. The Lost Charro (*Below is a screenshot of since-deleted video of Springsteen recording "The Lost Charro" with Mariachi Real De Mexico . It was posted on Patti Scialfa's Instagram page back in 2014:) 6. Our Lady of Monroe 7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona) 8. One False Move 9. Ciudad Juarez 10. When I Build My Beautiful House Faithless (2005-2006) Tracks: 1. The Desert (Instrumental) 2. Where You Goin’, Where You From 3. Faithless (update for May 1, 2025: This is now the third track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 4. All God’s Children 5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental) 6. God Sent You 7. Goin’ To California 8. The Western Sea (Instrumental) 9. My Master’s Hand 10. Let Me Ride 11. My Master’s Hand (Theme) Twilight Hours (2010-2011) Tracks: 1. Sunday Love (update for June 12, 2025: This is now the sixth track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 2. Late in the Evening 3. Two of Us 4. Lonely Town 5. September Kisses 6. Twilight Hours 7. I’ll Stand By You 8. High Sierra 9. Sunliner 10. Another You 11. Dinner at Eight 12. Follow The Sun Perfect World (newly assembled from various tracks from the mid-1990s through 2018) Tracks: 1. I’m Not Sleeping 2. Idiot’s Delight 3. Another Thin Line 4. The Great Depression 5. Blind Man 6. Rain In The River (This is the first track from the collection to be released as an advance single. Click here to listen. ) 7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover 8. Cutting Knife 9. You Lifted Me Up 10. Perfect World Note: While many Springsteen fans already are familiar with the versions of "Idiot's Delight" and "Another Thin Line" recorded and officially released by Joe Grushecky, far fewer fans seem aware that a version of "Perfect World" was recorded by John Mellencamp and released on his 2023 album Orpheus Descending . Click here to listen. A special website for this project, LostAlbums.net , also was launched this week. At the top of the homepage, visitors are advised to "return to LostAlbums.net weekly for newly-released music and content." As we noted at the beginning of this report, it indeed has been quite a week filled with some very exciting and interesting news for fans of Bruce Springsteen's music. And the best possible way to close this report is, of course, with another newly released recording featuring Springsteen... While it's certainly understandable that there won't be a "First Friday" archival Nugs live-recording release this week due to the big announcement/first-single release, there is nevertheless another new record featuring Bruce Springsteen that has been released officially today. It's "Ten Years Gone" by The Waterboys featuring Bruce Springsteen, from their newly released album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper , available on Sun Records in the U.S. (the first official Sun Records release for both The Waterboys and Bruce.) "Ten Years Gone" is a searing, electric-guitar-laden meditation on Hopper's enduring influence, with Springsteen delivering a killer spoken-word part at the end. Listen for yourself below. To our ears, in its own way it's just as powerful and moving as the spoken-word part he provided for Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" back in '78.

photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission June 10, 2025 On February 9, 1964, fifteen-year-old Bruce Springsteen witnessed The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show . More than seven years had passed since Springsteen's first - and quickly aborted - attempt to play the guitar after seeing Elvis Presley's first Sullivan appearance, but this 1964 watershed moment rekindled the fire and desire in the shy teenager to become a rocker. And, as they say, the rest is history. Last Saturday night, for about seven minutes, Bruce Springsteen was that fifteen-year-old again, when Paul McCartney joined the band onstage in Liverpool at Anfield, the place where it all began for the current Premier League Football club, in the city where it all began for McCartney and his fellow Beatles. It was a rare and momentous moment of unashamed love, admiration, and joy. And 60,000 people were fortunate to witness it, myself included. I'm still pinching myself, and I shall truly treasure the moment forever. Of course, the gig was more than just the two songs that these giants of rock-and-roll played together, so let’s start at the very beginning: "Ghosts;" what an opener! At first, I was thrown a little by such a prominent position in the setlist, but knowing what we know now, it makes perfect sense. Bruce remembered the sound of those Beatles guitars, and he feels alive! On Saturday night at Anfield, all of his musical ghosts and aspirations came home. Liverpool, too, was alive; the singing-along was deafening. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission From the very first chord, it seemed that Bruce was out to make this show one of the best nights of his life, akin to, say, the Sea.Hear.Now Festival show last year, which marked the triumphant return to the band’s home turf. He was loose, and engaging with the crowd in a way that I haven’t seen in a long time. Maybe even not quite as emotionally invested with his political message as he was at last Wednesday's initial Liverpool show, when he tore the skies and our hearts apart with his howl during "My City of Ruins," but pressing and sincere nonetheless. It felt like the giddiness of the promise of Sir Paul backstage meant Bruce wanted to go out to enjoy and savor the sheer power of music for music’s sake. Still, "Seeds" (love), "Darkness..." ( love ,) and a stunningly vulnerable "My Hometown" (adore) meant that there was a lot of "dust" in my eyes for many segments of the show, as well. There is something about being at Anfield stadium that represents the spirit of everything Springsteen stands for: community, looking after each other, the (hard-)working-class person, friendship, loyalty, and belting out an homage to being home. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Meanwhile, the crowd was going wild and not quieting down, except, of course, during moments like "The River" and the beautiful, acoustic "House of a Thousand Guitars." An "echo" of sorts often emanated from the seated area, not an actual echo from sound-system audio bouncing back, but a spiritual one caused by the people in the stands and on the field singing at the top of their lungs. Did we join Springsteen's call for us to "rise up?" Of course we did, at least in Anfield on that night. In Liverpool, we were together again in the "church" of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, a group of musicians who've been for many of us the same kind of initial and enduring inspiration that The Beatles were for Bruce and his bandmates. And then, there it was. The roadies lifted a large amp onto the stage, and we knew. All of the rumors were about to come true. (Really, was there ever ANY doubt?!) And it would happen not at the end with the well-worn "Twist and Shout," but instead right at the start of the encores. Bruce announced "a young man from Liverpool" with enough potential to make it far, and the place exploded. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Please allow me to add a bit more personal perspective here... Until I discovered Bruce, my life was made up of the four records my parents owned: Peter and the Wolf , Neil Diamond’s Beautiful Noise and the "Red" and "Blue" Beatles albums . My Beatles mania manifested itself a good fifteen years after their Ed Sullivan show appearances, but now that I was about to see Macca amongst his fellow Scousers, I could barely breathe. What struck me immediately was that Sir Paul was not a typical onstage guest at all. Bruce essentially gave away his stage so that McCartney could take charge in his hometown. The Boss and the E Streeters returned to their beginnings as a bar band, in support of their idol. We were later told by Max that they had rehearsed in a small backroom, and all of them had been allowed to touch the famous bass guitar. It is reassuring that even well-respected musicians have their "fanboy"/"fangirl" moments, which also makes me feel ever so slightly less weird for the 150+ shows I have accumulated over a lifetime of Bruce-Tramping. "Can’t Buy Me Love" sure is a rousing crowd-pleaser, and whilst I gave Sir Paul due respect and all the energy and love I could muster, the best moments were watching the band positively glowing with admiration. To see Bruce putting his head on Sir Paul’s shoulder – bromance to the max! The grin on Bruce’s face alone was worth the ticket price. If the sun never shines again, that grin warms the heart forever. The hug and applause were testaments of Bruce’s respect for this man who helped to change his life so significantly. It also proved that we are never too old to grow young again. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Sir Paul and Boss Bruce made good on the famous 2012 "plug-pulling" moment, following up "Can't Buy Me Love" with "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" An interesting and slightly left-field choice, but also fitting: a rock-and-roll classic that no doubt inspired the Beatles, who inspired Bruce, that was later recorded by McCartney as a solo artist, who now stood next to Bruce. Full circle. And obviously there’s nothing like an easy sing-along. It really was all over far too quickly! photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission "Born in the U.S.A." was a little bit of a cold shower after that, to be frank. Yet, Bruce is Bruce and when "Born to Run" started, we were eating out of his hand again. He also was jumping and moving like a young man. Where does he get the energy? Was it the whiskey he swapped for a harmonica earlier on? Was it the high of being a Beatle for a few songs? Who knows? Who cares? Together we brought it up higher and higher. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Of course, they played "Twist and Shout," too; this is Liverpool after all. The amp was still on stage, but no, Sir Paul had left the building. What we did get is an extended version, complete with some schtick, of course. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission And I don’t think Little Steven was acting at all when he said, “Personally, I don’t want to go home." But go home, eventually, we all must. Bruce got The E Street Choir up to the front of the stage for another blistering "Chimes of Freedom." It remains the one key moment in the show where I simply immerse myself in the message and gorgeous harmonies. All around me, there were tears in our eyes – fans old and young, strangers and best friends alike – and we were one, prisoners of the healing and uniting powers of rock-and-roll. Hopeful and ready to believe in a better future, especially politically. It is hard to explain how right and powerful this evening was without sounding like I am gloating, but it really was one of those nights that you had to be there to believe it. For Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Liverpool is what Bruce called it at the very beginning of their first-ever Liverpool show: "where, for us, it all began." But at Springsteen shows like the ones in Liverpool last week, where it all will end also still feels safely away on some far-off horizon. That's fine with me – and with many of my fellow Springsteen fans, I suspect – because personally, we don't want to go home, either... not just yet. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission

June 8, 2025 The last time that Paul McCartney joined Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band on their concert stage was almost thirteen years ago, at the infamous Hyde Park gig with the "plug-pulling" incident . Technically speaking, they also have since performed together on Saturday Night Live in 2015 for "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," but as for a full-scale Macca return to the actual E Street concert stage... That had to wait until last night in Liverpool, fittingly, opening the encores of Springsteen and his band's second-ever Liverpool show with McCartney joining them for versions of the classic Beatles original "Can't Buy Me Love" and classic Beatles cover-medley "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" More to come soon on last night's Liverpool 2025 finale, from both Paulina Vanderbilt and   René van Diemen . Stay tuned...

photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission June 7, 2025 London-based journalist and Letters To You contributor Herpreet Grewal provides us with her first-hand account of Liverpool Night 1, accompanied by René van Diemen 's beautiful photography: Last Wednesday, after many opportunities of almost playing a show in Liverpool, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finally took the stage at Anfield. They did so less than two weeks after the stadium’s home team won England’s Premier League title, and on the June 4th release-date anniversary of Springsteen's all-time best-selling album Born in the U.S.A. , no less. It’s hard to believe it took so long for Bruce and his band to play to the northern, working-class city so in tune with their own blue-collar roots, especially as Springsteen opened the show with the words, “Good evening. It is great to be in Liverpool where, for us, it all began,” obviously referencing The Beatles, a beloved band that formed his early music education and inspiration. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission The gig strongly set the tone - as with other shows in The "Land of Hope and Dreams" Tour - with its political message calling out America’s “corrupt, treasonous government” as he played "Rainmaker," "Death to My Hometown," and "Wrecking Ball" with particularly barbed anger. Having seen his concerts several times last year, it is worth remembering the idea of this tour has been to play the shows that were cancelled last year, and add some cities that the band and Springsteen have not yet visited. But he also has reframed the whole theme of the show around the political message that has become more urgent since Donald Trump was reelected as President of the U.S.A. Last year’s shows had a more personal tone, set around loss and mortality, but now the focus is on America, what it is doing, and how it is affecting its own people and the world. It's certainly a valid message for Bruce to be communicating as an authoritative artist and chronicler of American life for the past fifty years. From my position in the front row (achieved after days of gruelling queuing!) I was able to see how palpable and raw Springsteen’s anger was, and the crowd welcomed it with loud cheers of approval. Nevertheless, I did hear different views within the fan community in the days following up to the gig and on the day itself. One remarked that it was not the platform for such a message, even though well-intentioned. Some American fans attending expressed conflict between their fandom and how hard a message it was to hear about their country when they did not agree with it, showing the cognitive dissonance likely being experienced by a portion of Springsteen’s fan base back home. But most welcomed his message of fighting against authoritarianism. Springsteen never mentions Trump by name in the show's onstage political statements. Instead the only person Springsteen mentions by name is the late African-American gay writer James Baldwin. Baldwin was writing in the 1950s up to the 1980s, yet is still relevant enough to mention in 2025 because his work continuously called for greater humanity. (Bruce paraphrases a Baldwin quote: “In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.” In his Renegades: Born in the USA podcast/book project with former U.S. President Barack Obama, Springsteen revealed that he started reading James Baldwin's work after the murder of George Floyd.) photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Working together to achieve the ideals of community is what Springsteen is all about, and the manifestation of that ideal is seriously compromised in America and the world right now. This theme deeply dominates the show in a way that didn't happen during last year’s shows, but at a time it is desperately needed and people are listening. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission Since this tour began in mid-May, he's made no major deviations from his setlist so far. While the joy of defiance is not as strong in this show as in the ones last year, Springsteen projects a certainty that we/America will get there. The moments of joy and exuberance have happened mostly when he interacts with the crowd, such as playing a harmonica duet during "The Promised Land" with a young girl in the Liverpool Night 1 crowd who was sitting atop someone’s shoulders and who had her own harmonica. Afterwards, Bruce gave her his harmonica. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission At one point he walked down the front row greeting fans, and even accepted a tissue from one fan. As she gestured that it was for him to clean his nose, he mimicked the movement back, confirming that he understood - like a comical silent-film scene. Yesterday Bruce was hanging out with Sir Paul McCartney, and visited the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) on Mount Street (an educational institution that McCartney has helped to found and fund, on the grounds of his old school ,) fueling even further the strong rumours that Macca will make an appearance at tonight's second Liverpool show…. photo by René van Diemen  - used with permission

photo from Liverpool Night 1 (June 4, 2025) by   René van Diemen June 5, 2025 Last night Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performed their first-ever concert in Liverpool. Contributing writer Herpreet Grewal was there, and so was contributing photographer   René van Diemen . Stay tuned for Herpreet's full report, along with plenty more photos from René, coming soon...

May 26, 2025 Friends and readers, as today here in the U.S. we are observing Memorial Day, a holiday which emerged from the final years of the U.S. Civil War, it seems most appropriate to preface this essay by first remembering the closing words of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address : "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." ---Shawn "Are you ready to join together?," Bruce Springsteen asked his audience repeatedly during his performance with the E Street Band of "My City of Ruins" in Manchester, England's Co-op Live arena on May 14. You can hear it (and/or see it) for yourself via the platform of your choice on the officially released digital EP Land of Hope & Dreams , available now in both audio -only AND concert-video forms . from the official Land of Hope & Dreams concert-video - Click here or on the image above to watch it. That's the key question to answer these days, isn't it? Are all of us who are worried about the present and future direction of the U.S. under its current Presidential administration, as well as the future of the rest of the planet affected by it, ready to join together and do some things (i.e. non-violent, organized, collective-resistance-style actions) about it? And if so, what exactly can and should we be doing? One thing, however, has been rendered unquestionable over this past week-and-a-half: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band certainly are up for doing their part. Only four shows in, their 2025 European tour already stands as one of the most significant political stances that any popular musician or group has ever taken. Even a Springsteen fan like me - "stuck" here in my native U.S.A. with no current plans to catch any of the 2025 shows in Europe - can see this easily. No other major musical stars - nobody else famous in rock, pop, hip-hop, soul/R&B, and/or country - have yet mounted a tour where at every show the theme of resisting and surviving the Trump administration's agenda is explored so deeply and overtly throughout the evening. As a result, The "Land of Hope and Dreams" Tour - as well as Trump & Co.'s response to it - is deservedly getting a much higher level of international news-media attention than it might have received otherwise. It also has gotten attention and some supportive commentary from other artists, including Sheryl Crow , Neil Young ( here and here ,) Robert Plant , and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder . Vedder in particular has been one of the few high-profile supporters, if not the only one, to articulate so well the heart of the matter about the Trump camp's responses to date, and he cannily did it without ever even mentioning the President's name (something that Springsteen himself also consistently has avoided doing onstage during his current tour.) "The response to [Springsteen] using the microphone," Vedder told his Pittsburgh audience at Pearl Jam's final 2025 concert on May 18th, "had nothing to do with the issues. They didn't talk about one of those issues. They didn't have a conversation about one of those issues. They didn't debate any one of those issues. All that we heard were personal attacks and threats that nobody else should even try to use their microphone or use their voice in public, or they will be shut down. Now that is not allowed in this country that we call America; am I right or am I wrong?!," Vedder said, and was given loud applause in response. "Part of free speech," he continued, "is open discussion. Part of democracy is healthy public discourse. The name-calling is so beneath us. Bruce has always been as pro-American with his values of freedom and liberty, and his justice has always remained intact. And I'm saying this now just to be sure that this freedom of speech will still exist in another year or two from now, when we come back to this microphone." Yes, the stakes are indeed that high, and the threats are that real. The current President of the United States actually posted online that Bruce Springsteen "ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country...Then we'll all see how it goes for him!" Everything that Vedder said in what's quoted above is indisputable. As is everything that Springsteen has been saying onstage in Europe during his nightly introductions to "My City of Ruins:" "In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now . In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now . In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that has led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They are removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now . A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government." So far in Europe, the live-audience responses to Springsteen's onstage statements have been overwhelmingly supportive, a bit of heckling notwithstanding. If you're not a Trump supporter and are fortunate enough to find yourself at any of the "Land of Hope and Dreams" Tour's shows, you probably will experience a surge of much-needed inspiration and empowerment, especially in the midst of thousands of fellow Springsteen fans loudly expressing similar feelings with you. But I strongly suspect that if Bruce and Co. were to perform such a concert/tour here in the U.S. - at this point a purely academic scenario that already has been officially declared an impossibility in 2025, given that one of Springsteen's recent press releases about this year's European dates with the E Street Band described them as "their only shows of 2025" - the initial level of audience unity in the building probably would be much lower, to put it mildly, unless of course most, if not all, of the still-supporting-Trump Springsteen fans happened to stay home. After all, Springsteen's fanbase in the U.S. still counts a significant number of Trump supporters and other politically conservative fans among its members, and often at least some of them can be far less respectful and understanding of - let alone receptive to and supportive of - many of his onstage/public political stances, especially in comparison to the overwhelming majority of his European fans. (Incidentally, that's also the most likely reason why it's mainly in Europe where you'll still get to hear, for example, the full-scale, hit-single, E Street Band version of "Born in the U.S.A." In fact, you literally could count on one hand the number of times over the last decade when that version of the song has been performed on U.S. soil.) Let's be crystal-clear here; this is the land where even Springsteen/ESB impersonators willing to purge all of his music from their setlist still get punished for the real Springsteen exercising his constitutional rights . Which brings it all back home, of course, to something else indisputable that Bruce Springsteen has been saying onstage recently: "The last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other." ( And , I would add respectfully, whatever sympathetic/supportive state and local government officials remain, along with - seemingly dependent on whichever winds may blow on any given day - the federal courts.) Therefore it's high time for all of us Springsteen fans who understand the severity and importance of this political moment to begin getting involved and active in resistance activities, if we haven't done so already. The devil often can be in the details, however, in terms of figuring out which specific actions to take, which specific organizations to join/support, what will be most effective, etc. Everybody will need to research, think hard, and follow their own conscience in making such decisions, of course, with the understanding that while differences must be acknowledged, appreciated, and respected, the more unity we can create, the better. Perhaps that's why to date Bruce hasn't ended any of this tour's shows with what has become his traditional "plug" of support for a local organization fighting hunger, homelessness, etc. or even any particular group engaged in Trump-administration-resistance activities. Maybe in addition to not feeling quite ready to publicly endorse such specific groups or actions, he also doesn't want any local anti-hunger/poverty groups to face any unneeded flak for his current onstage political statements. In any case, with only a handful of shows under their belts so far, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band already have made one of their greatest artistic statements of their entire career. With that in mind, I'm holding out hope for a complete, professionally-filmed/edited concert-documentary film derived from one or more of the shows (Thom Zimny, are you reading this?,) and/or perhaps Springsteen's first-ever official, pro-shot live-stream of one or more shows, with proceeds from any/all such projects going to one or more appropriate resistance activities/organizations. Of course, these days who knows how difficult it would be to pull off any these kinds of things, now that Bruce no longer owns the rights to all of his songs/recordings? While he still seems to have a very good working relationship with Sony after it bought his catalog, we also have been seeing far too many corporations balking at offending Trump and his minions, for fear of swift retaliation. All appears "so far so good" with Springsteen being able to document this tour and share it publicly in any way he sees fit, which certainly is encouraging. Here's hoping that continues to be the case in the not-too-distant future. And finally, keeping it as real as it unfortunately needs to be kept, here's wishing Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, as well as their entire touring organization, the utmost in safety, security, happiness, and health while abroad, along with the safest hassle-free journey back home after The "Land of Hope and Dreams" Tour ends in July. May they stay safe once they're back home, too. Bruce and his... our ... beloved E Streeters deserve nothing less than a heroes'-and-sheroes' welcome when they return to these shores, for their brave, beautiful, and patriotic stand on behalf of everything that is truly great about this country. ---------- For further reading, you also might want to check out The Philadelphia Inquirer 's May 25, 2025 editorial "Bruce Springsteen struck a nerve with his criticism of Trump. Who else has the courage to speak up?"

May 29, 2025 "Adelita," from the "lost" Bruce Springsteen album Inyo , is the fifth preview-track from Tracks II: The Lost Albums , now available for listening. Click here to listen via the platform of your choice , or click below on the embedded link from Springsteen's official YouTube channel: The official press release describes "Adelita" as "an ode to Mexico’s female 'soldaderas' — who played a major role in the country’s fight for independence. Inspired to explore themes of this nature in the 1990s, during a series of motorcycle trips across the Southwest, Springsteen’s years in California saw him diving into both the history of the region (including 'La Adelita,' the 'corrido' that serves as this song’s namesake ) and its contemporary events." “There was constant border reporting in The Los Angeles Times ," Springsteen recalls in the press release, "so it was a big part of your life.” The release also notes that Inyo is "a previously-unheard, ten-song thematic collection set throughout the border states of California and Texas (plus one detour to New Jersey.)" Springsteen also recalls in the press release, " Inyo was a record I wrote in California during long drives along the California aqueduct, up through Inyo County on my way to Yosemite or Death Valley... I was enjoying that kind of writing so much. [On The Ghost Of Tom Joad Tour,] I would go home to the hotel room at night and continue to write in that style because I thought I was going to follow up The Ghost of Tom Joad with a similar record, but I didn’t. That’s where Inyo came from. It’s one of my favorites.” Additional background on Inyo from the release: "While primarily tracked as a solo record, Inyo does notably find Springsteen collaborating with mariachi musicians throughout — as heard on 'Adelita.' These musicians include Luis Villalobos, Alberto Villalobos, Angel Ramos, Humberto Manuel Flores Gutierrez, David Glukh, Jorge Espinosa and Miguel Ponce. Thematically, several songs on the record examine the Mexican diaspora, how border crossing between Mexico and the U.S. has affected generations and the cultural losses endured as a result. It’s a musical thread that Springsteen first began to examine by covering Ry Cooder’s 'Across the Borderline' on his 1988 Tunnel of Love Express tour:" Apparently "Adelita" also represents a rare Springsteen songwriting "collaboration" of sorts. The official credits for the song list University of California Santa Barbara professor Maria Herrera-Sobek as a "Non Lyric Author." Here for your reference are "Adelita"'s complete official credits: Non Lyric Author: Maria Herrera-Sobek Accordion, Guitar, Producer: Ron Aniello Trumpet: Barry Danielian Violin: Luis Villalobos Violin: Alberto Villalobos Lute: Angel Ramos Bass: Humberto Manuel Flores Gutierrez Trumpet: David Glukh Harp, Vocal: Jorge Espinosa Bass, Vocal: Miguel Ponce Recording Engineer: Toby Scott Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer: Rob Lebret Mastering Engineer: Ted Jensen Additional Engineer: Ross Petersen Click here to get pre-ordering information for Tracks II: The Lost Albums , which will be released worldwide on Friday, June 27.

May 26, 2025 UPDATES (May 27, 2025:) Click here to read "Carl 'Tinker' West, East Coast surfing pioneer and early Springsteen manager, has died" by Chris Jordan of The Asbury Park Press . Click here to read "Tinker West" by Bob Santelli, Executive Director of The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.

May 10, 2025 I was very saddened to learn of yesterday's passing of Stewart Francke, who was a fierce friend and inspiration to so many of us in the Springsteen-fans community, myself included. Stewart was a great singer-songwriter, journalist, author, and public speaker. Over decades, he wrote, sang, and spoke eloquently and insightfully about his native Michigan, the joys and pitfalls of seeking love and building community, and his long-term health struggles against leukemia. Music-writer and Springsteen-biographer Dave Marsh called Stewart's 2000 album What We Talk Of... When We Talk "the most important blue-eyed soul record in a musical generation." And in 2006, Bruce Springsteen himself declared, "Stewart Francke makes beautiful music." In 2011, at a time when the U.S. military still was entrenched strongly in Iraq and Afghanistan, Springsteen provided additional vocals on Francke's song "Summer Soldier (Holler If Ya Hear Me)", first released on his Heartless World album. “This is a tremendously cool thing for Bruce to do,” Francke stated in a press-release for Heartless World , “and of course a real honor. It was always his voice I heard on the call and response part of this track, but figured it would remain just a wish. He found something in it compelling enough to join me, and I’m still a bit knocked out about it all... I hope the song works on a couple levels. It’s a very complicated situation—wars are made up of thousands of singularly human, personal tragedies and loyalties as well as enormous consequences for the countries involved. My job is to tell a story from the most human standpoint and say we can condemn the wars but support our troops.” Below you can hear "Summer Soldier (Holler If Ya Hear Me)" performed by Stewart Francke with Bruce Springsteen: Heartless World also closed with a moving cover of Death Cab For Cutie's "I'll Follow You Into The Dark," featuring a guitar solo by Shane Fontayne of Springsteen's 1992-93 touring band: Speaking of Springsteen's 1992-93 tour, coincidentally a stock photo used in the 1992-93 tour program also got used for the cover of Francke's 2013 album Love Implied : That album featured a track entitled "Drive North," which might have inspired the choice of the album cover's photo. I also can't help but wonder if "Drive North" in turn might have been at least partly inspired by a story that Stewart told me in an unpublished 2011 Backstreets.com interview I conducted with him via email-exchanges. When discussing his own Springsteen fandom, and particularly his first encounter with Darkness on the Edge of Town , Stewart wrote, "I’ll never forget first putting my 8-track (yes, that’s all I had) in my ’74 slime-green Impala with bench seats and hearing the piano and glock riff of 'Badlands' come ripping out of my fer-shit speakers; it was something so different when compared to what else was going on at the time. I also recall thinking the drums sounded boxy and shitty, but now if you were to alter one decibel or Hz on the floor tom I’d have you drawn and quartered. I was driving up a northern Michigan old two-lanes to see a girl who was spending some time with her family at a lake house. The drive was long enough for four full listens. The thing that I recall best is there was no adjustment, no accommodation of my emotional potential. I got it from word one, and he was talking straight to ME—'Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.' I mean, that was my fucking life. And as I drove, I got that there had been 'concept' albums from Come Fly With Me to Sgt. Pepper's... , but no one had ever made a record about it ALL—the concept of taking in all of life, of wanting it all, of wanting love that won’t let you down but already being down, of looking for faith at the same time you’re trying to define what it is—wanting sex, friendship, camaraderie, night, day, work that matters, citing work that kills, changing the whole way we live and work and travel and love." During another part of our email exchanges, Stewart wrote, "When I had leukemia and a bone-marrow transplant in 1998, I was in and out of the hospital for long periods of time—three months at one point. My nighttime record that took me away and helped me forget my surroundings was Bruce’s The Ghost Of Tom Joad . Just something about it... Joad was a self-contained, hard-as-nails parallel world with matching emotions—not unlike where I found myself. As his voice and lyrics washed over me and my tears each night, it was clear from his songs that the world of light and truth, the oft-fabled promised land, is possibly just beyond that ravine or just over that treeline. This was real hope when hope was as scarce as rain in the Mojave for me. Just as his best early songs propelled an audience toward adolescent action (like when I saw him in ’78,) Joad again moved us toward an enormous conclusion: Who tends the promised land, if it actually is more than fable? Who relies on whom? His songs made me think of healing, and what I may do when I heal. I remember hearing this night after night like it was a prayer: 'For what are we, without hope in our hearts/That someday we'll drink from God's blessed waters?' from 'Across The Border.' "I had nothing but time to consider that question, and my answer became clear: we're dead, we’re nothin’. I insisted on treating those words of his not as an answerable question, but as an admonition. I believe in the clarity and movement behind those words. I insist on believing them because from where I was, so close to death, I desperately needed to hang on and try and trust in an unseen faith. I mean, are these things real or not? Does a struggle matter or not? Can you change your station in life in America or not? Or is it all just bullshit?" In the spirit of the best of Springsteen fandom, Stewart Francke lived it every day and kept pushin' 'til it was understood. May he rest in peace, and long may his beautiful music and messages be heard. ---------- Also well worth watching... "Stewart Francke Talks About Being a Cancer Survivor," a special video prepared for the 2021 Land of Hope and Dreams celebration :, in which at one point Francke, with both humility and humor, described himself not as any kind of fighter who could "kick cancer's ass" ("Cancer kicked my ass...all over the field, man!") but instead as "a protagonist for life." What an appropriate epitaph for this great man. ---------- Click here to read our friend Doug Bradley's essay "Holler if You’ve Heard Stewart Francke." Click here to read No Fences Review 's "Turn It Up: Stewart Francke Edition - A tribute to our friend, featuring some special guests." -Special thanks to Chris Phillips at Backstreets.com