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August 22, 2024 Night One of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's 2024 takeover of the Philadelphia Phillies' ballpark is now in the history books. Not surprisingly, Bruce and the band hit another live-performance home-run last night, metaphorically knocking that ball "outta here," to quote the immortal Harry Kalas . Stay tuned for our deep dive into this week's long-awaited return to the streets of Philadelphia, with much more of Mark Krajnak 's beautiful photography, after Night Two takes place tomorrow.

August 12, 2024 We at Letters To You were very saddened to learn that Charles R. "Charley" Cross died last Friday. He was only 67 years old, and died in his sleep of natural causes. In 1980, Charley founded Backstreets Magazine - the premier Springsteen fanzine that eventually grew into a great fan website, too. Charley was Backstreets ' first Editor/Publisher from 1980 through 1997, at which point Chris Phillips took over the Editor position with Charley's blessings, while Charley shifted his focus to pursuing many of his other important projects. A few years later, Charley agreed to hand over the Backstreets publishing reins to Chris, as well, though Charley always remained a key member and advisor of the Backstreets editorial team throughout the magazine/website's entire run, from 1980 through early 2023, at which time Backstreets ceased all regular operations. Charley also served as editor/publisher of The Rocket , Seattle's important music and entertainment magazine, from 1986 to 2000. It was during this time, of course, that The Rocket became the first publication to feature and support Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and many of the other key bands and figures in what would become the highly important and influential 1990s Seattle scene. In addition, Charley went on to write nine books, many of which were focused on major Seattle and Washington-based musicians such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and the Wilson sisters of Heart. Upon learning of Charley's passing, esteemed Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn tweeted that Charley's Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven is "high on my short-list of best music biographies ever." On a much more personal note, I just want to express publicly how deeply indebted and appreciative I feel towards Charley and the role he played in building, sustaining, and supporting everything that Backstreets , my former "stomping grounds," became. I fondly recall first corresponding with him by mail in the 1980s as just another Backstreets subscriber and fellow Springsteen fanatic, and he couldn't have been kinder or more supportive, accessible, and down-to-Earth. As the years went by, I began writing regularly for both the magazine and the website. By that time, Charley's activities with Backstreets were mainly in an advisory/behind-the-scenes capacity, and as a writer I usually dealt much more directly with Chris Phillips as the formal editor/publisher. Nevertheless, I still treasure a 2019 email message I received from Charley that read in part, "Hope you’re well over there and thanks for all your contributions... Cheers, Charles." It meant so very much to me then, and means even more now, of course. It's no big secret that I also had some strong disagreements with Charley regarding some Springsteen-related matters, especially in later years. But disagreements like that often can arise when you're dealing with someone else who cares as deeply and passionately about the music and career of Bruce Springsteen, what it means, why it's so important, etc., as you do. And regardless of any or even all of those differences, it always remained clear to me just how strong and passionate a fellow Springsteen fan Charley Cross was. In that sense, he still remained very much a friend and a mentor to me. Still does , actually. So much of what I and others have learned from Charley Cross over the years, the legacy of high standards that he provided to so many of his fellow Springsteen fans, is embedded in what Letters To You strives for and in how we aim to continue covering Springsteen's artistry... what we'll do and what we won't, in other words. So thanks a million for all of that, Charley. Rest in peace, brother, and our deepest condolences to all of your loved ones. "Cheers, Charles." More on the passing of Charles R. Cross: Variety : "Charles R. Cross, Music Journalist Who Wrote Heralded Kurt Cobain Biography and Edited Seattle’s Alt-Weekly The Rocket , Dies at 67" The Seattle Times : "Charles R. Cross, influential Seattle music journalist, dead at 67" Official statement from the Backstreets Magazine editorial team, posted on the Backstreets  Magazine Facebook page "A Word About Our Friend, Charley Cross" by Bob Santelli, Executive Director of The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music "On the Backstreets, Until the End" (the final "On the backstreets" column) by Charles R. Cross Official statement from Bruce Springsteen, via his social media: [ Note: Springsteen also made a similar statement onstage during his August 18 Pittsburgh concert with the E Street Band , dedicating that night's performance of "Backstreets" to Charley.]

August 10, 2024 Click here for more information. (This special PBS "Passport" streaming option currently is the only way for interested fans to watch this program, though other PBS viewing options are expected to become available as early as later this month.) Also check out the official trailer and preview videos embedded below:

August 20, 2024 Last year, when the hardcover, eBook, and audio editions of Dave Marsh's excellent anthology Kick Out The Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing were published, Letters To You published an extensive feature on Marsh, his writing and commentary's importance to fans of Bruce Springsteen's music, as well as of course to those interested in popular music as a whole, and its various roles in reflecting and shaping societal changes. You can click here to read our September 2023 feature. With the arrival this year of the trade-paperback edition of Kick Out The Jams , which officially becomes available today, we at Letters To You are pleased to present to our readers a special new podcast. Earlier this month, editor/publisher Shawn Poole was joined by contributing writers Greg Drew and Lisa Iannucci in recording an extensive and interesting conversation with Kick Out The Jams co-editors Daniel Wolff and Danny Alexander . For over an hour, we discussed in depth with Alexander and Wolff the latest Marsh anthology, focusing mainly on eight pieces in the anthology with strong connections to the work of Bruce Springsteen: “Elvis: The New Deal Origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll” “Dance With the Devil” “John Hammond: Remembering The Conscience of American Music” “The Death of Rock” “They Can’t Kill Rock and Roll But They’re Trying” “I Shall Be Free: The Blacklisting of the Dixie Chicks” “Greetings From New Orleans, LA” “To Set Our Souls Free” Not surprisingly, at times the conversation also veered off E Street a bit, diving deep into not just Springsteen but some of the many other artists and issues that Dave Marsh has explored in more than five decades of music-based criticism, journalism, and activism. You can hear it all on either our SoundCloud or YouTube platforms, both of which are linked below: And if you haven't done so yet, click here to order your copy of Kick Out The Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing , now available in hardcover, eBook, audio, and trade-paperback editions. We think you'll be very glad that you did. As our friend and fellow fan of both Springsteen and Marsh, Dr. Lauren Onkey , wrote in her excellent introduction to the anthology, "There’s a maturity in these pieces, a desire not to escape through the music but to use it to embrace life’s pain and complexities. It’s adult in the best sense of that word. What shines through is the belief that rock and soul and rap and pop and folk are an opportunity for possibility, for hope. Not because they offer a free ride, but because the music—and the communal experience of making and listening to the music—gives us a chance to change ourselves and our communities...In addition to turning you on to a lot of great music, I hope this collection pushes you to act. Our lives depend on it."

September 15, 2023 Today marks the 60th anniversary of the racist/terrorist bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, a major historical event in the Civil Rights Movement. Back in 1963, September 15th fell on a Sunday morning. A pre-planted bomb had been set to explode during Sunday-morning activities at the church, which also had become one of the most important venues for Civil Rights Movement meetings and gatherings. The bomb killed four young girls - none older than fourteen - and injured almost two dozen other congregants. "Well, I was killed in 1963, one Sunday morning in Birmingham," sings Bruce Springsteen in Wrecking Ball 's closing track, "We Are Alive." Cleopatra "Cleo" Kennedy, who sang in Springsteen's 1992-93 touring band, was a key member of 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, though fortunately she wasn't present at the church on the day of its bombing. Nevertheless, she knew the four girls who had been killed, and of course endured the pain and grief of the bombing's aftermath, along with the rest of her community. Although she was just barely out of her teens at the time, Kennedy had become a standout member of 16th Street Baptist Church's choir, often called upon to deliver solo performances in addition to singing with the choir, preparing the congregation for an inspiring sermon from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I first connected with Cleo Kennedy a little more than a decade ago, when I was a contributing writer for Backstreets.com. Thanks to my friend Dave Marsh, I already knew of Cleo's historical ties to the Civil Rights Movement and 16th Street Baptist Church. After hearing Wrecking Ball and "We Are Alive," I thought it would be great to give Cleo a chance to hear "We Are Alive" and share her reactions with our readers. Not surprisingly, Cleo found the track to be very moving and inspiring. "[It] really touched my heart," she told me. "We are still alive, after all that we have been through and all of the stuff that happened during that time. We are still alive; we're still here, and it took a lot of faith, a lot of determination, a lot of standing up... It took a lot for us to make it to this point... I was involved in the [Civil Rights] Movement and I did the whole nine yards. I went to jail, and I did it all in the course of fighting for freedom, and I don't regret anything that I did because had it not been for people doing what they did up until this point, we wouldn't be where we are now. And I don't feel like we’re totally where we should be anyway, but we're much further than where we would have been." (Click here to read my full archived 2012 Backstreets.com report.) Since that time, happily, my friendship with Cleo has grown, and I have gotten to learn so much more about her fascinating and inspirational life story. In the latter part of the 1960s, Kennedy's next-door neighbor, the legendary gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates (from whom Phil Spector and Darlene Love derived Darlene's stage-name, due to their mutual love of Coates' singing,) invited Cleo to join her group, Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes. Cleo sang with the group through the early 1970s and recorded four albums with them: The Handwriting on the Wall , The Separation Line , 'Till My Change Comes , and The Winner . In the mid-1970s Cleo connected with another gospel legend, Reverend James Cleveland. He quickly made Kennedy a featured member of The James Cleveland Singers and later his Southern California Community Choir and L.A. Gospel Messengers groups. Cleveland also became a beloved mentor and friend to Cleo for the rest of his days, until his untimely death in 1991. Two decades after Cleveland died, gospel-music scholar Bob Marovich assembled and released the Grammy-nominated book/box-set The King of Gospel Music: The Life and Music of Reverend James Cleveland . Marovich interviewed Cleo Kennedy for the project, and she recalled lovingly how supportive Cleveland was when she got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the late 1970s. She had to move to L.A. for regular treatments at the UCLA Medical Center, and James Cleveland invited her to live with him and recuperate at his View Park home. "He brought me food on a tray just like he was a maid," Kennedy told Marovich. "He loved me and he treated me like a part of his family. I will never forget him for that." It also was through her work and association with James Cleveland that Cleo began to get offered gigs in the secular world of pop music. One of her earliest and most notable such jobs was singing the backing vocals on the opening and closing tracks of Ray Charles ' 1977 album True to Life : Charles' versions of "I Can See Clearly Now" and "Let It Be." Charles had heard Cleo singing on a James Cleveland recording, and specifically requested her for the recording session. As Cleo recently told me, "I was sitting in the waiting-room [of the recording studio] by myself, wondering where everybody else was and why they hadn't gotten there yet. I looked at the time and thought, 'They're supposed to be here by now, and there ain't nobody here but me.' Then, all of a sudden, Ray came out of this other room, saying, 'Are we ready yet?' I said, 'No, because the rest of them didn't come yet.' He said, 'There's no rest of them; it's just me and you, mama.' And I almost fainted. He said, 'I picked your voice out of the background [on the James Cleveland record,] and your voice was the one I wanted.' He recorded me singing soprano, then he recorded me singing alto, then he recorded me singing tenor, and then he put it all together." Cleo added to Bob Marovich in his interview with her, "There's no girls - it's all me!" Indeed, Cleo Kennedy may be one of the few singers - if not the only singer on the planet - who can lay claim to having been all of The Raelettes for a day. Both tracks were included on the 2021 box-set True Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection , and you also can hear them below: Cleo and other members of James Cleveland's groups also got to play singing peripheral characters in the original 1977 television adaptation of Roots (in a scene now available only on the Complete Original Series Blu-ray/DVD editions) and with James Brown in the 1980 Blues Brothers film. By the late 1970s, Cleo had found regular backup-vocalist work in the studio and/or on the road with popular secular artists like Graham Nash, Diana Ross, and Paul Williams. In fact, an interesting coincidental crossing of paths with her future employer, Bruce Springsteen, occurred in 1979 when she sang with Graham Nash's band during the series of MUSE "No Nukes" concerts at Madison Square Garden, where of course Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band also delivered their now-legendary performances. Both Cleo and Bruce appear, though not together, in the original 1980 No Nukes film. (An additional coincidence at those same "No Nukes" shows: Cleo's future 1992-93 Springsteen touring bandmate Bobby King sang with Ry Cooder's band during his "No Nukes" set. Bobby can't be found with Cleo and Bruce in the 1980 No Nukes film, but he can be heard on the Ry Cooder track "Little Sister" on the accompanying multi-artist No Nukes album, while Cleo can be heard there backing Graham Nash on "Cathedral," and of course Bruce can be heard there on his two tracks with the E Street Band and onstage guests Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler. Cleo doesn't recall having any direct encounters with Bruce or Bobby King during the 1979 MUSE-concerts series.) In 1992, when Bruce Springsteen assembled a new band to tour behind his simultaneously released Human Touch and Lucky Town albums, Cleo became an invaluable member of such a great gospel-and-soul-infused group. I think that her solo spotlight on the epic outtake version of "Roll of the Dice" from Springsteen's MTV Plugged is definitely one of her all-time greatest moments. She doesn't kick into high gear until about nine minutes into an eleven-minutes-long performance, but WOW is it worth the wait! Cleo recently told me that one common trait that she believes that James Cleveland and Bruce Springsteen shared was that as bandleaders they cared deeply not just about their music, but also about their band-members. In the spring of 1993, Cleo's grandmother passed away, and she needed to take a temporary leave of absence from the tour. "I had to fly back home for the funeral and everything, and Bruce gave me an envelope with my plane-tickets in it, and put some money inside the envelope with the tickets. He said, 'If you need anything else, we're just a phone-call away. Honor your grandmother, take your time, and we'll see you when you come back.' And when I met them back on the tour, during my first show back [on May 9, 1993,] all through the show he kept yelling [off-mic, towards the backup-singers' riser] things like, 'Cleopatra, baby, we're so glad to have you back! Honey, we missed you!' He did that all through the show, and I will never forget him for doing that...telling me all that night how happy he was that I was back." Like James Cleveland, Cleo told me, "Bruce made us feel like we were a part of his family. He didn't make us feel like we were strangers. I remember one time we had finished a show, got back to the hotel, and they were having a wedding-reception in the lobby part. Bruce turned around to us all and said, 'Let's crash it!' I said to myself, 'Oh my God, he's not gonna do it,' and I started laughing because I knew he was gonna do it anyway. And of course he went up on the stage with that guitar and started singing. And those people went wild; it made their wedding reception what they wished it would be!" Cleo kept her struggles with MS relatively private, so not everyone in the 1992-93 touring organization was aware of it. At one point on the tour, however, she felt somewhat ill and didn't feel up to eating anything. "Bruce sent someone up to my room," Cleo told me, "who was to take me to get checked out at the local hospital." Cleo thought that wasn't necessary, but the person at her hotel-room door made it clear that he was expected to do what Springsteen had requested, so she complied. The hospital team determined that Cleo needed a humidifier. Cleo told me that in short order Springsteen purchased a humidifier for each and every band-member's hotel-room. "He was very considerate and very concerned like that," she said, "and just treated us like anybody would want to be treated. I will never forget him for that, and I would love to be up on the stage with him one more time for anything. I don't care if it's shortening-bread...I would be there with roller-skates on," she added with a laugh. In November 2019, Cleo's house sustained extensive damages in a fire. Fortunately neither Cleo nor anyone else was harmed physically in the fire, but she lost many of her most treasured personal mementoes, and rebuilding became extra-challenging for her once the COVID-19 pandemic began. I was honored to join with Bob Marovich, Dave Marsh, Chris Phillips, and many others in supporting a fully successful GoFundMe campaign that helped to provide Cleo with what she needed to rebuild. Cleo asked me to thank once again everyone involved and all donors for helping her in her time of need. "They don't know how they blessed my soul," she said. "I've been able to regain so much of what I've lost. With their help, I was able to get back everything that I really wanted. [The GoFundMe campaign] was a big, big blessing for me." Cleo, who continues to live in Birmingham, AL, turned 80 last spring, and her current church hosted a major birthday celebration of her life's ongoing and lasting musical, spiritual, and social-justice legacy. I was so happy and honored to be there personally to celebrate my friend's birthday with her family and other friends. And with some help from my pal Chris Phillips, I was able to provide her with a very special little birthday-gift package of Springsteen CDs and DVDs that included all of her officially released work with him to date, as well as other gospel-influenced music from Bruce's official catalog. It fully replaced and enhanced a similar set of CDs/DVDs that she had lost in the 2019 fire. I also got to make my first visits to many of the historical sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma that are tied to the Civil Rights Movement, including 16th Street Baptist Church and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a deeply moving and inspirational experience, of course, and one that continues to provide me with much-needed insight and hope during our current troubled days. And finally, I got to hear Cleo Kennedy sing once more, live and in person again. It had been almost thirty years since that last happened for me, and I am happy to report that she still can hit those beautiful high notes. (I've told her that if she ever does get to sing with Bruce Springsteen somewhere on stage once more, I intend to be "the first in line" to buy tickets.) She also continues to inspire, not just with her voice but also with how she's chosen consistently to live her life, remaining an extraordinarily positive force in the face of every obstacle that's ever stood or continues to stand in her way. She truly "lives it every day" and "keeps pushing 'til it's understood." And I think once more of what she told me back in 2012 after hearing "We Are Alive" for the first time: "We are still alive...we're still here, and it took a lot of faith, a lot of determination, a lot of standing up..." On this day especially, I am filled with gratitude for all of those freedom-fighters who are no longer with us physically, but whose legacy still stands with us, shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart. And I thank my friend and hero Cleo Kennedy, for standing up and continuing to do so, inspiring me and so many others to do the same.

August 14, 2024 While it's August and summer-vacation season is still in full swing along the Jersey Shore, The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University certainly ain't takin' it easy. Archives activity remains strong this month, with some post-summer Archives programming having been announced recently, as well. Speakin' of summer vacation, if you happen to find yourself on the Asbury Park boardwalk at any point this summer, you can check out the Archives' pop-up exhibit space and shop, located inside the Convention Hall complex at 1317 Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. Officially dubbed The Springsteen Archives Asbury Park Outpost, it offers visitors a place to check out some items on rotating display from the Archives (with the current display focused on the 50th anniversary of The Stone Pony,) attend one of the various special events and programs planned for the space, and - of course - purchase some exclusive Archives merch, with profits benefiting the Archives. The Springsteen Archives Asbury Park Outpost opened in June, with plans to remain in operation all summer and through the end of the year. From now through the end of this month, you can visit the Outpost 11am-7pm Monday through Thursday, and 11am-8pm Friday through Sunday. After August, plans are in place for the Outpost to remain in operation through the rest of 2024, but on just five days each week - Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - with specific hours for each day to be announced later. If you can't visit the Outpost in person, the Archives' recently launched online store offers another opportunity to score some exclusive Archives merch. Click here to visit the online store. There also are two special book-signing events happening at the Outpost this month: On Saturday, August 17 beginning at 2pm, you can meet author/photographer Nicki Germaine and obtain a signed copy of her book Springsteen: Liberty Hall . Click here for more information. On Saturday, August 24 beginning at 1pm, you can meet author Nick Corasaniti and obtain a signed copy of his book I Don't Want to Go Home: The Oral History of The Stone Pony . Click here for more information. Corasaniti also has been added as a special additional author this month in the Archives' ongoing Conversations With Our Curator series, in which Archives curator Melissa Ziobro holds an online conversation with one or more authors, followed by an audience Q&A session. Registration to attend any of these online events (via Zoom) is free and open to the public. The conversation with Corasaniti will take place on Wednesday, August 28, beginning at 7pm ET. The Archives recently announced Conversations With Our Curator online events for September, October, and November, as well, featuring authors Kenneth Campbell & Kenneth Womack, Steven Hyden, and Letters To You contributor Caroline Madden. Click here for more information - including Zoom registration links - for all upcoming online Conversations With Our Curator events. And click here to view the Archives' Conversations with our Curator   YouTube playlist for all past conversations. Finally, some tickets still remain available for the Archives-hosted - and co-presented with the Spring-Nuts Facebook group - solo benefit concert by Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie , taking place at Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre on Saturday August 24 at 8pm. All tickets are general admission (individually seated) and cost only $25 each, with proceeds from the concert benefiting the Archives, Fulfill Monmouth & Ocean Counties , and TeachRock . Click here for more information, and to purchase tickets for the Adam Weiner solo benefit concert.

August 9, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: London-based journalist and Letters To You contributor Herpreet Grewal attended both of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's concerts on July 25 and 27 at London's Wembley Stadium, wrapping up their 2024 Tour's European leg, with the next North American leg of the tour scheduled to kick off next week in Pittsburgh, PA. We're pleased to present below Herpreet's reflections on both of London's shows, accompanied by the superb photography of   René van Diemen . Night 1 - 25 July, 2024 It’s a bit surreal going to a Bruce Springsteen show on a weekday work night. Usually I am queuing for days or combining a holiday with a tour stop. I got to Wembley Stadium twenty minutes before he took to the stage. Oddly, as I rushed through the turnstiles I bumped into a friend who was sitting in the exact same section as me, albeit ten rows apart. Halfway through the show, I saw him standing on the pitch and wondered how he had got there. He later told me he’d left the show to do the roll call for the second show's queue, and had to buy a second ticket to re-enter the gig after he was done! I was flabbergasted at the latest queue politics; apparently this has been the norm recently in the U.S., as well as in Europe. It made me even more glad to have a no-stress seat ticket. As soon as Bruce bellowed an enthusiastic greeting to London, he got right down to business, launching into "Lonesome Day." "Seeds," a dark tale - featured on Springsteen’s Live/1975-85 collection - of a homeless man looking for work and trying to care for his family, was next. The gig’s seamless and fiery start only built as the show went on, with Bruce’s full-throated affirmations of “London!!” in between "My Love Will Not Let You Down," "No Surrender," "Ghosts," "Letter to You," and "The Promised Land." But it was during "Hungry Heart" that crowd participation went up several notches, with the approximately 90,000-strong audience singing the entire first verse, leading Bruce to make several approving sounds. Performer and audience were in sync.  It was exactly the right moment for Bruce to take a spiritual temperature check in his preacher-like way. As the band segued into "Spirit in the Night," Bruce roared, “Can you feel the spirit? I want you to answer! Let me see your hands!” Then we got the existential and pensive chain of "Reason to Believe," "Atlantic City," "Youngstown" - as politically relevant today as they were decades ago when they were written - and then "Long Walk Home," which he said was a “prayer for my country." The mood became lighter and more party-like with "The E Street Shuffle," which spotlighted the differing drum and percussion talents of Max Weinberg and Anthony Almonte. This was perfectly followed by the most popular soul cover from the Only the Strong Survive album: "Nightshift." The two upbeat tracks led into a majestic "Racing in the Street," which had hundreds of people holding up their phones as torches while dusk started to fall, truly creating the peak enchanted moment of the show. "Last Man Standing" was next, preceded by the always touchingly told story of Bruce’s late former bandmate George Theiss. Many speak about how grief has been on Bruce’s mind recently, and no doubt it has been, since he lost his mother only this year, but he was also talking like this at shows ten years ago when dealing with the deaths of bandmates Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici. It’s a fact of life that you lose people as you age. The magic of Springsteen is always in embracing this lesson, even before these more explicit explorations of grief and death in his own life. As he says, death gives life a clarity and “grief is the price we pay for having loved well." Unlike the show in Dublin, though, his meditation on death was shorter, which made the show slightly less somber and more balanced but without lacking any of the depth. "Backstreets" and "Because the Night" were next. (I wondered if Patti Smith, who is also on tour at the moment, had been in London this weekend instead of last weekend, if she would have joined him on stage.) "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," and "The Rising" segued into "Badlands" in a powerhouse quartet of songs. The usual show-finishers such as "Thunder Road" followed, which also included an audience singalong of the entire first verse with Bruce cooing as it happened, softening him into the idealistic "Land of Hope and Dreams" and the communal jamboree of "Born to Run," "Bobby Jean," "Dancing in the Dark," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," and "Twist and Shout." He brought the crowd back to earth (and mortality) with "I’ll See You In My Dreams," an uplifting paean (as is the rock ‘n’ roll way) to loss, with hope we will see our loved ones once again. As Bruce was left by himself on stage with his acoustic guitar to sing the bittersweet number, night had fallen and so had a hush, but peoples’ phone-torches were out again, lighting up Wembley like fireflies in the dark. There was definitely magic in the night, right until the end. Night 2 - 27 July, 2024 The last show of the European leg had more of a relaxed, post-working-week feel. Maybe Bruce was feeling that vibe as he came out and greeted the crowd. “ Hello, London! It’s Saturday night! ” he bellowed, before kicking off with "Lonesome Day," just like on Night 1. I was attending with a friend who was seeing Bruce for the first time, so it was certainly interesting to see some aspects of the show through the eyes of a more recent fan. My friend pointed to some of the band members as they came on stage at the start, asking if one of the women was Patti Scialfa. I said "No," and explained that she hasn’t been on this tour much. Bruce’s choice to play a double-whammy from the Darkness on the Edge of Town album, "Candy’s Room" and "Adam Raised A Cain," sent me into a frenzy. His guitar work on the latter was especially passionate and powerful. Those early songs are imprinted on the band. "Death To My Hometown" and "The Promised Land" were next, followed by another "Hungry Heart" with strong audience participation, but the timing and spontaneity were not as impeccable as the first night.  After "Darlington County," Bruce announced, “What better treat on a Saturday night than to have the entire E Street Band with Patti Scialfa," and then she appeared, almost like out of nowhere, wearing a sparkly black top and ready to sing "Tougher Than the Rest" with her husband. I turned to my friend to say what a surprise her appearance was; she hadn’t been onstage with the band for months. Her presence brought a tangible, heartfelt softness to the rendition, which they both performed standing face-to-face, almost touching, with the microphone stand between them. Some fans said she looked like she had missed him, and the tender hugs and kisses held this observation to be true. After the soulful performance, and with one more kiss and hug, she left the stage. Bruce launched into "Darkness on the Edge of Town," "Youngstown," and "Long Walk Home," a trio slightly different from the first night’s show, but still powerful and with the same political message. "Youngstown" spotlighted a fierce Nils guitar solo to screams and applause. I have to mention that I had been sitting in the deaf section, and I was amazed at the energy of the two women using sign language. They were almost as energetic as Bruce, as they took turns signing the intricate Springsteen lyrics. I’d never seen that at a show before. "The E Street Shuffle," "Nightshift," "Mary’s Place," "The River," "Last Man Standing," "Backstreets," "Because the Night," "She’s the One," "Wrecking Ball," "The Rising," "Badlands," and "Thunder Road" followed in the standard barnstorming way. Before he started to play "Last Man Standing," Bruce gave his usual rap about the nature of death and the meaning of life using the memory of late friend George Theiss, with whom he was in his first band, The Castiles. That band lasted for three years. "For teenagers, that’s pretty incredible,” Bruce noted, as he often does. Then came something not usually stated so explicitly, though clearly heartfelt and lived up to at every single show. “Now the E Street Band... We’ve been here for fifty fuckin’ years!” The crowd applauded, to which Springsteen quickly responded, “And we ain’t going to quit, either!”   A friend had told me "Jungleland" had been on the setlist for Thursday but was not played, so it was expected on the second night. During Saturday night, a core contingent of diehard fans in the pit started chanting for it and Bruce reportedly said, “Okay!" But it never came, and instead we got "Born in the U.S.A." in that slot. Springsteen was visibly more tired than Thursday night, and this was later confirmed by those close enough to see his face. (Perhaps having more than just one day off between shows, which has been the case for most of the 2024 touring schedule and seems to have had an overall positive impact, should be "the new normal" moving forward.) As a result, on Night 2 he played a somewhat shorter show and one less song than Night 1. It also was not quite as flowing and majestic, but still a great show with amazing surprises. And that "we ain't going to quit" moment was priceless. All photos by René van Diemen; used with permission. Connect with René on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter/X , and/or via email .

August 8, 2024 Last night, two weeks before he's scheduled to visit Philadelphia for his own two-show stand with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen was in the City of Brotherly Love as a special surprise guest at Zach Bryan's final Philly show in 2024. Springsteen first appeared as a surprise guest at one of Bryan's concerts last March, in Brooklyn, NY, where they performed a live version of "Sandpaper," Bryan's then-unreleased song that he later issued as a studio version featuring Springsteen on his latest album just last month . This time around, Bryan and Springsteen performed together one of Springsteen's compositions: "Atlantic City," live at the Philadelphia Eagles' football stadium (with Bryan sporting an Eagles shirt) in South Philly, no less, not very far from where mobster Phillip "The Chicken Man" Testa was killed back in 1981, inspiring the song's opening lines. They then performed "Sandpaper" together, as they did together in Brooklyn last March. Later in the show, also just as he did last March, Springsteen returned to the stage to join Bryan, his band, and their other special guests - who last night were The Lumineers and Shane Gillis - for Bryan's standard show-closer "Revival," delivered to the Philly audience in an epic lotsa-solo-spotlights version which also was accompanied by fireworks. Fan-shot YouTube videos of "Atlantic City," "Sandpaper," and "Revival" are embedded below:

August 5, 2024 Yesterday TeachRock launched another surprise pop-up raffle for a pair of tickets to its special August 22 Thom Zimny-hosted Stories From The Road fundraising event in Asbury Park, NJ . And this time around, the pot is sweetened with two GA tix to see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform on the Asbury Park beach at Sea.Hear.Now 2024 on September 15 , as well! The Stories From The Road tickets aren't just any old pair of tickets, either. The raffle winner will be seated at the table of the E Street Choir's own Curtis King, Jr. Curtis also will have some extra goodies on hand to present personally to the winner and their guest: two signed copies of Nicki Germaine's Springsteen: Liberty Hall book and a promise to have a video-chat with Curtis at a later date. Every $25 donation to TeachRock made between now and tomorrow, Tuesday August 6, at 11:59 a.m. ET will score you a chance to win this awesome prize package. And if you donate $100 or more at one time, every $20 of your donation scores you a chance to win. Click here to donate/enter , and here for your easy reference are all of the important details... Each donation is an opportunity to receive: 2 seated tickets for the Stories From the Road Event at the Asbury Lanes, August 22, 2024 2 GA @ Sea.Hear.Now Tickets for Sunday, September 15, 2024 2 signed Springsteen: Liberty Hall books by Nicki Germaine 1 Video call chat with Curtis King, Jr. Enter as often as you wish until 11:59 a.m. ET, Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Please note: This package does not include meet and greets or photo lines with any E Street Band Members. Winner will be notified sometime after 12:00 p.m. ET on August 6, 2024. Packages are non-transferable. Packages do not include parking. Must be 21 years old to attend. Click here to enter now , and good luck!

July 4, 2024 Now here's some MUCH more positive and uplifting Stevie Van Zandt-/Independence Day-related news! As per the official announcement , on August 22, 2024 in Asbury Park, NJ, there will be a VERY special benefit event for TeachRock . Here are all of the known details, directly from the official TeachRock announcement: In celebration of Independence Day, we have a special event announcement to share! Film director Thom Zimny will moderate TeachRock's 2024 marquee benefit event, showing never before seen videos of the E Street Band and discussing stories from the road with band members. All funds raised support TeachRock's programs. Stories From the Road, Main Event: Asbury Lanes, 7pm Pictures From the Road, Pre-event: Stone Pony, 4:30pm SPACE IS LIMITED. FOR TABLE RESERVATIONS AND SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION CONTACT MICHAEL-ANN HADERS, MICHAEL@TEACHROCK.ORG CLOSED TO PRESS. THIS WILL BE A PHONE-FREE EVENT, SECURITY BAGS WILL BE SUPPLIED UPON ARRIVAL. Tix are expensive, for sure, but if you and/or your group can afford it, this promises to be a very special evening indeed, with super-rare footage, beautiful photography, and personal memories shared directly by key E Street Band members... all in support of a great cause, of course. Here for your easy reference are the various ticket-purchase options and levels, including the benefits associated with each level, again directly from the official TeachRock announcement : $25,000 The First Song Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 6 Guests / private table 6 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 3 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Ask a Question to E Street Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $10,000 The Audible Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 4 Guests / private table 4 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 2 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $5,000 The Melody Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 2 Guests / private table 2 Guests - private Tour Photography Reception A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 1 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $2,000 The Last Song Sponsor Acknowledgment from the stage Logo placements on all promotional materials 2 Guests / private table A Signed Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Print 1 Personally Signed Nicki Germaine Springsteen: Liberty Hall Books Open Bar and Snacks for you and your guests $500 The Encore Supporter Logo placements on all promotional materials 1 Guest / Seated A Pam Springsteen or Rob DeMartin Photo Again, for all ticket-purchases, table-reservations, and sponsorship information, please email TeachRock's Michael-Ann Haders at this address: michael@teachrock.org [behind-the-scenes images from the 2024 tour's current European leg by Rob DeMartin; used with permission]

August 3, 2024 Jay Weinberg , currently drumming with Suicidal Tendencies , regularly posts on his official YouTube channel videos which are part of his "Live Drum Cam" series: professionally recorded videos of select performances that highlight the aural and visual perspectives of Jay powerfully pounding away behind the drum-kit. The latest entry, posted yesterday, is taken from the June 22, 2024 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert in Barcelona, Spain, during which Jay temporarily took over his father Max's drums to perform "Radio Nowhere" with Bruce and the band. We've embedded the video above, so you can watch it right here if you wish. It's a great, rockin' segment of the show (including HORNS! ) that's professionally filmed and recorded from start to finish, and it's all capped off with some sweet, moving hugs and kisses for Jay from proud papa Max and "Uncle Bruce." Here's more on the video from Jay himself, as shared in the video's description section on his YouTube channel, along with complete production credits for the video: “Perhaps stating the obvious, I’ve seen ‪ @brucespringsteen‬  and the mighty E Street Band more than I have any other artist over the last 25 years…it’s got to be in the multiple hundreds of shows by now. And I can say with complete confidence — the dates I’ve seen of their current tour have been amongst my absolute favorite times seeing them. Every night is pure mastery in storytelling and rock and roll power; an emotional journey of music that’s inspiring and moving in every way. My wife and I have tried to catch as much of this tour as possible. A joy for me, personally, to finally share with her this huge part of my family’s and my history — especially to watch my Dad turn into a complete drumming weapon night after night. 🔥🥁🔥 It was a complete surprise to receive an invitation from The Boss himself to sit in for a song during the last show of their summer tour that we’d be able to see — in Barcelona, right before linking up with ‪ @suicidaltendencies ‬  for our summer tour. Out of all the songs I learned and played on tour with Bruce throughout 2009 — many of which drew from genres I had never really approached in my four years of drumming experience — ‘Radio Nowhere’ felt the most like a natural extension of the music I had gravitated towards as a teenager. To this day, this song holds a very special place in my heart. It was a thrill to revisit playing on E Street, 15 years later. I’m eternally grateful to Bruce, to my Dad, to everyone on and off this stage…a true family. For sharing this moment, and for the lifetime of memories. This is one I’ll never forget. Hope you enjoy it!” Video recorded by: Rob DeMartin, Pam Springsteen, and Chris Hilson Audio recorded by: John Cooper (& audio captured by GoPro HERO 12) Thumbnail photos: Rob DeMartin Special thank you to Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Dad, Jon Landau, George Travis, Rob DeMartin, Pam Springsteen, John Cooper, Matt Payne, Troy Milner, Kevin Buell, Chris Hilson, Mona Okada, and Sony. - ‪ @MixWaveOfficial ‬ : Jay Weinberg Virtual Instrument: https://www.mixwave.net/jayweinberg - Jay Weinberg Signature ‪ @SJCCustomDrums ‬ : https://www.sjcdrums.com/pages/jay-we ... - Jay Weinberg Signature ‪ @VaterPercussionUSA‬  908 Drumstick: https://www.vater.com/908 - Jay Weinberg Official Website: https://www.jayweinbergofficial.com - Jay Weinberg Official Webstore: https://www.jayweinbergofficial.com/shop

July 29, 2024 Happy Birthday, Patti Scialfa! Summer 2024 not only marks another birthday for her, but also the 40th anniversary of Patti joining the E Street Band, with her first official gig occurring exactly forty years and one month ago on June 29, 1984, the opening night of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour in St. Paul, Minnesota . To celebrate "Red"'s special day and extra-special anniversary this year, we're traveling even further back in time to 1976, to explore Patti's work at her first professional recording sessions, a set of sessions in which she also first happened to intersect with E Street. The 1980s was, of course, when Patti began performing and recording with rock-and-soul royalty, first with Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes at the beginning of the decade, and then later with David Johansen, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Buster Poindexter (David Johansen's alter ego,) The Rolling Stones, and finally Keith Richards on his 1988 Talk Is Cheap solo album. But back in 1976, her first year of professional recording work, she was singing on records by major figures in another genre: jazz fusion. So let's set the scene... It's late summer '76 in New York City. Patti's at Atlantic Recording Studios to sing on a track for the debut album by her friend Narada Michael Walden. She first met Walden (who in later decades would collaborate closely with Clarence Clemons on several of his solo projects) in Miami, while she was a student at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, and he's invited her to provide backing vocals, along with legendary bassist Will Lee (another friend and fellow Frost School of Music alum) and saxophonist/singer Norma Jean Bell of Frank Zappa/P-Funk/Chic fame, on the track "Delightful." Among the other musicians working on the track is a keyboardist by the name of David Sancious, who's quickly become a rising star in the jazz fusion world after his departure from Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band two years earlier. Click below to listen to "Delightful" from Narada Michael Walden's album Garden of Love Light , with Narada Michael Walden on lead vocal, acoustic piano, and drums; Raymond Gomez on guitar; Will Lee on bass and vocals; David Sancious on Fender Rhodes piano and organ; Norma Jean Bell on saxophone and vocals; Sammy Figueroa on congas; and Patti Scialfa (then credited on the album as "Patty Scalfa") on vocals: Sancious was so impressed with Scialfa's singing that he invited her to join his jazz fusion band Tone. Patti sang multi-tracked vocals on the opening track of David Sancious and Tone's "lost" 1976 album Dance of the Age of Enlightenment , "Overture - Wake Up (To a Brand New Day of Love)" with Sancious also on vocals, acoustic piano, organ, synthesizer, and guitar; former E Street Band drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter on drums and percussion; and Gerald "Gerry" Carboy on bass. Recorded at Nederland, Colorado's famous Caribou Ranch Recording Studio, the album finally received an official full-scale release just last summer, with a remastering process using the original master tapes (at last played back at proper speed, unlike the oft-bootlegged '76 promo-only release) and supervised by Sancious himself. Click here to order a copy of Dance of the Age of Enlightenment , which is currently available only in the compact-disc (CD) format. As 1976 drew to a close, Patti Scialfa received another invitation for session-work from her friend Narada Michael Walden. This time around, Walden was producing an album by famous free jazz and world fusion trumpeter Don Cherry (also the stepfather and father, respectively, of musicians Neneh Cherry and Eagle-Eye Cherry,) entitled Hear & Now . Patti sang with Cheryl Alexander and Phoenix Volaitis on the recording of Walden's composition "Surrender Rose." Also featured on the track, recorded in New York at Electric Lady Studios, were some other friends of Patti: Clifford "Cliff" Carter (who later became James Taylor's keyboardist) and Stan Samole from her Frost School of Music days, and her Chelsea/NYC neighbor Steve Jordan, who became a key production collaborator on Patti's 23rd Street Lullaby and Play It As It Lays solo albums in the 2000s, and most recently played drums on tour with The Rolling Stones. Click below to listen to "Surrender Rose" from Don Cherry's album Hear & Now , with Don Cherry on trumpet; Stan Samole on guitar; Clifford "Cliff" Carter on organ; Narada Michael Walden on acoustic/electric pianos and tom-toms; Steve Jordan on drums; Neil Jason on bass; Raphael Cruz on percussion; Cheryl Alexander, Phoenix Volaitis, and Patti Scialfa (then credited on the album as "Patty Scialfa") on vocals; and Lois Colin on harp: Finally, we simply can't celebrate both Patti's birthday and the 40th anniversary of her joining the E Street Band without revisiting a major highlight from her first tour with the band: that version of "Cover Me" from the Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 album, featuring Patti's very jazz-like interpolation of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' classic "Nowhere to Run" as it begins: Happy Birthday, Ms. Patti Scialfa, and many, many more! And here's hoping that before this special birthday/anniversary year is over, we Scialfa fans finally will get to hear that fourth solo album, as promised onstage by your biggest fan last October: Bring it on, Birthday Girl!