It was the strangest of all team-ups, at the strangest of times.
It was just after Memorial Day in 2020, still very much the early days of the Great Pandemic.
The world had shut down, society was distanced, and entertainment options were few.
Most musicians went small and intimate, live-streaming from their living rooms or starting radio shows and podcasts.
But not the Dropkick Murphys. They went big.
On May 29th, the Boston band performed Streaming Outta Fenway, an audacious live-streamed concert performed in a completely empty Fenway Park.
In a Fenway first, the band performed in the infield, which only served to visually underscore the distance between the band members. In a time full of surreal visuals, this was surely one of the strangest.
The event raised over $700,000 for Boston-area charities, no doubt helped by the participation of one Bruce Springsteen, who performed live with the band–but not from Fenway.
Bruce wisely chose not to risk the trip to Boston. Instead, he streamed his contribution to “Rose Tattoo” from his home studio. Bruce’s video was broadcast to the Fenway jumbotron, leading to the strange sight of a giant Springsteen performing with a tiny band.
That was actually the second time Bruce and the Murphys performed “Rose Tattoo” without an audience, however. The first was back in 2013.
On the day of the Boston Marathon bombing, Bruce called Murphys frontman Ken Casey to offer his support. Casey accepted it. They decided to re-record their recent hit, “Rose Tattoo” (it was only a few months old at the time), this time as a collaboration with Springsteen.
As he would do years later during the pandemic, Bruce provided his contribution remotely from his home studio. By the time the band released it as the title track of a benefit EP in May, Bruce and the E Street Band were back on tour in Europe.
The new version of “Rose Tattoo” peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs list, and the EP raised over $300,000, which the band donated to more than sixty victims of the Boston tragedy.
Rose Tattoo
Recorded: 2013
Released: Rose Tattoo: For Boston Charity (2013)
First performed: May 29, 2020 (Boston, MA)
Last performed: May 29, 2020 (Boston, MA)
© February 28, 2026
