New for 2024: Updated entry for 1969; review for 1969 and 1973
1969: Bruce performs in Virginia for the first time when Child plays a free outdoor concert at Monroe Park in Richmond. Noise complaints from local college students(!) force an early end to the show. The band drives back to New Jersey, where they headline that evening at Pandemonium in Wanamassa.
1973: Bruce and the as yet unnamed E Street Band open for Chicago at the Hampton Roads Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. Once again, Bruce and the boys outshine the headliners (as far as the press is concerned).
1974: Bruce headlines a six-hour multi-act show at Kent State University.
1977: Finally free to record again after settling his legal dispute with Mike Appel, Bruce officially kicks off the recording sessions for Darkness on the Edge of Town.
1981: Bruce and the E Street Band play their third of six shows at London’s Wembley Arena.
1984: Bruce sits in with John Eddie and the Front Street Runners at the Stone Pony, performing four cover songs with the band. Earlier in the day, Max Weinberg releases his book The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock’s Great Drummers.
1985: Bruce plays his first ever show in Ireland, kicking off the European leg of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour with a show at Slane Castle, before the largest crowd that Bruce has ever played to (over 90,000 people). This is also Bruce’s return to the stage after getting married, and he marks the occasion with a one-time-only performance of “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” in the encores.
1992: With hiring complete, Bruce convenes the entire touring 1992-1993 band for the first time for a rehearsal at Hollywood Center Studios Soundstage.
1993: Bruce wraps up World Tour 1993 with a show at Valle Hovin Stadion in Oslo. “Born to Be Wild” in the encore is a tour premiere, featuring vocals by Bruce’s roadie Rick “Chainsaw” Lapointe. Warren Kay, another crew member, joins during the final encore of “Twist and Shout.”
2005: Bruce brings his solo acoustic tour to Spain, starting with a single night in Barcelona.
2016: When the River Tour stops in Glasgow, Bruce opens the show with “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,” and tour premieres “American Skin (41 Shots)” and “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”
2018: Springsteen on Broadway continues its theatrical run at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City.
2019: Bruce attends (but does not perform at) Bob Seger’s concert in Holmdel, New Jersey. Bob dedicates “Downtown Train” to Bruce.
