In November 1990, Bruce Springsteen held his first publicly advertised concert in over two years. It would be another year and a half before he would play his next one.<\/p>\n
With the E Street Band on extended hiatus and his most recent album now three years in the rear view mirror, Bruce’s name was most frequently invoked at the end of “Whatever happened to…?”<\/p>\n
But on the nights of November 16th and 17th in 1990, a pair of benefit shows for The Christic Institute brought the semi-reclusive Springsteen back to the stage to support the famed public interest law firm.<\/p>\n
The Christic Institute was founded in 1980. Technically a law firm, the institute employed litigation along with education and public organizing as a lever for social reform, representing the victims of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, the Greensboro Massacre, and more.<\/p>\n
Over time, the Christic Institute began shining a light into the shadowy actions of the federal government. In 1989 a judge dismissed one of their cases involving the Iran-Contra affair as a frivolous lawsuit and levied penalties upon them so high that they were unable to pay. Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and Bruce Springsteen took to the stage to raise money and attention for the beleaguered crusading organization.<\/p>\n