The River Tour

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The third leg of the tour, during April through June 1981 (and pushed back three weeks from the original schedule, due to Springsteen's exhaustion from the first two legs), represented Springsteen's first real foray into Western Europe, and his first appearances there at all since his very short venture there following the release of  Born to Run  in 1975. In total 34 shows were played, including six nights at London's Wembley Arena. Ten countries were visited: West Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

The final leg was billed as a "homecoming tour", visiting U.S. cities that had been special in Springsteen's career for multiple night stands, beginning with six nights that opened his native New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena. After 34 shows in just 10 cities, this leg concluded on September 13 and 14 at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum.

  • 1 Broadcasts and Recordings
  • 2 Personnel
  • 4 Postponed dates

Broadcasts and Recordings [ ]

Of all Springsteen's tours, The River Tour is perhaps the least known in retrospect to people who were not there. For many years, unlike tours before and since, there was little official audio or video documentation of it — no live radio broadcasts, no live album, no music videos made from concert footage, and no DVD releases. The  Live/1975-85  box set had thirteen selections from the tour, but they formed little thematic pattern. Shows from the tour were of course bootlegged, but otherwise they are mostly lost to time.

Partial video of the November 5, 1980 show in Tempe was released as part of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection , and audio of the missing songs was released through the Bruce Springsteen Archives as a free download on December 24, 2015.

Several shows have since been released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives:

Nassau Coliseum, New York 1980 , released March 25, 2015 and re-mixed and re-released on July 5, 2019.

Wembley Arena, June 5, 1981 , released August 3, 2018.

Nassau Coliseum, New York 12/29/80 , released July 5, 2019.

Brendan Byrne Arena, July 9, 1981 released May 1, 2020.

Nassau Coliseum, Dec 28, 1980 , released December 3, 2021

London, June 4, 1981 , released June 3, 2022

Personnel [ ]

  • Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica
  • Roy Bittan  – piano, background vocals
  • Clarence Clemons  – saxophone, percussion, background vocals
  • Danny Federici  – organ, glockenspiel, background vocals
  • Garry Tallent  – bass guitar
  • Steven Van Zandt  – guitars, background vocals
  • Max Weinberg  – drums

Postponed dates [ ]

  • 1 E Street Band
  • 2 Cindy Mizelle
  • 3 Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Tour
  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

Bruce Springsteen in Chicago: songs of fidelity and family.

Bruce Springsteen review – a full immersion in The River

United Center, Chicago Playing his 1980 double album in full, and adding a tribute to Glenn Frey, Springsteen’s stamina, exuberance and ability to connect remain unrivalled

B ruce Springsteen and the E Street Band take a full two hours to lead a Chicago audience through The River , the double album they released in 1980 and are commemorating on this anniversary tour, which started last weekend and continues through March.

The effort itself is a feat: containing a Top 10 single (Hungry Heart) and the title song that has endured as one of his signatures, The River is a true testament to album-oriented listening, especially for an album that contains a whopping 20 songs. Detailing a coming of age, The River touches on themes that Springsteen had written about before and has done since. But what makes the album unique is that it takes its time to explore the highs and lows of growing pains, as adolescence wrestles its way into adulthood.

The themes, Springsteen said on stage, included fidelity and family. “I wanted to imagine and write about those things. I figured if I wrote about them, then I’d get a step closer to getting them in my life.”

For a stadium act to luxuriate on all these different moods and tempos and topics could be seen in the Spotify era as downright archaic. With fewer new artists approaching their music to make grand gestures in favour of making records involving a battalion of songwriters and producers and intended to push the live brand, the River tour is a testament to an era when artists felt emboldened to go deep, pushing their audience beyond the scope of the three-minute single. Enabling these efforts were audiences who were less distracted and mobile in their listening compared to today, which gave albums like The River patient ears more willing to sit awhile and soak in all of the nuances.

Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa: a rowdy good time.

At the United Center, Springsteen notes that he was a much different person when he wrote The River. In his introduction of I Wanna Marry You, he describes its earnest pledge of fidelity as “a song of youth – love in all its glory and all of its early tentativeness before reality sets in … not real but I had to start someplace.”

This is not necessarily a rose-tinted retrospective. There are throwaway songs on The River that still sound hard to justify bringing back to life. A recent boxed set reveals songs that didn’t make the cut but maybe should have earned the places taken by raucous bar rockers like Ramrod. And with its name-checks of Burt Reynolds and his black Trans Am, Cadillac Ranch may have exceeded its sell-by date. Nevertheless, the E Street Band still prove formidable, able to break even its weakest material down to a rowdy good time.

The greatest revelation of the revisiting of this album is that, at its core, The River sees the band do something rare: get quiet. With the songs played in order, the album begins slowly to stretch out and soon, the slower songs begin to edge out the quick and fast. These songs – Point Blank, Fade Away, Stolen Car – grow into cinematic set pieces and since they are not often featured on the band’s setlist, there is a sense the band was energized, skillfully filtering all their strengths for big gestures into smaller pockets. This is especially true for The Price You Pay, the sweet spot of the night, which sounds most unlike other Springsteen songs. Four other voices harmonize with Springsteen for most of the vocals, which become lush and haunting.

Clocking in at three hours and 20 minutes, the show is the usual marathon length for Springsteen and, at 66, he may have been sweating but didn’t show it. Sure, his sprints through the audience now are leisurely strolls. Hungry Heart turns into the equivalent of a meet and greet as he clowns with audience members and then, without prompting, turns his back and falls backwards, allowing himself to be crowd surfed back to the foot of the stage.

Despite the deaths of core members keyboardist Danny Federici and saxophonist Clarence Clemons , the E Street Band still plays like they met up last week. This band doesn’t know slick, exemplified on Crush on You, which sounds fresh out of the garage. Guitarist Steven Van Zandt is the comic foil as he and Springsteen improvise lyrics, exchanged at a single microphone. Following Two Hearts, they attached a coda: It Takes Two, the 1965 Motown hit for Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston. On Springsteen’s other side is guitarist Nils Lofgren who plays with a sense of harmonics that gives songs bounce and color. But his spotlight comes when Springsteen hands Cover Me over to him and he plays a rousing solo heavy with distortion, but never noise.

Once The River is complete, the band continue for 80 minutes, performing 12 songs, including Take it Easy, a tribute to Glenn Frey, the Eagles co-founder who died on Monday . Springsteen sang the song while accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar, with fiddler Soozie Tyrell. With so much death in the headlines since the beginning of the year, especially involving musical icons, here is a night that doesn’t forget life comes first.

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Springsteen’s ‘The River’ tour: déjà vu, 36 years later

In 1980, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played their album “The River” at Seattle Center. Thirty-six years later, they’ve come back to the same venue for a reprise.

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The last time Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took “The River” tour to the Northwest, it was Oct. 24, 1980 , at what was then called the Seattle Center Coliseum — it wouldn’t be named KeyArena for another 14 years.

Springsteen was already a star, but he wouldn’t become a superstar until 1984 with “Born in the U.S.A.” He was 35 the year that album broke big, an unheard-of age for superstardom then, and certainly now.

To many longtime Springsteen fans, Thursday’s sold-out concert at KeyArena will feel like déjà vu. And though Springsteen is 66, he still shows youthful energy, and his concerts on this tour have run longer than those original 1980 marathons. Most of the E Streeters are still with him, though noticeably absent are the deceased Clarence Clemons (saxophone) and Danny Federici (keyboards).

Concert Preview

Bruce springsteen.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at KeyArena, 305 Harrison St., Seattle; sold out (800-745-3000 or keyarena.com ).

The songs, however, will be much the same. Bruce has promoted this tour as his chance to revisit “The River,” certainly one of his best albums, but one that was in many ways eclipsed by the mass popularity of “Born in the U.S.A.”

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Last year, Springsteen released a four-CD box set of outtakes and remasters from “The River,” titled “The Ties That Bind.” That refers to a song on the original double LP, but it was also Bruce’s original album title, when he thought of the project as a pop-oriented single album.

Almost as soon as he released the box set he decided to tour with the E Streeters. They skipped Seattle last time, but Thursday is one of two Northwest stops this year. The program will include the full “River” album, in order, with other rarities thrown in.

Springsteen has described “The River” as his “coming-of-age record,” which saw him move his set of characters from “Born to Run” into adulthood. The title track, for example, is a song about his older sister and brother-in-law and their struggles to become parents and forge a marriage in the midst of economic challenges. His young characters face adulthood here, and quickly grow weary of it.

As a double album, “The River” pairs these darker songs with garage-rock anthems like “Crush on You.” At a recent concert in Phoenix, Springsteen described the process of making the record as trying to craft something big “that felt like life, felt like an E Street Band show.” And where “Born in the U.S.A.” took off to become an album and a tour of anthems, “The River” has many moments of tautness.

The show sold out moments after tickets went on sale. If you’re lucky enough to find a ticket on the secondary market, you will most certainly pay more than you would have in 1980.

The average ticket price for that 1980 show was $12.

Live Bruce Springsteen Website

springsteen river tour

The River Tour

Order all 24 shows of The River Tour 2016 and Save 10%

Shows will be available on CDs or 24 bit High Resolution downloads, CD-Quality FLAC or Apple Lossless downloads, or MP3s.

The River Tour package includes the shows below. Order Leg 2 of The River Tour here.

Order The River Tour package or pre-order individual shows below:

  • 1/16/2016 Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 1/19/2016 United Center, Chicago, IL
  • 1/27/2016 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
  • 1/29/2016 Verizon Center, Washington, DC
  • 1/31/2016 Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
  • 2/2/2016 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
  • 2/4/2016 TD Garden, Boston, MA
  • 2/8/2016 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
  • 2/10/2016 XL Center, Hartford, CT
  • 2/12/2016 Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2/16/2016 BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL
  • 2/18/2016 Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
  • 2/21/2016 KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
  • 2/23/2016 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
  • 2/25/2016 First Niagara Center, Buffalo, NY
  • 2/27/2016 Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY
  • 2/29/2016 Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN
  • 3/3/2016 BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
  • 3/6/2016 Chaifetz Arena, St Louis, MO
  • 3/10/2016 Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ
  • 3/13/2016 Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
  • 3/15/2016 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
  • 3/17/2016 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
  • 3/28/2016 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘River’ Trek Leads Hot Tours Roundup

"The River Tour" is the leader on Hot Tours with $12.2 million in ticket sales.

By Bob Allen

Bruce Springsteen River Tour 2016 Pittsburgh

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band cap the latest slate of top-grossing Hot Tours (see list, below) with $12.2 million in ticket sales reported from The River Tour .

The North American arena trek is set to play 31 venues through late April, and launched with a sold-out kick-off at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center on Jan. 16. The 14-week tour supports the recent release of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection , a four CD box set featuring the remastered version of 1980’s The River .

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The first five dates of The River Tour are included in this weekly roundup. After the Pittsburgh opener, sold out performances followed in Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Newark, N.J. Together, all five arenas in those cities logged a combined sold ticket count of 90,579.

The top gross among the January performances was reported at Chicago’s United Center on Jan. 19. With a $2.7 million take at the box office, the concert drew a crowd of 19,120 fans.

During the past decade, Springsteen’s tours with the E Street Band have grossed more than $800 million according to Billboard ’s Boxscore archives, with 8.3 million fans in attendance at more than 330 concerts.

The Wrecking Ball world tour stands as his top grosser with $347 million in sales in 2012 and 2013 and ranks ninth among the top 10 grossing tours of all time. The Wrecking Ball tour’s 18-month run included 125 shows with an attendance count topping 3.5 million.

Bruce Springsteen Talks ‘The River’ Tour & New Album Plans

Muse follows in the second slot on the Hot Tours recap with $3.5 million in sales at five performances reported from the North American leg of the world tour in support of its June 2015 release, Drones . The English band launched the trek last May and toured in Europe, Asia and South America before kicking off a North American jaunt on Dec. 1 in Houston. A total of 23 shows were booked in U.S. and Canadian markets through Feb. 1.

This tally includes the performances at arenas in Quebec City, Montreal and Boston that drew a collective total of 66,865 fans. Centre Videotron in Quebec hosted the band for a split date with one show on Jan. 18 and a second night on Jan. 23. Bell Centre in Montreal also had the tour for two shows on Jan. 20 and 21, and Boston’s TD Garden was the site for a Jan. 25 performance. X Ambassadors provided support for all five concerts.

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  • BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN THE RIVER TOUR PASSES AND TICKETS

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to headline 2024 Sea Hear Now in Asbury Park

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springsteen river tour

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are hitting the beach.  

Springsteen and E Street will headline the Sunday, Sept. 15, Sea Hear Now show on the North Beach in Asbury Park. Noah Kahan headlines the Saturday, Sept. 14, show.

Gaslight Anthem, Trey Anastasio Band, The Black Crowes, Norah Jones, 311, The Revivalists, Kool & The Gang, The Hives and more will play over the two days. Up-and-coming local talent at the fest this year includes Joe P and Sonic Blume on Sept. 14; Sunshine Spazz, and Rachel Ana Dobken on Sept. 15.

One-day and two-day ticket presale begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 7. Tickets start at $160 for single day general admission and offerings include two-day general admission, GA+, VIP, platinum and ultimate experience tickets. Fans can sign up now for a presale passcode via the festival website .

Festival co-founder Danny Clinch, a Toms River native, has shot multiple Springsteen albums, starting with 2002’s “The Rising,” and most recently 2020's “Letter to You.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band are closely associated with Asbury Park. Band members have played the city hundreds of times. But performances together in the city have been infrequent, and Springsteen and the E Street Band ticketed shows are even rarer over the last 50 years.

The last time Springsteen and the E Street Band played together in the city was on Dec. 7, 2010, at the Carousel House on the south end of the boardwalk. The performance, for invited fans and friends, was filmed by Thom Zimny for the “Songs from the Promise” video and recorded for the “Live from the Carousel” EP.

In December 2009, Springsteen and the E Street Band performed their 1978 classic “Darkness on the Edge of Town” at the Paramount Theatre, part of the Convention Hall complex on the boardwalk. Zimny filmed the band in the empty theater, and it was released as “Darkness on the Edge of Town: Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park,” part of the “Darkness” 40th anniversary box set.

In March 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their long-awaited Reunion Tour with two sold-out rehearsal shows at Convention Hall. Tickets cost $20 a pop.

The next 10 years saw rehearsal shows, both public and private, and spirited holiday shows with E Street Band members at Convention Hall, the Paramount Theatre, and the former Harry's Roadhouse in the city.

These days, Springsteen is a frequent visitor to the city, but the last time he played here was at the 2020 Light of Day festival, a fundraiser in the fight against Parkinson's disease. The Boss took the stage with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, Jesse Malin and Willie Nile for 13 songs at the Paramount Theatre.

The last E Street Band member to play the city was Jake Clemons, who played the Stone Pony on Oct. 21, 2023. Clinch joined him on stage.

Springsteen and the E Street Band begin a world tour Tuesday, March 19, at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Previously announced area shows include Aug. 21 and 22 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

More: Springsteen Archives names John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne 2024 American Music honorees

More: Sea Hear Now, Bamboozle music festivals both faced heat from fans. Did they deserve it?

Springsteen and the E Street Band played MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford late last summer, on Aug. 30, Sept. 1 and 3. The shows were the last for the band before Springsteen took a break from touring to treat his peptic ulcer disease.

Clinch’s photographs have appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ and the New York Times Magazine. His ad campaigns include John Varvatos and American Express. He’s been nominated three times by the Grammys for his musical films, and he’s shot the covers of Nas’ “Illmatic,” Johnny Cash’s “Solitary Man” and Kanye West’s “The College Dropout,” in addition to his Springsteen work.

His Transparent Clinch Gallery, adjacent to the Asbury Hotel on Kingsley Street, draws fans from all over, and noted musicians, too. Springsteen has visited, and had his picture taken in 2022 with Clinch in front of a Springsteen portrait taken by Clinch during the 2007 “Magic” photo shoot on the city's boardwalk.

The Foo Fighters, the Killers, Weezer, the Beach Boys, Sheryl Crow, Living Colour and more played the festival over two days last September.

The festival, founded in 2018, is produced by C3 Presents, the team behind Lollapalooza, and locals Clinch and Tim Donnelly.

Incubus and Jack Johnson were the headliners of the inaugural fest in 2018, and Springsteen was an unannounced performer. He played several songs with Social Distortion. The capacity of 20,000 was expanded to 35,000 per day starting with the 2022 festival.

Visual art is a big component of the fest with Stoke Henge, located in the sand just off the boardwalk, featuring the works of city artist Pork Chop. A pop-up Transparent Clinch Gallery, located in Bradley Park, features artwork from the performers and performances, too.

The North Beach Rumble surfing contest, featuring pro local and national surfers, and musicians, too, takes place while the music is playing. This year's surfers include Balaram Stack, Cam Richards, Sam Hammer, Cassidy McClain, Rob Kelly, Pat Schmidt, Mike Gleason, Tom Ihnken, Jamie DeWitt, Logan Kamen, Cole Deveney and Audrey Iglay.

Sea Hear Now previous headliners

2018: Incubus and Jack Johnson

2019: Dave Matthews Band and The Lumineers

2021: Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins

2022: Stevie Nicks and Green Day

2023: Foo Fighters and the Killers.

Visit seahearnowfestival.com for more information.

Subscribe to app.com for the latest on the New Jersey music scene.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected]

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Bruce Springsteen Reveals In-Progress Solo Album, River Tour Plans

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Bruce Springsteen called into SiriusXM’s E Street Radio this morning to chat about his upcoming The River Tour , and revealed in the interview that he’s working on a new album that will likely result in a tour without the E Street Band .

“The project I’ve been working on is more of a solo project,” he said. “It wasn’t a project I was going to probably take the band out on. So I said, ‘Gee, that’s going to push the band playing again until a ways in the future. It’ll be nice to get some playing in so you don’t wind up being two or three years between E Street tours.’ This will give us a chance to get out there and stretch our muscles a little bit.”

The upcoming River tour will feature a complete performance of the 1980 double album at every stop. It was booked at the last minute, forcing guitarist Nils Lofgren to postpone many of his upcoming solo dates.

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In the new interview, Springsteen gave a behind-the-scenes account of how the tour came together. “We made the box set and there was no plan to tour,” he said. “Then we felt, ‘Maybe we should do a show just to raise the flag and have some fun and make it a little more exciting.’ I said. ‘Okay, maybe we’ll do a show in New York.’ Then that went quick to, ‘Maybe we should do a couple of shows.’ Then it turns into, ‘Maybe we should do a small series of shows, basically one-nighters, with maybe a little bit around the country.” They ultimately wound up with a 24-date arena tour that kicks off January 16th at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

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Springsteen played many of his classic albums on the 2009 Working On A Dream Tour, but The River was only performed during a single tour stop at Madison Square Garden. In the new interview, he responded to concerns from fans that seeing the same 20 songs in sequence every night will remove much of the unpredictability that has become a trademark of E Street Band shows. “It’s going to take a little guessing out of the evening,” Springsteen acknowledged. “You’re going to know what the next song is. Maybe we’ll make up for some of that in the encores. We plan on picking out some of the best of our outtakes for the end of the show, and there will obviously be some fan favorites. I don’t know myself how it will play out. It should be interesting and a lot of fun for the fans.”

The E Street Band’s lineup swelled to 18 people on the 2014 High Hopes  tour, including a five-piece horn section, three backup singers, a percussionist and guest guitarist Tom Morello. The River tour will feature a stripped-down lineup of core members plus saxophonist Jake Clemons and violinist Soozie Tyrell. “It’ll be a little more of a rock band format,” Springsteen said. “I’m looking forward to that for a little while and seeing how that feels again. It should be perfect for this record and what we’re doing right now … I miss playing with the guys. I miss playing period. It’s going to be fun. “

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Bruce Springsteen to return to festival stage in September at Sea Hear Now in Asbury Park

by JACKSON SINNENBERG | The National Desk

Bruce Springsteen and Soozie Tyrell and Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band perform at BST Hyde Park Festival 2023 at Hyde Park on July 06, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Baker/Getty Images)

ASBURY PARK, N.J. (TND) — A year after cancelling a slate of stadium shows due to peptic ulcer disease, Bruce Springsteen is set to make his return to the music festival stage when he headlines the Sea Hear Now festival in Asbury Park. N.J.

Springsteen, 74, has rarely played U.S. music festivals since their rapid growth in popularity for fans and ubiquity for touring and popular artists in the early 2000s and "The Boss" last played a festival in the states in 2014 when he headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

However, this will not be the first time Springsteen has played at this relatively new celebration of all things special about his "adopted hometown" of Asbury Park. At the festival's first year, in 2018, he hopped on stage with punk rockers Social Distortion to perform three songs, including a cover of the Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire."

Last September, the "Born to Run" singer canceled first three weeks of and then the remainder of his fall American tour, after postponing a couple of concert dates in August, revealing he had been diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease.

“Over here on E Street, we’re heartbroken to have to postpone these shows," Springsteen said during the first cancellation announcement . "Thank you for your understanding and support. We’ve been having a blast at our US shows and we’re looking forward to more great times. We’ll be back soon."

Springsteen first returned to the stage in November of last year, participating in the Stand Up For Heroes benefit, playing four songs including one with John Mellencamp. He resumes his tour of arenas and stadiums of the U.S. and Europe with the E Street Band on March 19 in Phoenix.

A continuation of his 2023 tour, Springsteen's first in seven years, the shows have "The Boss" pare down his usually eclectic, more randomized run through his five-decade long catalog into a group of around 25 songs (with some moved around) that focus on the hits of his eras but also center on a theme of mortality, aging and reflection. Even with the heavy theme, he still manages to perform for around three-hours straight each night.

Since launching the tour in February, The Boss has hit 15 countries, helped inaugurate a new multi-purpose arena in Baltimore and was even joined by former first lady Michelle Obama to sing his "Born in the USA"-era hit, "Glory Days."

springsteen river tour

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Bruce Springsteen Returns to Asbury Park Roots to Headline Jersey Shore's Sea.Hear.Now Music Festival

The Boss joins Noah Kahan, The Black Crowes, Gaslight Anthem and Norah Jones at the Jersey Shore festival on Sept. 14 and 15 amid his recovery from peptic ulcer disease

springsteen river tour

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

The Jersey Shore gods have spoken!

On Tuesday, the Sea.Hear.Now music festival released its highly anticipated lineup , revealing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as one of the two headlining acts to perform in Asbury Park, New Jersey for this year's weekend event on Sept. 14 and 15.

A Jersey legend, Springsteen — who tops the lineup alongside fellow headliner Noah Kahan — is no stranger to the Sea.Hear.Now stage, having made a surprise appearance on stage with Social Distortion during the festival's inaugural year in 2018.

However, Springsteen's confirmed slot in the lineup comes as a rarity for the rock icon, who's established a reputation of mystique due to his unannounced surprise performances at New Jersey music venues through the years.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images 

Springsteen's presence on the lineup is also significant due to the festival's share grounds with the famed Stone Pony, a stage that he's played more than any other concert venue . His first surprise performance at the club was in September 1974 with The Blackberry Booze Band (renamed Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes).

Bobby Bank/WireImage

Jersey Shore appearances aside, Springsteen — who's releasing a greatest-hits album in April, titled Best of Bruce Springsteen — recently joined Jon Bon Jovi on stage at the 2024 MusiCares Awards in February, where the fellow Jersey rocker was honored for his humanitarian efforts. Springsteen's recent performances came amid his recovery from peptic ulcer disease. The “Born in the U.S.A.” singer  announced in late September  that he was in the midst of treatment for the condition and was  pushing back the remainder of his 2023 tour dates  as a result.

This year marks the sixth Sea.Hear.Now music festival, a two-day celebration of live music, art and surf culture produced by acclaimed rock photographer Danny Clinch. In addition to Springsteen and Kahan, other acts include The Black Crowes, The Revivalists, Kool and the Gang, Gaslight Anthem, 311 and Norah Jones.

"It has gone so fast," Clinch, 60, exclusively told PEOPLE in September 2023 of his 2018-incepted brainchild that's had annual shows since, excluding 2020 in light of the pandemic. "Everybody loves this festival because Asbury Park is such a great place to be in the fall," he said while referencing New Jersey's "incredible" surf and weather in September.

Last year's headliners were  The Killers  and  Foo Fighters , with other acts including Sheryl Crow,  The Beach Boys , Weezer, Stephen Sanchez and more.

Sea.Hear.Now 2024 takes place on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 with the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop at the iconic North Beach and Bradley Park in Asbury Park. Over 25 artists will perform across three stages — plus, a professional surf contest and art installations will be present throughout the weekend. 

The surf lineup includes surfers Balaram Stack, reigning champ Cam Richards, Sam Hammer, Cassidy McClain, Rob Kelly, Pat Schmidt, Mike Gleason, Tom Ihnken, Jamie DeWitt, Logan Kamen, Cole Deveney and Audrey Iglay.

To secure 1-Day or 2-Day Tickets, presale begins March 7 at 10:00 a.m. ET. General Admission, GA+, VIP, Platinum, or Ultimate Experience tickets are available.

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John fogerty announces 2024 tour with george thorogood. get tickets now.

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John Fogerty rocks out on guitar while singing.

Put him in, coach. He’s ready to play.

From June through September, the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman and “Center Field” singer John Fogerty will take his ‘Celebration Tour’ all over North America with George Thorogood and Hearty Heart on select dates.

“The celebration never ends!” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee shared on Instagram .

Along the way, he and Thorogood have five NJ and NY stops planned.

First, the 78-year-old classic rock legend is slated to turn up at Camden, NJ’s Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Friday, June 7.

After that, he’ll rock out at Canandaigua, NY’s Constellation Brands Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, June 11, Saratoga Springs, NY’s Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, June 12, and Bethel, NY’s Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on Friday, June 14.

The New York and New Jersey run comes to an end for Fogerty at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center on Saturday, June 16.

And if you want to hear “Fortunate Son,” “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “Down On The Corner,” “Proud Mary,” Bad Moon Rising” and so many more Fogerty classics live, tickets for all 15 concerts can be purchased as soon as today.

Although inventory isn’t available on Ticketmaster until Friday, March 15, fans who want to ensure they have tickets ahead of time can buy on sites like Vivid Seats before tickets are officially on sale.

Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.

John Fogerty 2024 tickets

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues, and links to buy tickets can be found below.

John Fogerty set list

Based on what Fogerty played live at his 2022 Las Vegas residency at Encore Theater, Creedence Clearwater Revival fans needn’t worry about whether or not he’ll play the hits you know and love.

Here’s a sneak peek at what fans can expect courtesy of  Set List FM .

01.) “Up Around the Bend” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 02.) “Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 03.) “Born on the Bayou” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 04.) “Rock and Roll Girls” 05.) “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 06.) “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 07.) “Joy of My Life” 08.) “I’m Working on a Building” (traditional cover) 09.) “Midnight Special” (traditional cover) 10.) “Keep On Chooglin’” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 11.) “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”(Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 12.) “The Star-Spangled Banner” 13.) “Do You Love Me?” (The Contours cover) 14.) “Hey Tonight” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 15.) “Centerfield” 16.) “Down on the Corner” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 17.) “The Old Man Down the Road” 18.) “Fortunate Son” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) Encore

19.) “Bad Moon Rising” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song) 20.) “Proud Mary” (Creedence Clearwater Revival song)

John Fogerty new music

In 2023, Fogerty released a jazzy live version of  “Joy Of My Life.”

The love song, which originally appeared on Fogerty’s 1997 solo album “Blue Moon Swamp,” demonstrates that Fogerty’s still got the vocal juice.

Plus, the extended sax solos don’t hurt either.

You can hear the 6.5-minute track — that also happens to be an ode to his wife, Julie —  here .

John Fogerty special guests

At all shows, the CCR frontman is bringing a support act along with him to kick things off.

To make sure you’re prepared to properly rock out, here’s each artist’s most-streamed song on Spotify.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers: “Bad To The Bone”

Hearty Har: “Can’t Keep Waiting”

Classic rockers on tour in 2024

Many of the biggest stars who have been playing live since Woodstock are still trekking all over North America more than 50 years after the historic four-day musical extravaganza.

Here are just five of our favorite classic rockers who have been active in some capacity since the LBJ Administration that you won’t want to miss when they come to a venue near you this year.

•  Rolling Stones

•  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

•  Bob Dylan with Robert Plant and Willie Nelson

•  Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band

•  Neil Young

Not enough music for you? Check out our list of the  22 biggest classic rockers on tour in 2023 here .

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  2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: The River Tour at MetLife

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  3. Bruce Springsteen The River Tour Glasgow 1/6/2016

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  4. Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band

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  5. 2016-07-03 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band "The River Tour" Live

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