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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Detail 2023 U.S. Tour

By Jazz Monroe

Bruce Springsteen has detailed the North American leg of his 2023 tour with the E Street Band . The North American stint, which kicks off next February, begins in Tampa and extends to April, with the final U.S. date (for now) taking place at Newark’s Prudential Center in Springsteen’s home state of New Jersey. Check out the dates below.

Springsteen’s dates with Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Patti Sciafla, Roy Bittan, Gary Tallent, Nils Lofgren, and the rest will be their first together since 2017. His previously announced run of European shows goes from late April to late July.

In an initial announcement of the tour, which did not include dates or venue details, Springsteen said, “After six years, I’m looking forward to seeing our great and loyal fans next year. And I’m looking forward to once again sharing the stage with the legendary E Street Band. See you out there, next year—and beyond!”

Springsteen’s latest solo albums are 2019’s Western Stars and 2020’s Letter to You , which both had accompanying films. He put out a podcast and book with Barack Obama in 2021, and released the Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts as an album and film the same year.

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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band:

02-01 Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena 02-03 Atlanta, GA - State Farm Arena 02-05 Orlanda, FL - Amway Center 02-07 Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live 02-10 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center 02-14 Houston, TX - Toyota Center 02-16 Austin, TX - Moody Center 02-18 Kansas City, MO - T-Mobile Center 02-21 Tulsa, OK - BOK Center 02-25 Portland, OR - Moda Center 02-27 Seattle, WA - Climate Pledge Arena 03-02 Denver, CO - Ball Arena 03-05 Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center 03-07 Milwaukee, WI - Fiserv Forum 03-09 Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena 03-12 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun 03-14 Albany, NY - MVP Arena 03-16 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 03-18 State College, PA - Bryce Jordan Center 03-20 Boston, MA - TD Garden 03-23 Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center 03-25 Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum 03-27 Washington, D.C. - Capital One Arena 03-29 Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena 04-01 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 04-03 Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center 04-05 Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse 04-07 Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Arena 04-09 Elmont, NY - UBS Arena 04-11 Elmont, NY - UBS Arena 04-14 Newark, NJ - Prudential Center 04-28 Barcelona, Spain - Estadi Olímpic 05-05 Dublin, Ireland - RDS Arena 05-07 Dublin, Ireland - RDS Arena 05-09 Dublin, Ireland - RDS Arena 05-13 Paris, France - La Défense Arena 05-18 Ferrara, Italy - Parco Urbano G. Bassani 05-21 Rome, Italy - Circo Massimo 05-25 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Johan Cruijff Arena 06-11 Landgraaf, Netherlands - Megaland 06-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Stadion Letzigrund 06-21 Düsseldorf, Germany - Merkur Spiel Arena 06-24 Gothenburg, Sweden - Ullevi 06-26 Gothenburg, Sweden - Ullevi 06-30 Oslo, Norway - Voldsløkka 07-02 Oslo, Norway - Voldsløkka 07-11 Copenhagen, Denmark - Parken 07-13 Copenhagen, Denmark - Parken 07-15 Hamburg, Germany - Volksparkstadion 07-18 Vienna, Austria - Ernst Happel Stadion 07-23 Munich, Germany - Olympiastadion 07-25 Monza, Italy - Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza

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Bruce Springsteen Announces 2023 US Tour With the E Street Band

Bruce Springsteen has unveiled 2023 U.S. tour dates with the E Street Band .

The trek kicks off Feb. 1 in Tampa before making its way through such major cities as Houston, Cleveland and New York City . Following an April 14 performance in Newark, N.J., the Boss will head overseas for a run of previously announced European dates .

A full list of U.S. tour dates can be found below.

Tickets for the 2023 U.S. shows will go on sale over the next two weeks, with the first sale date happening on July 20. The tour will use Ticketmaster's Verified Fan program; fans can register now through July 17 to be eligible for ticket purchasing. All verified registrants will be equally eligible to receive a purchasing access code, though registration does not guarantee code access and the subsequent ticket purchase.

More information on tickets can be found on Springsteen's website .

The trek will be Springsteen’s first with the E Street Band since 2017. In a statement released when the European dates were announced, the Boss shared his excitement to return to the road.

“After six years, I’m looking forward to seeing our great and loyal fans next year," Springsteen declared. "And I’m looking forward to once again sharing the stage with the legendary E Street Band. See you out there, next year — and beyond!”

Springsteen’s last performance with the E Street Band took place more than five years ago in Auckland, New Zealand. Since then, he's engaged in his massively successful Springsteen on Broadway residency, which included more than 250 performances and ranked among the most profitable tours of the past half-decade.

More recently, Springsteen has made a habit of making surprise appearances onstage with a variety of other rockers. In June, he joined Coldplay for two songs during the band’s concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. A little over a week later, he took the stage with Paul McCartney during McCartney's concert at the same venue. Then on June 25, he joined McCartney again — along with Dave Grohl  — during Macca’s headlining set at the Glastonbury festival in the U.K.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2023 U.S. Tour Feb. 1 - Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena Feb. 3 - Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena Feb. 5 - Orlando, FL @ Amway Center Feb. 7 - Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live Feb. 10 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center Feb. 14 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center Feb. 16 - Austin, TX @ Moody Center Feb. 18 - Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center Feb. 21 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center Feb. 25 - Portland, OR @ Moda Center Feb. 27 - Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena March 2 - Denver, CO @ Ball Arena March 5 - St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center March 7 - Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum March 9 - Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena March 12 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun March 14 - Albany, NY @ MVP Arena March 16 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center March 18 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center March 20 - Boston, MA @ TD Garden March 23 - Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center March 25 - Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum March 27 - Washington D.C. @ Capital One Arena March 29 - Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena April 1 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden April 3 - Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center April 5 - Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse April 7 - Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Arena April 9 - Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena April 11 - Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena April 14 - Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announce 2023 tour

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will return to the road in early 2023, launching a series of to-be-announced U.S. arena dates in February, followed by European stadium shows kicking off on April 28 in Barcelona, with a second North American tour leg starting in August.

"After six years, I’m looking forward to seeing our great and loyal fans next year. And I’m looking forward to once again sharing the stage with the legendary E Street Band. See you out there, next year -- and beyond," Springsteen said.

The planned European stops are Barcelona, Dublin, Paris, Ferrara, Rome, Amsterdam, Landgraaf, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Vienna, Munich and Monza. Additional cities and shows in the U.K. and Belgium will be announced at a later date.

The 2023 dates will mark the first live shows for Springsteen and the E Street Band since the conclusion of their 14-month, worldwide “The River” tour in Australia in February of 2017. The group last played publicly on “Saturday Night Live” in December 2020, where they performed two songs from their most recent studio album, “Letter to You.”

Last year, Springsteen, who will be 73 when the tour launches, released the group’s “The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts” film, collaborated with former President Barack Obama on the book “Renegades: Born in the USA” and reprised his “Springsteen on Broadway” show to help reopen New York City’s theaters last summer.

The E Street Band’s members are: Roy Bittan — piano, synthesizer; Nils Lofgren — guitar, vocals; Patti Scialfa — guitar, vocals; Garry Tallent — bass guitar; Stevie Van Zandt — guitar, vocals; and Max Weinberg — drums; with Soozie Tyrell — violin, guitar, vocals; Jake Clemons — saxophone; and Charlie Giordano — keyboards.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Announce 2023 World Tour

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are launching a long-awaited world tour in February 2023 with a run of U.S. arena shows. Dates and cities for those concerts have yet to be announced. Check out brucespringsteen.net for ticketing information.

“After six years, I’m looking forward to seeing our great and loyal fans next year,” Springsteen said in a statement. “And I’m looking forward to once again sharing the stage with the legendary E Street Band. See you out there, next year — and beyond.”

The musicians will start a European stadium leg April 28, 2023 in Barcelona, and follow it up with a second North American tour in August. In addition to Barcelona, the European tour will hit cities including London, Dublin, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Zurich, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna and Munich. Cities and shows for the UK and Belgium will be announced at a later date.

The tour will mark Springsteen’s first concerts with the E Street Band since February 2017, when they wrapped up their River tour in Australia. During the downtime, Springsteen released 2019’s Western Stars and 2020’s Letter to You , reprised his Springsteen on Broadway show, and co-hosted the Renegades: Born in the USA podcast with President Barack Obama.

This is the longest break the E Street Band have taken from the road since reforming in 1999. The band’s sole recent public performance took place on Dec. 20, 2020, when they played two songs on Saturday Night Live — but bassist Garry Tallent and violinist/guitarist Soozie Tryell sat it out due to Covid restrictions. They’ll be back in the fold for this tour, alongside pianist Roy Bittan, guitarist Nils Lofgren, guitarist Steve Van Zandt, drummer Max Weinberg, saxophonist Jake Clemons, and keyboardist Charlie Giordano.

Springsteen and the E Street Band were originally slated to tour this year, and planning was so far along that an advertisement for a June 2022 show at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany was spotted at a bus stop — but the tour was ultimately delayed a year. While no official reason was given for the postponement, the decision came just as Covid numbers were spiking due to the Omicron variant.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2023 Tour Dates

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April 28 – Barcelona, Spain @ Estadi Olímpic May 5 – Dublin, Ireland @ RDS Arena May 7 – Dublin, Ireland @ RDS Arena May 13 – Paris, France @ La Défense Arena May 18 – Ferrara, Italy @ Parco Urbano G. Bassani May 21 – Rome, Italy @ Circo Massimo May 25 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Johan Cruijff ArenA May 30 – Edinburgh, United Kingdon @ BT Murrayfield Stadium June 11 – Landgraaf, The Netherlands @ Megaland June 13 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Stadion Letzigrund June 16 – Birmingham, United Kingdom @ Villa Park June 21 – Düsseldorf, Germany @ Merkur Spiel Arena June 24 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium June 26 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium June 30 – Oslo, Norway @ Voldsløkka Stadion July 6 – London, United Kingdom @ BST Hyde Park July 8 – London, United Kingdom @ BST Hyde Park July 11 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Parken Stadium July 13 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Parken Stadium July 15 – Hamburg, Germany @ Volksparkstadion July 18 – Vienna, Austria @ Ernst Happel Stadion July 23 – Munich, Germany @ Olympiastadion July 25 – Monza, Italy @ Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza

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Bruce Springsteen Makes Comical Promise About His U.S. Tour Finale

B ruce Springsteen is getting ready for the final concert of his current U.S. tour leg with the E Street band, and—surprise, surprise—he has a message for fans who will be coming out to the show this Sunday, April 21, in Columbus, Ohio.

Springsteen has posted the latest in a series of videos promoting his upcoming gigs on his social media sites. In the new clip, the Boss is captured backstage at a recent concert.

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“Columbus, welcome to my dressing room,” Springsteen says. He then points to his wardrobe and comically shares, “These are my clothes. Those are my pants. I’ll only be wearing one pair of ’em when I come to see y’all on Sunday. And we are gonna rock you, me and the E Street Band, into the ground! I warned you. See you Sunday.”

Hanging from a wall in the dressing room is an Italian flag with the phrase “Our Love Is Real” written on it. The phrase, which is reference to a famous line in “Born to Run,” is now regularly used by Springsteen fans to express their affection for the rock legend.

[RELATED: Bruce Springsteen Shares Funny Memory About His First Show in Syracuse from 1973]

As with Springsteen’s previous couple of promo clips, the new video was shot by his sister, veteran photographer Pamela Springsteen.

Fans React to Springsteen’s Post

Not surprisingly, Springsteen’s video inspired many fans to share messages of their own in the comments section of his Instagram page.

“Can’t wait to see you Sunday!” one fan wrote. “It will be my 53rd show and the first one that I’m taking my sons. We are psyched!”

Another commented, “These are the best little clips and exactly how social media should be used IMO. Delightful!”

A third fan quipped, Fantastic but now I wonder what [E Street band guitarist] Steve Van Zandt’s dressing room and clothes rail looks like!” Van Zandt, of course, is known for his flamboyant fashion sensibility and colorful head scarves.

Best of Bruce Springsteen Compilation Out Now

Just in time for the tour leg’s finale, Springsteen released a new compilation titled Best of Springsteen on Friday, April 19. The retrospective offers a selection of noteworthy songs from throughout the Boss’ 50-plus-year career. Best of Bruce Springsteen is available now as an 18-track CD or two-LP set, and as a deluxe 31-song digital release.

Springsteen’s Upcoming Tour Plans

After wrapping up their current U.S. leg on April 21 in Columbus, Springsteen and his band will head to Europe. That trek runs from a May 5 concert in Cardiff, Wales, U.K., through a July 27 show in London. Bruce and the gang also will visit Ireland, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

Springsteen and the E Street Band will then mount a second U.S. leg in August and September. That will be followed by a Canadian trek that runs from late October to late November. Visit BruceSpringsteen.net to check out his full itinerary.

Tickets for the concerts are available via a variety of outlets, including StubHub .

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The post Bruce Springsteen Makes Comical Promise About His U.S. Tour Finale appeared first on American Songwriter .

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Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band alive and well in 3-plus hours of thunderous hits

The pent-up demand for Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band had put ardent fans on edge.

Would the Boss' energy be the same after the rocker was forced to cancel last year's show in March due to illness and then a rescheduled performance in September due to a peptic ulcer?

Did the 74-year-old still have the stamina to navigate a stage for more than three hours? To gyrate with his guitar and hit the high notes of ballads and rock classics? To remember the lyrics as he's done for more than four decades in over 1,300 concerts with the band?

The answer, from about 20,000 devotees at Sunday's concert at Nationwide Arena, was a resounding, deafening "Yes." It was the band's first show in Columbus since 2016.

The tone was set in the opening bars of "Youngstown," a nod to the Rust Belt factories that build the weaponry "that won this country's wars," but then died off to leave empty shells and unemployment. A searing guitar solo by Nils Lofgren infused the song with powerful shards of despair.

And like the canon blast after a Columbus Blue Jackets' goal, "Lonesome Days" followed, with a jarring rim shot by drummer Max Weinberg, a percussive human metronome throughout the sell-out concert that lasted about three hours and 10 minutes.

Springsteen, in a short-sleeve denim shirt, black vest and purple tie, appeared to relish the arena crowd. With eyes often closed, he channeled deeply personal songs like "The Promised Land," The Rising," and "Ghosts."

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His grimacing was not from bad joints, but during his guitar solos, thrashing the strings during extended versions of favorites such as "Streets of Fire."

He didn't pause much between songs, often exchanging one guitar for another by tossing it to a stagehand, as Weinberg continued to strafe the crowd with nonstop rhythmic transitions.

During "Spirit in the Night," Springsteen graciously walked behind the stage to focus on those seated behind the band, sauntering at times for effect.

He ended up in front, resting his legs on the edge of the stage and his back against saxophonist Jake Clemons, whose uncle Clarence Clemons, also a sax player, was one of Springsteen's closest friends.

While mortality and distant youth were themes that may have resonated with the older crowd, many of whom were in high school or college when Springsteen blasted into stardom in the late 1970s and early '80s, there were also some younger fans.

Michelle Grinestaff and her husband, Jared Schuetter, brought their daughters, Claudia, 14, and Vivian, 12, both of whom had memorized many of Bruce's hits.

"She's been playing Springsteen their entire lives," said Schuetter of his wife.

Grinestaff's attraction followed her father Jerry's, a rabid fan who, two years ago died of pulmonary fibrosis. The night before his passing, she told him she really wanted him to come to last year's concert with the girls. "He said to just make sure you have a good time," she recalled, halting to wipe a tear.

She vividly recalls that Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" was playing while to spoke to her dad. She hoped she'd hear it Sunday night.

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Sure enough, the concert's 19th song, "Racing in the Street," was a beautiful rendition of love, loss and redemption with exquisite interplay between Roy Bittan's piano and Charles Giordano's organ. The audience quickly silenced, seemingly in hushed awe of Springsteen's meticulous alchemy of music and lyrics, considered by many among his best work.

The Boss still is in top form, telling the audience that his little "bellyache" from last year is a memory. "It's all good now," he said. He even skipped across the stage at one point during "Hungry Heart."

Springsteen seems to thrive on the adulation, but not in a selfish manner. He's keenly aware of audience temperament. And knowing when to end a marathon show is about having empathy for the crowd, which stood most of the night.

Typical of the band's recent encores, the iconic "Born to Run" led a string of hits, including "Rosalita (Come out Tonight)," "Bobby Jean," "Dancing in the Dark" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."

Full, bright arena lighting illuminated the crowd during a medley of oldie covers, including a Detroit medley, "Devil with the Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly and C.C. Rider," among others.

Brothers Darrell and Don Miller, of Hilliard, both in their early 60s, recalled before the concert training for high school basketball with a coach playing the song "Born to Run" endlessly to inspire track workouts.

"It's the one song not on my playlist," said Don, "because I had to run laps to that thing for two years."

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Darrell couldn't help wonder how much longer Springsteen can keep running.

"He's going overseas. This might be his ride off into the sunset," he said.

The blast furnace of a performance is the tour's last in the U.S. as the band now heads to Great Britain to begin its European tour. It returns in late summer, including two shows in Pittsburgh on Aug. 15 and 18.

Toward the show's final encore, "I'll See You in my Dreams," from his 2020 album, "Letter to You," Springsteen bent over in feigned (or likely real) exhaustion.

"I don't think you got anything left," he challenged the crowd, which answered in a deafening roar. "Are you saying you can outlast the E Street Band?"

A test of an artist's emotional reach is often found in the most distant seats. In the upper bowl, at the far end of the Nationwide stage, fans could be seen dancing, pumping their arms and waving.

Springsteen looked skyward, opened his eyes and smiled broadly.

Springsteen's setlist

• "Youngstown," tour debut; first time since 2017
• "Lonesome Day"
• "Prove It All Night"
• "No Surrender"
• "Letter to You"
• "The Promised Land"
• "Spirit in the Night"
• "Hungry Heart"
• "Trapped," Jimmy Cliff cover
• "Streets of Fire," tour debut, first time since 2016
• "I'm Goin' Down," tour debut, first time since 2017
• "Nightshift," Commodores cover
• "Racing in the Street," sign request
• "Last Man Standing," acoustic, with Barry Danielian on trumpet
• "Backstreets"
• "Because the Night," Patti Smith Group cover
• "She's the One"
• "Wrecking Ball"
• "The Rising"
• "Thunder Road"
• "Born to Run"
• "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
• "Bobby Jean"
• "Dancing in the Dark," followed by band introductions
• "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
• "Detroit Medley"
• "Twist and Shout," The Top Notes cover

Encore No. 2

• "I'll See You in My Dreams," solo acoustic

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Bon Jovi on the Band’s New Doc, If They’ll Ever Tour Again & Driving Around New Jersey With Bruce Springsteen

Out tomorrow (April 26) on Hulu, Thank You, Goodnight unpacks the band's 40 year history and confronts an uncertain future.

By Katie Bain

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Bon Jovi: The Billboard Cover Story

Talking to Billboard over Zoom from a white-walled room somewhere in New Jersey, you get the sense that there’s at least one part of this heyday Jon Bon Jovi wishes he could return to.

“When I can do two-and-a-half hours a night, four nights a week and not think about it — the way that I did for the first 30 years of our career — then I’ll say, ‘Sure, I’d love the opportunity,'” says the group’s frontman, still a dreamboat at 62.

The opportunity in question is touring. On the precipice of releasing its 16th studio album, Forever , Bon Jovi isn’t sure they’ll hit the road behind the album, out June 7. The wildcard element is JBJ’s voice, the same one that implored us to live for the fight when that’s all that we’ve got on “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and melted a billion hearts on “Bed of Roses” — and which has been under heavy repair since the vocal difficulties Bon Jovi has experienced for years necessitated a major vocal cord surgery in the summer of 2022. The procedure left him unsure if he’d ever be able to sing about going down in a blaze of glory, or living while he’s alive, or anything at all, ever again.

This issue isn’t what the band’s new documentary , Thank You, Goodnight was intended to be about. The stakes, however, became quickly apparent to director Gotham Chopra when he started filming a few years back.

“The more time I spent with Jon, I was like, ‘So wait, what’s going on with your voice?'” Chopra says over Zoom. “Jon said he’d been struggling with it for a couple of years, and didn’t know what was going to happen — because the shows we were filming might be the end of the line — but that that wasn’t for the documentary.”

This narrative thus became the through line of the four-part documentary, premiering tomorrow (April 26) on Hulu. Helmed by Chopra, whose previous work includes the 2021 Tom Brady docuseries Man in the Arena , the Bon Jovi project was one, Chopra says, “where nothing was off limits.” It unpacks the Bon Jovi story from its earliest days in Bon Jovi’s native Sayreville, New Jersey to the arena-rock juggernaut of the Slippery When Wet era to the band’s lineup changes — to Jon Bon Jovi scanning his neck with specialized lasers in an attempt to shore up his voice. Interview subjects include the band (Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Brian, drummer Tico Torres and newer members Hugh McDonald, Phil X and Everett Bradley), along with former manager Doc McGhee, songwriter Desmond Child, good pal Bruce Springsteen and Richie Sambora, the guitar-wielding yin to Jon Bon Jovi’s yang, who left the group in 2013.

“Obviously early on, I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get Richie Sambora. We can’t do this without Richie’,” Chopra recalls, “Jon was like, ‘Oh, yeah, you gotta get Richie Sambora. You can’t do this without him.'”

With Sambora’s departure serving as one of the documentary’s central tensions, Chopra — who interviewed each person involved in the film separately — eventually even captured an onscreen apology from the guitarist.

“In the film he says, ‘I don’t regret doing it. I regret the way I did do it; I apologize to the guys for that,'” recalls Chopra. “I think the guys and Jon were pretty affected by that… All of these things become an act of therapy in some ways.”

“What he was going through wasn’t easy,” says Chopra. “There were times on that tour when he was struggling, and he was in his dressing room, and he’d be like, ‘get the f–k out of my room’ and I’d get the f–k out of his room — then gradually find my way back in after five or 10 minutes.”

This level of intimacy, along with frank, often funny and frequently poignant interviews (in the last episode Bon Jovi gets choked up about his love of songwriting) and a barrage of archival footage, combines to offer a film that even hardcore Bon Jovi fans will likely learn something from. Here, Jon Bon Jovi and Torres discuss the documentary, as well as the future of the band.

Jon, the film’s director Gotham Chopra mentioned that there were times where he was filming and you didn’t necessarily want him in the room. How vulnerable was the documentary experience?

Jon: We had to trust him as the director in order to get what we wanted, which was the truth. One thing we all agreed upon, on day one, was we didn’t want a vanity piece. [We wanted] to tell the honest-to-God ups and downs of life behind the curtain. Nobody anticipated the health issues with me, and so that was the wild card in this. But I trusted him.

Tico: Gotham is a very spiritual person, and after a while you forget he’s there. But his questions are very spiritual in nature, and somehow he opens you up to be honest with yourself. You don’t find that in regular interviews.

Jon, so much of documentary focuses on this narrative about your voice. What was it like during this uncertain time, to also be bearing it to the camera?

The surgery was nearly two years ago, and obviously you’ve recorded an album since undergoing it. How are you feeling now?

Jon: There is still uncertainty about the outcome 22 months after the surgery, although I’m optimistic. And for the record, I can say — because now I’m speaking to press and need to clarify — I’m very capable of singing again. It’s just that the bar for us is two-and-a-half hours a night, four nights a week. I have to get to that level again before we’ll tour. So being vulnerable I was never afraid of. Sharing it now with the public, it’s out of my control, because that’s what we all signed up for. And like T said, Gotham has a kind of spiritual approach to things, so it was never combative. I trusted him.

Tico: It was difficult for the band. To see one of your brothers suffering and going through something, and he’s the hardest working guy there is. Every day he works hard to get back. Right after the operation, speaking to him, once he could speak, he sounded way lower [in register] than me. And we’re a band, so we worry about each other. I think the fact that the documentary was capturing that as well is important. Because we’re in it together. We’re gonna back him up no matter what.

Gotham took the approach of interviewing everyone separately. What was it like to finally see Richie’s footage?

What was it like getting an apology from him?

Jon: I don’t need an apology… I don’t need an apology. It’s not about that.

Tico: Remember, you’re a band. We grew up together. And like I said before, when somebody’s hurting, you care about him… Alec as well, our beloved bass player, when he left, it’s a void. And you know he passed away just a couple of years ago. It’s family. It does affect you. As a whole, it affects us. There’s a comeback from that. I think the writing process and the recording process as a band helps you get that out, because it’s emotion.

Jon, in the doc you say that in the Slippery When Wet era, the band had found another rung of the ladder to climb, and obviously there was much more to go after that. Given everything you’ve done, do you see more rungs for Bon Jovi? Where is there left to go?

Jon: It’s not about numbers at all. I would love the opportunity to be whole, so that when we would go out on that stage, we could do those 18 albums and pick any song I want throughout that catalog on a nightly basis, the way I used to be able to do. That’s where I have left to go. When we’ve done those kind of shows… when we opened the O2 Arena in London and we did 12 or 15 nights, and we did 90 different songs over the course of the nights — that’s the bar that I need to get back to.

What are your current daily practices for getting yourself back to that place?

There’s some great unheard music in the documentary — I’m specifically thinking of a song called “Cadillac Man” that you wrote for the 1990 Robin Williams movie of the same name. Is there a chance that any of this archival music gets released?

Jon: Yes. One thing that we have always known, and our deep fan base knows as well, is that we always write 30 songs to get 10. And so there’s always been a backlog of material that’s been unreleased. There’s no shortage of it. So I think that we stumbled on 30 or 40 songs that no one’s heard, and they’ll all come out, yeah.

So we get new music from the Slippery When Wet heyday era Bon Jovi?

Jon: Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, Keep the Faith . All the records.

Is there a timeline for that?

Jon: No. No one’s actually even addressed it with me yet. The archiving was still going on simultaneously to the mastering and the album cover and the video and all that kind of stuff… But we know what we’ve got. It’ll happen during the course of the release of the album.

That’s incredibly exciting.

Jon: Yeah, there’s some really good songs that I can’t believe didn’t make those records.

Jon, there’s this great moment in the documentary when you share about going for long car rides with Bruce Springsteen, and you both leaving your phones at home and just driving around New Jersey and talking. What can you tell us about the last drive?

Yeah, not too many.

So yeah, we often do it, and it’s some of my most treasured memories. People have seen us along the way. The first five, six, seven times, nobody would have known. But then this time we went for an ice cream cone, or this time we went for a drink, or this time we were stopped at a light. So the sightings of Sasquatch have happened. [ Laughs. ]

I was also struck by the part of the doc where you were all talking about what your success could afford you in terms of spending one-upmanship. Like, “You bought me a car? I’m going to buy you two cars” or “We need 16 pinball machines on this tour.” Is there one extravagance from those days that sticks out to you?

Jon: There was silliness. There were absolutely cars and art and toys — because you could, and we took full advantage of it.

Through documentary you all got to review 40 years of your own personal style. Was there one look from each of yourselves that made you think, “Oh my God, I looked amazing”?

Jon: No, I take the opposite. My baby pictures were public, yours were not. We still have to suffer some of those looks. It could have been worse, but you know, some of those baby pictures were tough to look at.

Tico: I mean, if you take the clothes away, we definitely were better looking and younger. But the clothing was much to be desired. Even the haircuts were a little like, “I wish we didn’t do that.”

Some of that style has come back around though.

Jon: Oh, yes. You sit around now your kids and you go, “Those torn jeans? Let me tell you where all this stuff comes from that you’re doing.” When I see parachute pants and Capezios come back though, I’m running for the hills. [ Laughs. ]

Tico: I think we’re living the joy now. Jon’s been through a lot, and of course everybody goes through that pain with him. The joy is the revival. Doing a record together is cleansing. Jon’s lyrics — and I’m not a lyricist; I don’t listen to lyrics — but this is one of the few records where I listen to every one of them, because they just grabbed me. There was a lot of joy in making this record. I think we’re enjoying it. Jon, what do you think?

Jon: Well, we are. I’ll give you a great example: when we’re at these rehearsals and we’re just marking the progress that I’m making on a monthly basis. There’s no miracles, but when I look around the room and not once does the band sit there and go, “I don’t want to be here.” Or “I don’t want to play that song again.” That to me is love on a whole other level.

We know we’re not going out on the road tomorrow. We know we’re not being paid to sit in this rehearsal space. But the guys are like, “Of course I’ll be there. Let’s go. Let’s do it again.” Or if I crash and burn, they go, “Okay, I traveled all this way and we played an hour before I’ve gotta cool it.” Nobody has cursed me for it. They’re like, “We’re with you.” That’s the love of family and band and brotherhood that no presents, no cars, no art, no silly kids’ stuff could ever, ever replace.

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Springsteen jams with Mellencamp, Jackson Browne and more in N.J. (VIDEOS)

• Updated: Apr. 25, 2024, 12:16 p.m. |
• Published: Apr. 25, 2024, 11:00 a.m.

John Mellencamp (left) and Bruce Springsteen (right) performing at the American Music Honors in Monmouth University Courtesy of Sammy Steinlight

• Saleah Blancaflor | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Hot off the latest leg of his ongoing concert tour, Bruce Springsteen returned to the Jersey Shore Wednesday night for a jam session with rock nobles.

The Boss was in West Long Branch, at his own Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music at Monmouth University, where the second annual American Music Honors was held, hosted by Brian Williams.

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Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music Honor John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples and Dion DiMucci in New Jersey

By Michele Amabile Angermiller

Michele Amabile Angermiller

• Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music Honor John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples and Dion DiMucci in New Jersey 1 hour ago
• Bruce Springsteen Flies Cross-Country to Join Zach Bryan Onstage in Brooklyn 4 weeks ago
• Season 2 of ‘The Allison Hagendorf Show’ Launches Thursday 2 months ago

Moments after being honored at the American Music Honors of the Bruce Springsteen Archives, John Mellencamp took a moment to talk about its namesake at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theater in West Long Branch on Wednesday night (April 24).

“I know you all love him,” he said of Springsteen. “He put down a big footprint — him and [Bob] Dylan, for me. And [Woody] Guthrie. And Bruce just kind of put it down and said, ‘There it is, punk. Fill my footprint.’ And that was inspiration for me, ’cause I could hear him, and I could hear Bob, and I could go, ‘God, these guys… maybe me, too.’ ”

Springsteen, dressed in a white shirt, vest and tie, honored Mellencamp for his musical legacy and activism, as well as creating Farm Aid with Willie Nelson in 1985. The Freehold native gave Mellencamp credit for creating a musical stew of “traditional country and roots instrumentation mixed with a rhythm section and the energy of a rock band.” It’s something “that he invented,” he continued. “It formed the bedrock of alternative-country, and country music today, and it’s something he really hasn’t gotten the credit for, that he so richly deserves.”

Mellencamp, who joked about not being prepared with even a piece of paper, told the crowd that his only ambition in his early career was to sing in a band to meet girls with a future career as a painter when a manager plucked him up fresh out of college that changed his name to “Johnny Cougar.” “I had never written a song,” he said. “Never wrote a song in my life, and I had a record deal. ‘Now what am I going to do?”

After his speech, Mellencamp performed a song he wrote when he was just 25 that worked out well for him: an acoustic version of “Jack and Diane.” Springsteen then took the stage to perform his version of Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” repeating a verse before Mellencamp emerged from the audience to duet.

Browne, a long-time social justice, environmental and educational activist who has supported everything from anti-nuclear alternative energy resources to political freedom in Central America, was inducted by Landau, who said his pitch to be Browne’s producer on his 1976 album “The Pretender” was, “‘Jackson, don’t sound too mopey. Sing out, loud and proud. And most importantly, turn that goddamn snare drum up.’ He wound up doing all of that, and the album came out sounding pretty, pretty good.”

Browne spoke eloquently of his career and partnership with the late David Lindley, as well as his early beginnings in Orange County — “a suburb of Disneyland actually.” “There was some very good traditional music being played at Disneyland. David Lindley played there in a bluegrass band, and the same guy that booked serious folk musicians at Disneyland — Tom Campbell was his name — wound up producing hundreds, maybe a thousand benefit concerts for environmental and human rights organizations in the ’70s and ’80s, including the legendary No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. He connected artists with issues that he saw needed to be addressed.”

Browne then strapped on a guitar for a sweet performance of “Running on Empty,” with an elated Landau dancing in the side aisles. He later honored the late Glenn Frey with a performance of the Eagles song, “Take It Easy,” on which he shares a co-writing credit.

Mavis Staples, who in the 1960s was on the frontlines of the civil rights movement and continues to use her music to support racial equality in America, was reverentially honored by Love, who detailed Staples’ storied history with The Staples Singers and their hits, “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Staples, she said, was instrumental in standing up against “forces that have sought to keep women from entering their rightful place on stage and to sing and express themselves.”

She then made her way center stage to show just how big those vocals still are, leading the band with a spiritually uplifting and soul-shaking version of “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

DiMucci, whose landmark recording of “Abraham, Martin and John” became an activist anthem in the late 1960s, took a moment to praise Staples, who celebrates her birthday just eight days earlier and turns the same age. “Mavis, if you ever want to go out with a younger guy, the kid is here,” he joked. “You know what I’m saying.”

Van Zandt inducted DiMucci, who performed “King of the New York Streets” and “The Wanderer.” DiMucci suggested that the musicians take a break from their touring life and start a group as the New Staples Singers. “Backstage, Stevie Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp … We decided to put our careers on hold,” he said. “We’re going out on the road with Mavis Staples as The New Staple Singers.”

Springsteen and Van Zandt then took the stage, with the former strapping on a guitar. They launched into an energetic mini-E Street band concert with “Glory Days” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

The evening concluded with all the performers and presenters to give a rendition of The Carter Family’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Springsteen in particular was enjoying himself as he sang his verse and directed the band with a big smile.

In attendance were New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy, as well as Steve Forbert, John Eddie, Warren Zanes (author of “Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska,” which is set to be a film starring Jeremy Allen White), Springsteen’s son Sam, Springsteen’s wife, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation chairman John Sykes.

Proceeds from the ceremony and a silent online auction (a signed guitar by Springsteen was fetching as high as $8,000) will go toward the construction of the Bruce Springsteen Archives.

The Center for American Music will feature exhibits on Springsteen and showcase diverse topics and themes in American music, while the Archives will offer visitors the chance to listen to oral histories and interviews, watch rare film footage, and explore major moments in music history. Intimate concerts, teacher workshops, symposia, lectures, film series, and other public and educational programs will also be part of the mission for the Archives and Center for American Music.

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