Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band gave Asbury Park, New Jersey a show to remember with an epic headlining set at Sea.Hear.Now festival on Sunday night.
The show was a homecoming for Springsteen and the band, who got their start playing gigs in and around Asbury Park in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Appropriately, the first half of the Sea.Hear.Now setlist leaned heavily into material from Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., as well as other Jersey-centric songs. Notably, Springsteen performed tracks like “Blinded by the Light,” “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?,” “Thundercrack,” and “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” for the first time in nearly a decade.
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Elsewhere in the set, Springsteen was joined by his wife, Patti Scialfa, for a performance of “Tougher Than the Rest.” Scialfa recently revealed that she has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer that has limited her ability to tour with the E Street Band.
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The surprises continued during the encore, as Springsteen dusted off “Meeting Across the River” and “Jungleland” from Born to Run for the first time on this current tour. He then closed the night with a cover of Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl.”
All told, Springsteen and the E Street Band treated the Asbury Park faithful to a 30-song, three-hour set that will be remembered not only as a highlight of their ongoing world tour but also in the annals of the band’s history.
Earlier on Sunday, Springsteen made guest appearances during The Gaslight Anthem’s and Trey Anastasio’s sets at Sea.Hear.Now. He joined fellow New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem for “History Books” and American Slang,” and sat in with Anastasio for an improvised jam of his own song “Kitty’s Back.”
The night prior, Springsteen stopped by Asbury Park’s The Stone Pony for a festival afterparty, where he covered songs including Little Richard’s “Lucille,” Hooker’s “Boom Boom Boom,” Them’s “Gloria.”
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Sea.Hear.Now. Setlist:
Lonesome Day
Blinded by the Light (First time played since 2017)
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? (First time played since 2017)
Growin’ Up
The Promised Land
Spirit in the Night
Thundercrack (First time played since 2016)
The E Street Shuffle
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (First time played since 2016)
Hungry Heart
Local Hero (Tour debut)
Atlantic City
Tougher Than the Rest (with Patti Scialfa)
Long Walk Home
Racing in the Street
Because the Night
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Encore:
Meeting Across the River (Tour debut)
Jungleland (Tour debut)
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Twist and Shout
Jersey Girl (Tour debut)
