The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000.
The tour was the first set of regular concerts given by Springsteen and the E Street Band in eleven years, since the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! Tours, and followed two lengthy tours by Springsteen without the Band in the intervening years.
The tour was not intended to promote any Springsteen records; the release of the box set Tracks six months earlier had been oriented towards the holiday shopping market, and no longer held any chart action by the time of the tour. The release of the cut-down, single disc 18 Tracks did coincide with the start of the tour but received little publicity or sales.
Itinerary Tour preparations began in March 1999 with a series of rehearsals at Asbury Park, New Jersey's Convention Hall. Several dozen Springsteen fans, eager with anticipation at what the long-awaited reunion might bring, stood outside the Hall on the cold and windy boardwalk and beach, hearing what they could from inside the walls and reporting their findings on several Springsteen Internet forums. It was during one of these sessions that fans first heard runthroughs of "The Train Song", which would become the tour's closing epic "Land of Hope and Dreams". The practice of listening in on rehearsals would continue for all of Springsteen's subsequent tours. Springsteen then held two public rehearsal concerts in Convention Hall, a practice that would also continue for tours to come.
Springsteen opted to start the Reunion Tour in Europe. The first leg of the tour formally began on April 9, 1999, with the first of two nights in Barcelona's Palau Sant Jordi. By then, Barcelona had become one of the strongest centers of Springsteen popularity, and additionally there were hundreds of travelling fans in attendance. The European leg would run through the end of June, finishing in Oslo, and encompass 36 shows in all, featuring a mixture of arenas and stadiums and often playing two nights in a location.
Two weeks later, the second leg commenced in the United States, and took place solely in arenas. It began with 15 consecutive shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey's Continental Airlines Arena. More multi-night stands followed, as the tour concentrated on Springsteen hot spots such as Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. After 52 shows, the leg finished in Minneapolis at the end of November.
A three-month winter break ensued. The third leg began in late February 2000 with a show at Pennsylvania State University. This leg focused on mostly single-night stands in areas that hadn't been reached on the previous leg, including a couple of dates in Canada, and again took place in arenas. Totalling 44 shows, it concluded in June with 10 consecutive dates at New York City's Madison Square Garden, ending on July 1, 2000.
In all, the tour played 132 shows in 62 cities over a span of 15 months.
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueAttendanceRevenue EuropeApril 9, 1999 Barcelona Spain Palau Sant Jordi rowspan="2" rowspan="2" April 11, 1999 April 13, 1999 Munich Germany Olympiahalle April 15, 1999 Cologne Kölnarena April 17, 1999 Bologna Italy Palasport 11,700 / 11,700 $438,366April 19, 1999 Milan Fila Forum 22,800 / 22,800$828,340April 20, 1999April 23, 1999 Regensburg Germany Donau Arena April 24, 1999 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle April 26, 1999 Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion April 28, 1999 Lyon France Halle Tony Garnier May 1, 1999 Manchester England Manchester Evening News Arena rowspan="2" rowspan="2" May 2, 1999 May 16, 1999 Birmingham NEC Arena May 18, 1999 London Earls Court Exhibition Centre rowspan="4" rowspan="4" May 19, 1999 May 21, 1999 May 23, 1999 May 25, 1999 Dublin Ireland RDS Arena 40,000 / 40,000 May 27, 1999 Ghent Belgium Flanders Expo May 29, 1999 Berlin GermanyParkbühne Wuhlheide rowspan="2" rowspan="2" May 30, 1999 June 2, 1999 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy rowspan="2" rowspan="2" June 3, 1999 June 5, 1999 Zaragoza Spain La Romareda June 7, 1999 Madrid Estadio La Peineta June 11, 1999 Genoa Italy Stadio Luigi Ferraris 25,261 / 29,000 $1,031,866June 13, 1999 Leipzig Germany Bruno-Plache-Stadion June 15, 1999 Offenbach Stadion am Bieberer Berg June 17, 1999 Bremen Weserstadion June 19, 1999 Arnhem Netherlands GelreDome rowspan="2" rowspan="2" June 20, 1999 June 23, 1999 StockholmSweden Stockholm Olympic Stadium 66,000 / 66,000 rowspan="2" June 24, 1999 June 26, 1999 Copenhagen Denmark Parken Stadium 48,000 / 48,000 June 27, 1999 Oslo Norway Valle Hovin North AmericaJuly 15, 1999 East Rutherford United States Continental Airlines Arena 304,785 / 304,785 $19,000,605July 18, 1999 July 20, 1999 July 24, 1999 July 26, 1999 July 27, 1999 July 29, 1999 August 1, 1999 August 2, 1999 August 4, 1999 August 6, 1999 August 7, 1999 August 9, 1999 August 11, 1999 August 12, 1999 August 21, 1999 Boston FleetCenter 98,894 / 98,894 $5,469,060August 22, 1999 August 24, 1999 August 26, 1999 August 27, 1999 August 31, 1999 Washington, D.C. MCI Center 55,650 / 55,650 $3,575,423September 1, 1999 September 3, 1999 September 8, 1999Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills 39,547 / 39,547 $2,477,370September 9, 1999September 13, 1999 Philadelphia First Union Center 114,922 / 114,922 $7,394,085September 15, 1999 September 20, 1999 September 21, 1999 September 24, 1999 First Union Spectrum September 25, 1999 First Union CenterSeptember 27, 1999 Chicago United Center 57,833 / 57,833 $3,779,768September 28, 1999 September 30, 1999 October 15, 1999 Phoenix America West Arena 16,978 / 16,978 $1,078,575October 17, 1999 Los Angeles Staples Center rowspan="4" rowspan="4" October 18, 1999 October 21, 1999 October 23, 1999October 25, 1999 Oakland The Arena in Oakland 47,074 / 47,074 $3,112,423October 26, 1999 October 28, 1999 November 6, 1999 Fargo Fargodome 17,245 / 20,000 November 9, 1999 Milwaukee Bradley Center November 10, 1999 Indianapolis Conseco Fieldhouse November 14, 1999 Cleveland Gund Arena 40,419 / 40,419 $2,549,123November 15, 1999November 17, 1999 Columbus Value City Arena 17,869 / 17,869 $1,142,738November 19, 1999 Buffalo Marine Midland Arena 19,294 / 19,294 $1,179,765November 21, 1999 Albany Pepsi Arena 16,612 / 16,612 $1,030,851November 28, 1999 Minneapolis Target Center 32,537 / 32,537 $2,071,876November 29, 1999 North AmericaFebruary 28, 2000 University Park United States Bryce Jordan Center 15,439 / 15,439 $1,015,163March 4, 2000 Orlando Orlando Arena 16,479 / 16,479 $870,412March 6, 2000 Tampa Ice Palace 18,711 / 19,452 $1,112,428March 9, 2000 Sunrise National Car Rental Center 34,148 / 38,194 $2,057,142March 10, 2000 March 13, 2000 Dallas Reunion Arena 15,967 / 16,025 $1,026,638March 14, 2000 North Little Rock Alltel Arena March 18, 2000 Memphis Pyramid Arena March 19, 2000 New Orleans New Orleans Arena 13,515 / 17,033 $857,875March 30, 2000 Denver Pepsi Center rowspan="2" rowspan="2" March 31, 2000 April 3, 2000 Portland Rose Garden 18,254 / 18,254 $1,184,865April 4, 2000 Tacoma Tacoma Dome 22,415 / 22,415 $1,472,723April 8, 2000 St. Louis Kiel Center April 9, 2000 Kansas City Kemper Arena April 12, 2000 Nashville Nashville Arena April 15, 2000 Louisville Freedom Hall April 17, 2000 Austin Frank Erwin Center April 18, 2000 Houston Compaq Center 15,690 / 16,228 $985,422April 21, 2000 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 23,624 / 23,624 $1,516,815April 22, 2000 Raleigh RBC Center 18,872 / 18,872 $1,208,025April 25, 2000 Pittsburgh Mellon Arena rowspan="2" rowspan="2" April 26, 2000 April 30, 2000 Cincinnati Firstar Center May 3, 2000 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre 38,268 / 38,268 $2,039,728May 4, 2000 May 7, 2000 Hartford United States Hartford Civic Center rowspan="2" rowspan="2" May 8, 2000 May 21, 2000 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim 31,527 / 31,527 $2,001,143May 22, 2000 May 27, 2000 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena May 29, 2000 Salt Lake City Delta Center June 3, 2000 Atlanta Philips Arena 36,122 / 36,122 $2,204,866June 4, 2000 June 12, 2000 New York City Madison Square Garden 190,530 / 190,530 $12,217,343June 15, 2000 June 17, 2000 June 20, 2000 June 22, 2000 June 23, 2000 June 26, 2000 June 27, 2000 June 29, 2000 July 1, 2000
Notes
The show The E Street Band's sound changed with this tour. Originally different because of its inclusion of two keyboard instruments and a saxophone, it was now more guitar-oriented, as different-era second guitarists Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren were both included in the line-up, and as wife Patti Scialfa's greater up-front visibility added a fourth guitar. The ability of the sound system to keep the instrumental mix clear varied from venue to venue and night to night.
Set lists were dynamic throughout the tour. For a while Tracks''' "My Love Will Not Let You Down", a 1982 Born in the U.S.A. outtake, was the usual show opener. Although little known, "My Love" contained all the classic E Street Band elements, led by Danny Federici's trademark electronic glockenspiel sound. Later many other songs served the opener role as well, often equally unknown but less accessible ones that gave the audience pause at the start. The second slot, however, was usually given to "Prove It All Night" or "The Promised Land", 1970s classics that would pull the audience fully into the show, followed by "Two Hearts", emphasizing the bond between Springsteen and sidekick Van Zandt. Following those numbers, anything might appear.
Midway through the regular set, a fixed series of five songs always appeared: a loud, full-band "Youngstown", with a fiery guitar solo from Nils Lofgren; a loud, three-guitars-distorting "Murder Inc."; the reliably crowd-rousing anthem "Badlands"; a lengthy take on "Out in the Street" with plenty of Bruce stage antics; and a very elongated "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", which served as this tour's band intro song.
It was in "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" that the show's theme began to emerge. Springsteen used it to deliver one of his tall tales about the formation of the E Street Band, adopting a preacher persona to first sing sections of the Impressions' "It's All Right" and/or Al Green's "Take Me to the River", all the while describing a quasi-spiritual quest in the guise of band introductions: a journey to "the river of resurrection, where everyone can find salvation. But you can’t get there by yourself." The band were the people needed: Max Weinberg was introduced as star of Late Night with Conan O'Brien; Garry Tallent got to play the bass riff from "Fire"; Steven Van Zandt was introduced as star of The Sopranos tel-eee-vision show (to which Van Zandt responded with a bit of the theme from The Godfather on his guitar); Patti Scialfa got a build-up as "the first lady of love", after which she would play and sing a verse of her album's title song "Rumble Doll"; and Clarence Clemons would get the biggest build-up of all, leading to the part of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" in which "the Big Man joins the band."
From there the show would drop back into a serious mode, usually featuring a soft band rendition of the gloomy "The Ghost of Tom Joad" followed by a 1970s epic of loss rotated amongst "Backstreets", "Jungleland", and "Racing in the Street".
But then the second piece of the theme came, with the set closer "Light of Day". Now Springsteen was the backwoods preacher again, stretching out the song and in the middle giving a long sermon on what kind of salvation he was offering. First would be some local-site-specific glorifying or taunting, and then he would intone in time to band beats:
I'm here tonight – I'm here tonight –
To re-educate ya To re-suscitate ya To re-generate ya To re-confiscate ya To re-combabulate ya To re-indoctrinate ya To re-sex-u-late ya To re-dedicate ya To re-liberate ya With the power, and the gloryWith the power, and the gloryWith the promiseWith the majesty! With the mystery!!