The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997.Santelli, Greetings From E Street, pp. 83–84. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad.
The tour represented Springsteen's first full-length, solo tour; he traveled with only an instrument technician and a sound engineer.Santelli, Greetings From E Street, p. 83. As such it was a marked departure from the high-energy shows with the E Street Band that Springsteen had become famous for. The album itself was quiet, dark, and angry, and Springsteen presented it as such in the shows on the tour. Older songs from Springsteen's catalog, such as "Born in the U.S.A.," were presented in very different, often harsh re-arrangements.
The result, especially in the tour's first leg of shows, was an uncompromising portrayal of pessimism; Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that with the tour's performances, Springsteen "has taken his music to an extreme, a depressive's view of tedious, unending woe." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "In contrast to past tours, which have been celebratory events tinged by introspection, Springsteen brought a sobering sense of solitude" to the shows of this tour. By some of the later shows of the tour, however, Springsteen relaxed the mood a bit by interweaving a few new songs with an almost comedic bent.
Itinerary The tour began on November 21, 1995, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.
After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North American cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio, due to "Youngstown" being the album track most played on radio.
February and March saw shows in Western Europe, followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through early May.
A family man with three small children at the time, Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started again in the U.S. in mid-September, playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, and finishing in mid-December.
Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show to Japan and Australia for three weeks. In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm to accept the Polar Music Prize, then he toured Central Europe, seeing Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997, at the Palais des congrès in Paris and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world.
Show While the Ghost of Tom Joad album was in the more acoustic, somber vein of his earlier Nebraska, it did contain some limited additional instrumentation and arrangements. Given that Springsteen was famous for his full-band, high-energy, crowd-rousing concerts, this tour was considered a surprising departure. Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect.
Critical and commercial reaction
Due to the small venues played on the tour, often in the 2,000–3,000 capacity range, tickets were often hard to get, creating a "ticket scalpers' heaven." Dave Marsh's Two Hearts biography assessed the tour as not expanding Springsteen's audience any, but helping to solidify it, especially in Europe.
The Asbury Park Press characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ... The lyrics are bleaker than usual for Springsteen and the music reflects the solemn mood." The New York Times said a December 1995 Beacon Theatre show "easily qualifies as the most earnest concert of the year," that "Where [Springsteen] once saw open highways, he now sees roads to nowhere," and that "Springsteen turned in a painstaking and convincing performance. But with that material, he has turned himself into nearly a one-note performer." The Washington Post, on the other hand, found a December 1995 DAR Constitution Hall performance showing strains of the "sense of triumph" that Springsteen's previous work had evoked, although his physical appearance made him "look more like the custodian at Constitution Hall than the star attraction."
The book Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, edited by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, praised the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again."Santelli, "Beyond Folk: Woody Guthrie's Impact on Rock and Roll", p. 54. Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career".Guterman, Runaway American Dream, pp. 86–87. However Guterman praised later legs that incorporated new material that was "sly, low-key, and funny."Guterman, Runaway American Dream, p. 87.
Broadcasts and recordings Portions of the December 8 and December 9, 1995, shows at Philadelphia's Tower Theater were later broadcast on the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour on U.S. album-oriented rock stations.
Several shows have been released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives: Kings Hall, Belfast, Ireland, 19/03/1996, released on September 1, 2017 Saint Rose of Lima School Gym, Freehold, New Jersey, USA, 11/08/1996, released on May 4, 2018 Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, 11/24/1996, released on November 1, 2019 Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, France, 18/05/1997, released on February 5, 2021 Tower Theater, Pennsylvania, USA, 12/9/1995, released on February 4, 2022 Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, 11/26/1996, released on November 4, 2022 EJ Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Akron, Ohio, USA, 25/09/1996, released on February 2, 2024
Tour dates +DateCityCountryVenueNorth AmericaNovember 22, 1995Red BankUnited StatesCount Basie TheatreNovember 26, 1995Los AngelesWiltern TheaterNovember 27, 1995November 29, 1995BerkeleyBerkeley Community TheatreNovember 30, 1995December 3, 1995RosemontRosemont TheatreDecember 5, 1995Washington, D.C.DAR Constitution HallDecember 6, 1995December 8, 1995Upper DarbyTower TheaterDecember 9, 1995December 12, 1995New York CityBeacon TheatreDecember 13, 1995December 15, 1995BostonOrpheum TheatreDecember 16, 1995December 17, 1995New York CityBeacon TheatreJanuary 7, 1996MontrealCanadaSalle Wilfrid-PelletierJanuary 8, 1996TorontoMassey HallJanuary 10, 1996DetroitUnited StatesFox TheatreJanuary 11, 1996January 12, 1996YoungstownStambaugh AuditoriumJanuary 16, 1996ClevelandCleveland Music HallJanuary 17, 1996January 18, 1996St. LouisFox TheatreJanuary 22, 1996New OrleansSaenger TheatreJanuary 23, 1996HoustonJesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing ArtsJanuary 25, 1996AustinAustin Music HallJanuary 26, 1996DallasBronco BowlJanuary 28, 1996AtlantaFox TheatreEuropeFebruary 12, 1996FrankfurtGermanyAlte OperFebruary 14, 1996DresdenKulturpalastFebruary 15, 1996MunichRudi-Sedlmayer-HalleFebruary 17, 1996HamburgCongress Centrum Hamburg Halle 1February 18, 1996DüsseldorfPhilipshalleFebruary 21, 1996ParisFranceLe ZénithFebruary 22, 1996February 25, 1996RotterdamThe NetherlandsDe DoelenFebruary 26, 1996AmsterdamKoninklijk Theater CarréFebruary 28, 1996ManchesterEnglandManchester ApolloFebruary 29, 1996BirminghamSymphony HallMarch 2, 1996NewcastleNewcastle City HallMarch 3, 1996EdinburghScotlandEdinburgh PlayhouseMarch 13, 1996StockholmSwedenCirkusMarch 14, 1996OsloNorwayOslo SpektrumMarch 16, 1996CopenhagenDenmarkFalkoner SalenMarch 19, 1996BelfastNorthern IrelandKing's HallMarch 20, 1996DublinIrelandPoint TheatreApril 10, 1996RomeItalyAuditorium Santa CeciliaApril 11, 1996MilanTeatro SmeraldoApril 13, 1996GenoaTeatro Carlo FeliceApril 16, 1996LondonEnglandRoyal Albert HallApril 17, 1996April 19, 1996BerlinGermanyICC Berlin Halle 1April 20, 1996AntwerpBelgiumKoningin ElisabethzaalApril 22, 1996LondonEnglandRoyal Albert HallApril 24, 1996Brixton AcademyApril 25, 1996April 27, 1996Royal Albert HallApril 30, 1996StrasbourgFrancePalais de la musique et des congrèsMay 1, 1996BrusselsBelgiumPalais des Beaux-ArtsMay 2, 1996ZürichSwitzerlandKongresshaus ZürichMay 6, 1996BarcelonaSpainTeatro TivoliMay 7, 1996May 8, 1996MadridPalacio de CongresosNorth AmericaSeptember 16, 1996PittsburghUnited StatesBenedum CenterSeptember 18, 1996WallingfordOakdale TheatreSeptember 19, 1996ProvidenceProvidence Performing Arts CenterSeptember 24, 1996KalamazooJames W. Miller AuditoriumSeptember 25, 1996AkronE.J. Thomas Performing Arts HallSeptember 26, 1996Ann ArborHill AuditoriumOctober 1, 1996NormalBraden AuditoriumOctober 2, 1996MilwaukeeRiverside TheaterOctober 3, 1996MinneapolisNorthrop AuditoriumOctober 15, 1996Salt Lake CityAbravanel HallOctober 16, 1996DenverParamount TheatreOctober 17, 1996October 19, 1996AlbuquerqueKiva AuditoriumOctober 21, 1996TempeGrady Gammage Memorial AuditoriumOctober 22, 1996San DiegoCivic TheatreOctober 23, 1996FresnoWilliam Saroyan TheatreOctober 25, 1996Santa BarbaraArlington TheatreOctober 26, 1996San JoseEvent Center ArenaOctober 28, 1996PortlandArlene Schnitzer Concert HallOctober 29, 1996SeattleParamount TheatreNovember 8, 1996FreeholdSaint Rose of Lima SchoolNovember 12, 1996BuffaloShea's Performing Arts CenterNovember 13, 1996SyracuseLandmark TheatreNovember 14, 1996LowellLowell Memorial AuditoriumNovember 19, 1996MemphisEllis AuditoriumNovember 20, 1996LouisvilleThe Louisville PalaceNovember 21, 1996IndianapolisMurat TheatreNovember 24, 1996Asbury ParkParamount TheatreNovember 25, 1996November 26, 1996December 2, 1996SunriseSunrise Musical TheaterDecember 3, 1996December 5, 1996ColumbiaTownship AuditoriumDecember 6, 1996BirminghamBirmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Concert HallDecember 10, 1996CincinnatiMusic HallDecember 11, 1996ColumbusNational Veterans Memorial and MuseumDecember 12, 1996NashvilleRyman AuditoriumDecember 14, 1996CharlotteOvens AuditoriumJapanJanuary 27, 1997TokyoJapanKokusai Forum HallJanuary 29, 1997January 30, 1997January 31, 1997AustraliaFebruary 4, 1997BrisbaneAustraliaQPAC Concert HallFebruary 5, 1997February 7, 1997SydneyCapitol TheatreFebruary 8, 1997February 10, 1997February 11, 1997February 12, 1997February 15, 1997MelbournePalais TheatreFebruary 16, 1997February 17, 1997EuropeMay 6, 1997ViennaAustriaAustria Center ViennaMay 7, 1997May 9, 1997WarsawPolandSala KongresowaMay 10, 1997May 12, 1997PragueCzech RepublicCongress CenterMay 15, 1997LyonFranceMaurice Ravel AuditoriumMay 16, 1997MontpellierBerlioz Opera HouseMay 18, 1997NiceAcropolisMay 19, 1997ToulonZénith OmegaMay 21, 1997FlorenceItalyTeatro VerdiMay 22, 1997NaplesTeatro AugusteoMay 25, 1997ParisFrancePalais des congrès de ParisMay 26, 1997
Songs performed
Source:
Sources Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Cambridge: DeCapo Press, 2005. Marsh, Dave. Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005. Bloomsbury USA, 2006. . Santelli, Robert, "Beyond Folk: Woody Guthrie's Impact on Rock and Roll", in Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, eds. Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1999. Santelli, Robert. Greetings From E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006.