Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

About Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have been making rock music together since the early 1970s, which is either inspiring or exhausting depending on how you look at it. Springsteen started out as a Jersey Shore bar band guy who got signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and the label immediately started calling him "the new Dylan." That comparison nearly crushed him before he'd released a proper hit.

The E Street Band coalesced around him during those early years. Clarence Clemons on saxophone, Danny Federici on organ, Garry Tallent on bass, and the rest came together through the New Jersey music scene. Max Weinberg joined on drums in 1974. The name came from the street in Belmar where Federici's mother lived, which is decidedly unglamorous for a band that would eventually play stadiums.

Born to Run in 1975 changed everything. The title track and Thunder Road turned Springsteen into a legitimate rock star, though he spent the next year in legal battles with his manager that kept him from recording. When he came back with Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978, the sound was harder and less romantic. The River in 1980 went double album, mixing bar band energy with more introspective material.

Then came Nebraska in 1982, which Springsteen recorded alone on a four-track in his bedroom. The E Street Band didn't play on it at all. The stark, acoustic songs about criminals and desperate people confused everyone, but it's aged better than almost anything else he's done.

Born in the U.S.A. in 1984 was massive. Seven top-ten singles. Dancing in the Dark had a video with Courteney Cox. Reagan tried to co-opt the title track, completely missing that it was about a Vietnam vet with no options. The album sold 30 million copies and turned Springsteen into an American icon, for better or worse.

He dissolved the E Street Band in 1989, worked with other musicians through the '90s, then reunited them in 1999. They've been together since, with notable losses. Clemons died in 2011, Federici in 2008. The band brought in Jake Clemons, Clarence's nephew, on saxophone.

Recent albums have been scattered. Magic and Working on a Dream had moments. Western Stars in 2019 was a lush, cinematic detour. Letter to You in 2020 reunited him with the E Street Band for something looser and more elegiac.

They still tour regularly, playing three-hour shows that mix the hits with deep cuts. Springsteen is in his mid-70s now and still throwing himself around the stage like he's got something to prove. The shows are less scrappy than they used to be, more professional, but the core thing—working-class rock about American lives—hasn't really changed in 50 years.

Springsteen shows last until he decides to leave. The crowd sings along to every word, and the E Street Band plays like they're getting paid by the hour. Mostly standing, very sweaty, surprisingly emotional for a guy in a leather jacket playing arena rock.

Known for Born to Run, Thunder Road, Born in the U.S.A., Dancing in the Dark, The River

See Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Live