Springsteen On Broadway

On October 12, 2017, Bruce Springsteen officially kicked off his New York City Broadway tour at the nine-hundred-and-sixty-seat Walter Kerr Theatre. The two hundred and thirty-six shows he performed grossed over one hundred and thirteen million dollars and spawned a live record and Netflix special. The shows featured a solo Springsteen performing on guitar and piano, telling stories from his 2016 autobiography, “Born to Run,” and telling other stories specifically written for the show.

The Netflix special “Springsteen On Broadway” was filmed on July 17th and 18th, 2018, and debuted the morning of December 16, 2018, hours after the final Broadway performance closed. The television special and the ensuing live album, released on December 18th, were acclaimed by critics and led to him announcing he would be performing another limited run of shows On June 7, 2021, Springsteen announced an additional thirty-one show run of Springsteen on Broadway at the St. James Theatre beginning on June 26, 2021, with additional performances through September 4, 2021.

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Inspiration

Springsteen described his motivation for the shows by saying: “I wanted to do some shows that were as personal and as intimate as possible. I chose Broadway for this project because it has the beautiful old theaters, which seemed like the right setting for what I have in mind. In fact, with one or two exceptions, the nine-hundred seats of the Walter Kerr Theatre is probably the smallest venue I’ve played in the last 40 years. My show is just me, the guitar, the piano, and the words and music. Some of the show is spoken, some of it is sung. It loosely follows the arc of my life and my work. All of it together is in pursuit of my constant goal to provide an entertaining evening and to communicate something of value.”

The tracklist for the shows varied, but this is the most commonly performed one:

"Growin' Up" (from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.)

"My Hometown" (from Born in the U.S.A.)

"My Father's House" (from Nebraska)

"The Wish" (from Tracks)

"Thunder Road" (from Born to Run)

"The Promised Land" (from Darkness on the Edge of Town)

"Born in the U.S.A ." (from Born in the U.S.A.)

"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (from Born to Run)

"Tougher Than the Rest" (from Tunnel of Love)

"Brilliant Disguise" (from Tunnel of Love)

"Long Walk Home" (from Magic)

"The Rising" (from The Rising)

"Dancing in the Dark" (from Born in the U.S.A.)

"Land of Hope and Dreams" (from Wrecking Ball)

"Born to Run" (from Born to Run)

Opportunity Costs

Scalping and reselling tickets the see The Boss had been commonplace in the past, so tickets were made available exclusively through Ticketmaster Verified Fan, a system put into place by Ticketmaster to curb scalping and gougers. Prices ranged from $75 to $850. That didn’t accomplish much, as tickets appeared on reseller sites like StubHub minutes after they became available. Several hundred tickets were available on StubHub, and prices started at $1800 and went to $6700. With those issues and the original run of dates selling out very quickly, Springsteen announced the residency would continue until February 3, 2018, with tickets for the newly announced dates going on sale September 7, 2017. A second extension to June 30, 2018, was later announced, with no new registrations being taken. Instead, people who had previously registered but were unable to get tickets would be contacted to give them the opportunity to purchase seats.

The Album

The album was praised as being “as powerful as any album he has ever made,” “a new type of rock show,” and “a hugely nourishing listen," as well as for its autobiographical references to his 2016 autobiography. “Springsteen on Broadway” landed in the top 10 on music charts in more than ten countries, including Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK. In the United States, it reached number eleven on the Billboard 200.

The thirty-five-track double album contains songs and narratives interspersed, and the track listing is as follows:

"Growin' Up (Introduction)"

"Growin' Up"

"My Hometown (Introduction Part 1)"

"My Hometown (Introduction Part 2)"

"My Hometown"

"My Father's House (Introduction)"

"My Father's House"

"The Wish (Introduction)"

"The Wish"

"Thunder Road (Introduction)"

"Thunder Road"

"The Promised Land (Introduction Part 1)"