Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Return After 6-Year Break To Launch Tour In Tampa

The Boss is back. Bruce Springsteen and an expanded The E Street Band lineup took the stage last night in Tampa to kick off their first tour since 2017. The 19-piece ensemble treated the capacity crowd at Amalie Arena to a 28-song concert featuring a career-spanning setlist.

Springsteen didn’t do much talking in Tampa at a show that began with Born In The U.S.A. rocker “No Surrender.” The Boss went with “Ghosts” in the two-slot, one of six songs from his 2020 LP Letter To You played at Amalie Arena. While Bruce and his longtime backing band fit in performances of the Commodores’ “Nightshift” and Ben E. King’s “Don’t Play That Song” off Springsteen’s recently released Only The Strong Survive covers album, nothing from 2019’s Western Stars was trotted out on Wednesday.

Plenty of live staples were sprinkled into last night’s setlist including “Prove It All Night,” “The Promised Land,” “Backstreets,” “The Rising,” “Born To Run” and “Glory Days.” The E Street Band was showcased on extended versions of early classics “Kitty’s Back” and “The E Street Shuffle.”

Springsteen took a moment to address the audience before a solo acoustic performance take on Letter To You’s “Last Man Standing.” He spoke about schoolmate George Thiess asking him to join the Castiles in 1965. Thiess died of lung cancer in 2018, leaving him the “Last Man Standing” from his first band. “At 15 it’s all tomorrow, at 73 it’s all yesterdays,” Springsteen said. “That’s why you gotta make the most of right now.”

Bruce Springsteen introduced the members of the band late in the concert following a performance of “Dancing In The Dark.” The 73-year-old musician then honored the late Clarence Clemons during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” before closing the tour opener with a soul acoustic performance of “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” Springsteen & The E Street Band continue the extensive world tour on Friday in Atlanta.

Watch fan-shot video from last night’s concert below:

Setlist (via Brucebase)

Set: No Surrender, Ghosts, Provide It All Night, Letter To You, The Promised Land, Out In The Street, Candy’s Room, Kitty’s Back, Brilliant Disguise, Nightshift, Don’t Play That Song, The E Street Shuffle, Johnny 99, Last Man Standing, House Of A Thousand Guitars, Backstreets, Because The Night, She’s The One, Wrecking Ball, The Rising, Badlands, Burnn’ Train, Born To Run, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Glory Days, Dancing In The Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, I’ll See You In My Dreams