Watch Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band Play ‘Atlantic City’ For 1st Time In 6 Years

Bruce Springsteen ever so slowly continues to dig into his massive back catalogue during his 2023 International Tour with the E Street Band. Last night in Cleveland The Boss broke out fan-favorite “Atlantic City” for his first performance of the song backed by the E Street Band since 2017 during the ensemble’s concert at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Springsteen originally released “Atlantic City” on his stripped-down 1982 solo album, Nebraska. However the song was recorded with the E Street Band during sessions held in April 1982 before the decision was made to put out demos Bruce made on a 4-track recorder as Nebraska the following September.

Full-band versions of “Atlantic City” were a staple of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s Born In The U.S.A. tour in 1984 and 1985. The song had been performed often at both E Street and solo shows ever since but disappeared from the repertoire after Bruce and his longtime backing band played “Atlantic City” on February 2, 2017.

“Atlantic City” fell in the slot typically reserved for tour debuts last night in Cleveland. Watch fan-shot video of the crowd-pleasing bust out below:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kept the rest of Wednesday’s setlist to a similar format as other stops on the trek. The exceptions were the return of “Atlantic City,” the third “Pay Me My Money Down” of the tour and second “Bobby Jean.” As usual, The Boss loaded the encore with such classics as “Thunder Road,” “Born To Run,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

The tour resumes on Friday night in Baltimore. Scroll below for Bruce Springsteen’s tour dates.

Setlist (via Brucebase)

Set: No Surrender, Ghosts, Prove It All Night, Letter To You, The Promised Land, Out In The Street, Candy’s Room, Kitty’s Back, Nightshift, Atlantic City, The E Street Shuffle, Pay Me My Money Down, Last Man Standing, Backstreets, Because The Night, She’s The One, Wrecking Ball, The Rising, Badlands

Encore: Bobby Jean, Thunder Road, Born To Run, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Glory Days, Dancing In The Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, I’ll See You In My Dreams