Bruce Springsteen Ends The River Tour With Prince Tribute & Rarities

New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ended The River Tour at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night. The Boss loaded the post-River portion of the show with rarities, welcomed a youngster up to share the stage and honored Prince for the second performance in a row.

Bruce and the E Street Band kicked off the evening with River outtake “Meet Me In The City” before rolling through each and every track from The River. The post-River portion of the evening began with the band’s first cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” since April 29, 2014 and the tour’s second take on rarity “Loose Ends.” Springsteen then welcomed a little girl holding a sign up. She wanted to sing “Blinded By The Light,” so Bruce gave her an opportunity to do so and accompanied her for part of it. Watch the cute scene as shot by Scott Gibson:

The Boss and his band brought the main set to a close with the tour debut cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped” as well as classics “Badlands,” “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” “Prove It All Night” and “Thunder Road.” Springsteen still had plenty in store for the NYC faithful as he ended the evening with a seven-song encore. Bruce covered Prince’s “Purple Rain” for the second show in a row and stated at the beginning “one more time for the man.” From there, The Boss stuck with golden oldies to say farewell with “Born To Run,” “Dancing In The Dark,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Shout” and “Bobby Jean.”

Last night’s show is expected to be the last in which Springsteen and his band perform the 1980 double album The River in its entirety. Bassist Garry Tallent recently told the Asbury Park Press, “We’re not going to do it in sequence so that doesn’t mean we’re not going to do a lot of the songs.” Tallent added, “It’ll probably be a big part of the repertoire, like we always have done. It’s going to be more like the old show. A lot more of a free for all.” Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band return to the road next month to begin a European Tour.