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High Hopes Tour

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High Hopes Tour
Tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Associated albumHigh Hopes
Start dateJanuary 26, 2014 (2014-01-26)
End dateMay 18, 2014 (2014-05-18)
Legs3
No. of shows34
Box office$65 million
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert chronology

The High Hopes Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with special guest guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.[1] The tour was seen as a continuation of his previous tour and was in support of eighteenth studio album, High Hopes, which was released in January 2014.

Longtime E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt missed most of the tour's North American leg due to the filming of his television series, Lilyhammer, while Patti Scialfa appeared on a few North American dates. 182 songs were performed on the High Hopes Tour and Springsteen announced at the tour's conclusion the band would be taking a break for the remainder of the year.

Background

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Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, said in a statement that the band's shows in Australia earlier in 2013 were among the best and most satisfying of the 128-date Wrecking Ball Tour. Landau further stated the 2014 tour had been in the works since the previous Australian leg, in large part due to its success and huge response from younger fans. A goal was to expand the number of places the band performed to include Perth and Adelaide, two places Springsteen had never performed, and Auckland, where Springsteen had not performed in over a decade.[2] During the previous Australian tour, Tom Morello stood in for Steven Van Zandt, who was absent due to filming of his television series, Lilyhammer. Springsteen told Rolling Stone that he had written and recorded a substantial amount of new music with the E Street Band and Morello. That material, along with others, would eventually make up the High Hopes album.

Initial tour dates in Australia and New Zealand were announced on August 15, 2013, with additional dates announced over the ensuing months. Subsequently, on October 28, 2013, Springsteen's management announced additional concerts in South Africa.[3] The tour was the first time Springsteen and the E Street Band played in South Africa;[4] their only prior performances in Africa occurred during the Human Rights Now! Tour in 1988, which visited Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast.[5]

Itinerary

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Pre-tour promotion/Rehearsals

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Late Night with Jimmy Fallon dedicated the entire show on January 14, 2014, to Springsteen and the new album. Springsteen and Fallon, who were dressed as Springsteen from the Born in the U.S.A. era, performed a parody song titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam" set to the tune of "Born to Run". The parody poked fun at the Fort Lee lane closure scandal. Fallon said he warned Christie about the skit prior to doing it because he knew it could possibly sting a bit.[6] The E Street Band (with Patti Scialfa and minus Van Zandt, who was again filming Lilyhammer), along with Tom Morello, joined Springsteen throughout the show for performances of three songs from the new album. Fallon also interviewed Springsteen.[7]

Rehearsals for the tour began in the U.S. around January 21, 2014, again without Van Zandt, who joined the band in Cape Town for final rehearsals prior to the tour's opening night.[8][9] Patti Scialfa, who appeared at the U.S. rehearsals, did not tour with the band for the first two legs (Africa and Oceania) due to family commitments but rejoined the tour when it returned to the United States.

African leg

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The tour kicked off on January 26, 2014, with the first of three shows in Cape Town, South Africa. Springsteen opened with a cover of "Free Nelson Mandela" by the Special AKA.[4] "We Are Alive" was also dedicated to Mandela later in the set. During the second show in Cape Town, Springsteen dedicated "We Shall Overcome" to Pete Seeger, who died on January 27 at the age of 94. "I lost a great friend and a great hero last night, Pete Seeger", Springsteen said before introducing the song. The third show featured a cover of "Sun City", an anti-apartheid song written by Van Zandt in 1986 and originally recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid. Springsteen had also appeared in the song's music video. Mos Def made a surprise appearance during the song's performance. Over the course of the three Cape Town shows, 57 different songs were performed. Prior to his show in Johannesburg, Springsteen reprised an occasional practice from past tours and took the stage a few hours prior to showtime to perform a brief acoustic set for early-arriving fans.[10] The supporting act for the Johannesburg concert was South African blues guitarist Dan Patlansky.

Oceania leg

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The Oceanic leg of the tour kicked off in Perth, where Bruce and the band played for the first time ever. The schedule included stops in Adelaide and Hunter Valley, where he also had never played before; and return dates to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The tour concluded with two shows in Auckland, New Zealand, where Springsteen had not performed in over a decade.

During the run of the leg, several songs from the new album were premiered, including "Frankie Fell in Love" and "Hunter of Invisible Game". "The Wish" was also played for the first time ever at an E Street band show (although performed by Springsteen as an acoustic version). During many shows Bruce would incorporate cover songs from local artists. "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC proved very popular and was played on several occasions; the band was joined by Eddie Vedder twice for that song. Other covers by Australian artists included INXS ("Don't Change"), the Easybeats ("Friday on My Mind"), and the Bee Gees ("Stayin' Alive"). The shows in Hunter Valley took place at the Hope Estate, a local winery. Bruce used the opportunity to bring out some unlikely covers, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee and "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon and War. In Auckland, he opened both shows with a cover of the Lorde song "Royals", his most up-to-date cover ever.

Springsteen reprised the practice of performing full albums in the cities he had been to during the last tour. Born in the U.S.A., Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle were played top to bottom. For the latter one Bruce and the band were joined by the string ensemble Cooper + Koo, who also were on stage during the "Stayin’ Alive" cover.

Other notable shows were the last show in Perth, where Springsteen did not play a single song from The Rising album, something that had not happened since its release in 2002. The show in Brisbane featured eleven songs from the first two albums, something that had never previously happened at a Springsteen show. During the shows in Auckland, Springsteen mentioned Christchurch and the recent happenings several times and dedicated songs on both nights to it.

Jake Clemons was not present at the Sydney show due to the death of his father, Clarence's brother Bill, earlier in the week.

North American leg

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Springsteen and the E Street Band, who would be minus Steven Van Zandt for most of the leg but were re-joined by Patti Scialfa, returned to North America for the first time since December 2012 by kicking off the leg in Dallas, Texas. The show was part of the March Madness Music festival and was free and to open the public, a first in over 40 years for Springsteen.[11][12] As with the previous legs, Springsteen continued to open with an obscure cover song, this time Van Halen's "Jump", a reference to the NCAA men's basketball tournament's Final Four that was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Prior to the show in Charlotte, North Carolina, Springsteen shot a music video for the song "American Beauty".[13]

During the North American leg, the E Street Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Springsteen (who was inducted in 1999 as a solo artist) on April 10. Springsteen and E Street Band were joined by former members Vini Lopez and David Sancious for a three-song performance.

Show downloads

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Image of the USB wristband that was sold at shows and online

Prior to the tour, Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special $40 USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single show of the purchaser's choice. The wristband would also function as a reusable USB flash drive.[14][15] Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly from Springsteen's website as downloads, priced at $9.99 for MP3, and $14.99 for FLAC.

The idea of having wristbands came about through a conversation between Springsteen and Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas. Springsteen stated, "I think we live more in a Grateful Dead touring idea that everything you do is recorded now. And that's okay with me, you know. As a matter of fact, I believe on this tour, we're starting to do something like you can come in, you can buy a [wrist]band, you can get a copy of the night's show. So hopefully we're gonna do that at a really nice quality level."[16] "We started out as being very, very controlling. Now it's just a different playing field and so it's exciting." Springsteen said.

Fans had until June 30, 2014, to purchase downloads through Springsteen's website. They would no longer be for sale following that date. All but one show were restored on November 17, 2014, upon the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Archives.

Ticket scalping

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As with Springsteen's previous tours, tickets were in high demand among fans, selling out very quickly in some areas despite many fans spending large amounts of time online only to come up with bad seats or without tickets. When tickets for Springsteen's first U.S. dates went on sale on February 14, 2014, Ticketmaster again was faced with major problems and delays. Tickets at much higher costs than face value were even available at re-sale sites such as StubHub before going on sale to the general public. Fans vented their frustration through Springsteen message boards and his Facebook page. Problems also occurred outside the United States. In Australia, fans complained of ticket scalping and scalpers re-selling for high prices. Unlike in the United States, which has admitted and tried to correct problems with scalping, the entertainment and ticketing industry of Australia claims not to have a scalper or ticket sale problem despite many complaints from fans, who blame corporate scalpers being able to find ways to get the better tickets prior to the public sale.[17] When Springsteen first announced the Australian dates in September 2013, Frontier Touring's Michael Gudinski said more dates were being added in response to the inflated tickets flooding eBay, viagogo and other sites. Many of the tickets have been originally secured by "bots" which buy up allotments via official sellers including Ticketek and Ticketmaster. Gudinski also warned fans to not buy from these outlets that re-sell tickets because some might not be real tickets.[18]

Documentaries

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On April 4, 2014, HBO aired Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes, a 30-minute documentary on the making of the High Hopes album, which featured footage of the band in the studio recording the album along with rehearsals for the tour.[19] In May 2014, Sony Music Netherlands released a 45-minute documentary to YouTube titled High Hopes In South Africa, which documented Springsteen and the E Street Band's first concerts in South Africa.[20]

Springsteen's response

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On May 18, 2014, prior to the tour's final show, Springsteen gave an interview for E Street Radio in which he issued his response on this tour and the previous tour:

"I just wanted to get a chance to thank all of the fans who came to all of the shows. We've had incredible audiences in Europe, South America, Africa, down under in Australia and here in the United States. Our reach has been greater than it's ever been before, the audiences have never been greater, and we're looking forward to nothing but more in the future."

Set list

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  1. "High Hopes"
  2. "Just Like Fire Would"
  3. "Hungry Heart"
  4. "No Surrender"
  5. "Death to My Hometown"
  6. "Spirit in the Night"
  7. "Badlands"
  8. "Wrecking Ball"
  9. "The River"
  10. "Johnny 99"
  11. "The Promised Land"
  12. "American Skin (41 Shots)"
  13. "Because the Night"
  14. "Heaven's Wall"
  15. "Darlington County"
  16. "Shackled and Drawn"
  17. "Waitin' on a Sunny Day"
  18. "The Ghost of Tom Joad"
  19. "Land of Hope and Dreams"
  20. "Light of Day"
  21. "The Rising"
  22. "Born in the U.S.A."
  23. "Bobby Jean"
  24. "Born to Run"
  25. "Dancing in the Dark"
  26. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
  27. "Shout"
Encore
  2. "Thunder Road"

Tour dates

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List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue
Date City Country Venue Attendance Revenue
Africa[21]
January 26, 2014 Cape Town South Africa Bellville Velodrome 23,973 / 23,973 $1,848,788
January 28, 2014
January 29, 2014
February 1, 2014 Johannesburg FNB Stadium 55,385 / 55,385 $3,409,720
Oceania[22]
February 5, 2014 Perth Australia Perth Arena 41,682 / 41,682 $6,469,241
February 7, 2014
February 8, 2014
February 11, 2014 Adelaide Adelaide Entertainment Center 18,644 / 18,644 $3,007,786
February 12, 2014
February 15, 2014 Melbourne AAMI Park 62,950 / 62,950 $9,185,208
February 16, 2014
February 19, 2014 Sydney Allphones Arena 17,736 / 17,736 $2,693,911
February 22, 2014 Hunter Valley Hope Estate Winery 34,338 / 34,338 $5,418,005
February 23, 2014
February 26, 2014 Brisbane Brisbane Entertainment Centre 12,648 / 12,648 $1,974,358
March 1, 2014 Auckland New Zealand Mount Smart Stadium 73,958 / 73,958 $10,221,082
March 2, 2014
North America[23]
April 6, 2014[A] Dallas United States Reunion Park — —
April 8, 2014 Cincinnati U.S. Bank Arena 12,728 / 14,534 $1,312,323
April 12, 2014 Virginia Beach Farm Bureau Live 15,157 / 19,501 $1,148,389
April 15, 2014 Columbus Nationwide Arena 13,226 / 16,547 $1,314,957
April 17, 2014 Nashville Bridgestone Arena 14,684 / 16,550 $1,229,977
April 19, 2014 Charlotte Time Warner Cable Arena 12,372 / 13,706 $1,316,489
April 22, 2014 Pittsburgh Consol Energy Center 16,372 / 17,514 $1,750,727
April 24, 2014 Raleigh PNC Arena 12,243 / 13,456 $1,348,630
April 26, 2014 Atlanta Aaron's Amphitheatre 12,193 / 18,658 $1,073,059
April 29, 2014 Sunrise BB&T Center 14,327 / 18,859 $1,434,757
May 1, 2014 Tampa MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre 14,207 / 19,128 $1,114,737
May 3, 2014[B] New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course — —
May 6, 2014 The Woodlands Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 16,158 / 16,158 $1,215,604
May 13, 2014 Albany Times Union Center 14,937 / 14,937 $1,658,178
May 14, 2014 Hershey Hersheypark Stadium 28,398 / 30,261 $2,984,798
May 17, 2014 Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena 15,716 / 15,716 $1,798,990
May 18, 2014
TOTAL 554,032 / 586,839 (94.6%) $64,929,714
Festivals and other miscellaneous performances
A This concert was part of the "March Madness Music Fest"
B This concert was part of the "New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival"

Songs performed

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Originals/studio tracks
Non-album cover songs

Source:[24][25][26]

Supporting acts

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Personnel

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The E Street Band

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  • Bruce Springsteen — lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, piano
  • Roy Bittan — piano, synthesizer, accordion
  • Nils Lofgren — rhythm guitar, lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar, accordion, background vocals
  • Patti Scialfa - background vocals, some duet vocals, acoustic guitar, occasional tambourine (missed first two legs due to family commitments, appearing on select North American dates)
  • Garry Tallent — bass guitar, background vocals, rare tuba
  • Steven Van Zandt — rhythm guitar, lead guitar, mandolin, acoustic guitar, background vocals, occasional featured lead vocal (missed all but the final two dates on the North American tour due to filming of his television show)
  • Max Weinberg — drums, rare tambourine

and

with

The E Street Horns:

  • Jake Clemons — saxophone, percussion, background vocals
  • Barry Danielian — trumpet, percussion
  • Clark Gayton — trombone, tuba, percussion
  • Eddie Manion — saxophone, percussion
  • Curt Ramm — trumpet, percussion

The E Street Choir:

Guest musicians/appearances

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References

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  1. ^ "Limited US Dates Drive Up Price For Bruce Springsteen Tickets on 'High Hopes' Tour". www.forbes.com. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "March 2014 dates added in Australia & New Zealand!". www.brucespringsteen.com (Official Site). 2 September 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  3. ^ "Bruce to play South Africa for the first time ever". www.brucespringsteen.com (Official Site). 4 November 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Bruce Springsteen: 'I’m at the crossroads of history', Bernadette McNulty, The Telegraph, 1 February 2014
  5. ^ 1988: Bruce Springsteen in Harare, Rafs Mayet, The Con Mag, 21 January 2014
  6. ^ "Jimmy Fallon Warned Chris Christie About Springsteen Bit". Retrieved January 20, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Heading Back to Fallon". Mark Mayfield. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  8. ^ "BruceBase 2014". BruceBase. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  9. ^ "2014-01-25 - BELLVILLE VELODROME, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (rehearsal)". BruceBase. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  10. ^ "Bruce makes special appearance in Johannesburg". www.brucespringsteen.com (Official Site). 2 February 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  11. ^ "March Madness Music Festival". NCAA.com. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  12. ^ "High Hopes 2014 US Springsteen Tour Preview". 4 April 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  13. ^ "Bruce Springsteen -"American Beauty" (Charlotte 04/19/14)". youtube.com. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  14. ^ "Pre-Order Bruce Springsteen USB Wristband". Bruce Springsteen. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  15. ^ "@springsteen (twitter)". Bruce Springsteen (twitter). Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  16. ^ "Bruce Springsteen Exploring Instant Live Recordings". Yahoo Music. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  17. ^ "Concert-goers complain about scalping". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 February 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  18. ^ "Bruce Springsteen set to announce more shows for E Street tour to beat scalpers in Australia". news.com.au. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  19. ^ "'Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes' to Premiere April 4 on HBO". zap2it.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  20. ^ "'Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes' to Premiere April 4 on HBO". The Legacy of Music. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  21. ^ "Current Boxscore". www.billboard.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  22. ^ Sources for Oceanic Leg:
  23. ^ Sources for North American Leg:
  24. ^ "Setlists 2014". backstreets.com. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  25. ^ "2014 list". brucebase.wikispaces.com. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  26. ^ "2014 setlists". brucespringsteen.com (Official site). Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  27. ^ "Dan as support for Bruce Springsteen". Dan Patlansky. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  28. ^ a b c d "TOURING AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND IN FEBRUARY and MARCH 2014 (INC. FIRST EVER SHOWS IN ADELAIDE & PERTH!)". Frontier Touring. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
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