Bruce Springsteen celebrated the American semiquincentennial, and the upcoming opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, by performing Thursday night at the ‘Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us’ concert at the Oceanfirst Bank Center in Monmouth, New Jersey, where he shared the bill with Roseanne Cash, Kenny Chesney, Shemekia Copeland, Dropkick Murphy’s, Valerie June, Keb’ Mo’, and Trombone Shorty.
Little Steven’s Disciples Of Soul was the house band for the show, which honored 250 years of American music, and Bob Santelli, Director of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, served as the host. Springsteen, who wrapped up his politically-charged Land of Hope and Dreams tour March 30, watched much of the event from the audience before getting onstage near the end of the night.
He began by duetting with Roseanne Cash on “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” a Woody Guthrie classic he last played in 2021 when he won the Woody Guthrie Prize. But that was a Covid-era remote broadcast. He hadn’t performed it in front of an audience since a Fresno, California, stop of the Ghost of Tom Joad tour in 1996.
“What a night,” Springsteen told the crowd. “This is a song of Woody’s that could have been written yesterday, it’s so current, whether it’s Minnesota or Delaney Hall [ICE detention center] in Newark. This is happening now.”
He followed it up by bringing out Kenny Chesney, who appeared earlier in the night to perform the Hank Williams tune “Mind Your Own Business,” for another Woody Guthrie song, “This Land Is Your Land.” “This song has been certainly the greatest folk song ever written about our beautiful country,” Springsteen said. “Let’s just do it.”
“I knew Pete Seeger pretty good,” Springsteen told the audience near the end of the song as he encouraged them to sing along. “I sang with him in Washington DC at President Obama’s first inauguration. Pete’s ghost is in this room tonight. And Woody’s ghost is in this room tonight. Now Pete said, ‘A song ain’t worth nothing unless it’s useful, unless you can do something with it, and unless the people can sing.’ I’m going count you in. Pete’s listening, Woody’s listening, I’m fuckin’ listening.’”
The Woody Guthrie theme continued when the Dropkick Murphys came out to join Springsteen on their 2006 classic “I’m Shipping Off To Boston, which was based on a lyric fragment that frontman Ken Casey found in the Guthrie archives. “In addition to this being an amazing night for many musical reasons and patriotic reasons and protest reasons,” said Casey. “I’d like to say this is the first time the Dropkick Murphys have ever played on a stage with a carpet…This next song we want to dedicate to the Guthrie family. It’s music by the Dropkick Murphys, and words by the one and only Woody Guthrie.” They followed it up by backing Springsteen on “American Land,” which he wrote very much in the spirit of the Dropkick Murphys back in 2006.
The evening wrapped up with Trombone Shorty and many other artists from the night joining Springsteen for an epic rendition of “When The Saints Go Marching In.” This was a regular showstopper on the 2006 Sessions Band tour, but Springsteen last played it at Jazz Fest in 2014.
The ‘Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us’ event continues Friday evening with a second and final show at the Oceanfirst Bank Center. The bill includes Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Gary Clark Jr., Dion, Sheryl Crow, Nils Lofgren, Darlene Love, Public Enemy, David Sancious, Mavis Staples, Steven Van Zandt, and Jimmie Vaughan. The Disciples of Soul are once again the house band, and Springsteen will surely wind up onstage with many of the artists.
