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
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
Pre-tour promotion/Rehearsals
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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."
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)
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)
