Wrecking Ball World Tour
The Wrecking Ball World Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to promote Springsteen's seventeenth studio album, Wrecking Ball, which was released on March 5, 2012.[3] It was the first tour for the E Street Band without founding member Clarence Clemons, who died on June 18, 2011. The worldwide tour in support of the album, which ended in September 2013, reached 26 countries, the most ever for one of Springsteen's tours. The tour resumed in January 2014 to promote Springsteen's new album, High Hopes, and went under that album's name.[4]
In an attempt to fill the void left by Clemons, Springsteen added a full horn section, which included Jake Clemons, Clarence's nephew. Three background singers and a percussionist were also added, giving the E Street Band its largest lineup ever at seventeen members.[5][6] As with previous tours, Springsteen's wife and band member, Patti Scialfa, did not appear at all the shows due to family commitments. Guitarist Steven Van Zandt was also unable to perform on the band's Australian leg due to the filming of his television show, Lilyhammer. Van Zandt was replaced by Tom Morello for those dates.
The tour featured over 215 different songs[7] performed, including some songs either making their live debuts or returning after an extended absence.
The tour was named the second highest-grossing tour of 2012 and was the most attended tour of the year,[8] winning the Billboard Touring Award for Top Draw.[9] For the first half of 2013, the tour was named one of the top three grossing tours for the year.[10]
At the end of 2012, the tour placed second on Pollstar's "Top 100 Worldwide Tours", grossing $210.2 million from 81 shows in Europe.[11] At the end of 2013, the tour placed fifth on Pollstar's "Top 100 Worldwide Tours", grossing $145.4 million from 46 shows in Europe.[12] Overall, the tour grossed $340.6 million from 124 shows.
Itinerary[edit]
Planning and rehearsals[edit]
Private rehearsals started in late January 2012 at the Expo Theater in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, the same site where rehearsals were held for the Tunnel of Love Express Tour and the Rising Tour. Some rehearsals were held at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton to allow the band and crew to try a new stage design.[13]
It was announced on February 9, 2012, that Eddie Manion and Clarence Clemons's nephew, Jake Clemons, would share saxophone duties with Clemons handling most of the lead solos. Additional horns were provided by Clark Gayton, Curt Ramm, and Barry Danielian. Everett Bradly provided percussion and backing vocals while Curtis King Jr. and Cindy Mizelle returned as background singers.[14] Michelle Moore joined the tour as a background singer featuring on Rocky Ground for the rap (as on the album).
In advance of the album's release on March 5, 2012, the band kicked off a string of warm-up performances prior to the tour, including a performance of the album's first single, "We Take Care of Our Own", at the 54th Grammy Awards. During the final week of February, talk show host Jimmy Fallon dedicated an entire week of his show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, to Springsteen's music. Different artists covered Springsteen's songs each night of that week.
The new touring lineup performed their first full show together on March 9, 2012, at the Apollo Theater.[15] Springsteen then gave a keynote speech at the SXSW convention in Austin, Texas, on March 15, 2012, and was joined later in the evening by the E Street Band for a 2+1⁄2-hour set before a crowd of a few thousand.[16]
Ticket sales[edit]
On January 26, 2012, dates for the first U.S. leg of the Wrecking Ball world tour were announced to the public, with many going on sale during the first weekend of February.
Much like with the previous tour, many U.S. fans encountered problems, thought to be due to ticket scalpers, through Ticketmaster as the first dates of the tour went on sale. Shows were selling out within minutes and many tickets appeared, at much higher prices, on resale websites such as StubHub less than an hour after the onsale time. Ticketmaster said web traffic was 2.5 times the highest level of the past year during the online sales. U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, who introduced the BOSS ACT in 2009 to increase transparency in the ticket industry, said he would reintroduce the bill in Congress.
Critical and commercial reception[edit]
The tour was a commercial success and was named the second highest-grossing tour of 2012, finishing behind Madonna,[8] and was the most attended tour of the year, winning the Billboard Touring Award for Top Draw.[9] It was also named the 21st highest-grossing tour worldwide as of December 2012. In July 2013, the tour was named one of the top three grossing tours for the first half of 2013, along with tours by Bon Jovi, who had grossed the highest so far, and the Rolling Stones.[10]
Springsteen was named the #1 musical act by Rolling Stone magazine in their August 2013 issue.[28]
Aftermath and Springsteen's response[edit]
During the tour, Springsteen felt inspired to start working on his eighteenth studio album, which eventually became High Hopes. The album was recorded in 2013 during breaks in the Wrecking Ball Tour and was released in January 2014. Springsteen cited Morello, who helped re-introduce some previously recorded songs and cover songs to the recording sessions and live shows, as a huge inspiration on the album.
A number of the festival dates performed on the tour had excerpts from the performance broadcast on television. Additionally, 45 minutes of the 2012 Hyde Park show in London was released as a bonus feature on the Springsteen & I DVD release.
Coinciding with the Born in the U.S.A. album's 30th anniversary, Born in the U.S.A. Live: London 2013, a live DVD of the full performance of the album recorded at the 2013 Hard Rock Calling festival, was released through Amazon.com as part of a deluxe edition of the High Hopes album.
Several shows were released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives: