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The Rising Tour

Tour byBruce Springsteen and theE Street Band
Associated album	The Rising
Start date	August 7, 2002
End date	October 4, 2003
Legs	7
No. of shows	120
Box office	US $221 million ($377.75 million in 2024 dollars)[1]
Bruce Springsteen and theE Street Band concert chronology
Reunion Tour (1999–2000) The Rising Tour (2002–03) Vote for Change (2004)

The Rising Tour was a concert tour byBruce Springsteen and theE Street Band's to promote Springsteen's twelfth albumThe Rising, which was released on July 30, 2002. The worldwide tour, which ended in October 2003, reached 17 countries. A performance filmed inBarcelona aired live onMTV Europe andVH1 UK and was later released onDVD asLive in Barcelona.

Tour preparations began in late July and early August 2002 with closed and then semi-open rehearsals, and then several public rehearsal shows, atAsbury Park, New Jersey'sConvention Hall, as well as a highly advertised early morning promotional appearance there onNBC'sThe Today Show. He also appeared on theLate Show with David Letterman onCBS, NBC'sSaturday Night Live, andNightline onABC.^[2] HisNightline interview was one of the most revealing of his career.^[3]

The first leg of the tour formally began on August 7, 2002, with an opening show in Springsteen's home floor ofContinental Airlines Arena inNew Jersey. This commenced what Springsteen's management called their "Barnstorming"[1], playing 46 arena shows in 46 different cities in North America (39) and Western Europe (7) through the end of the year, ending on December 17 atConseco Fieldhouse inIndianapolis. The idea was to maximize the publicity effect of the tour for aiding sales of the already heavily promoted new album by visiting as many markets as possible. The attendant publicity would only be increased if tickets were hard to come by, which was the case in Springsteen hot spots which were accustomed to multiple-night stands. The strategy appeared to succeed, asThe Rising did well commercially and became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years.

After a break of more than two months in winter, the second leg of the tour began on February 28, 2003, with seven more one-night stands in the United States. The band then travelled to Australia and New Zealand in March for five shows. They then returned to North America for six more shows in April, mostly in Canada.

After a three-week break, the tour went back to Western Europe, this time satisfying much pent-up demand by playing 24 shows in May and June, all in stadiums, with multiple dates in cities where necessary. These dates began inFeyenoord Stadion inRotterdam and ended inStadio San Siro inMilan. Concerts in Europe were very successful, with the shows in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark selling out in a record two hours. Then, from mid-July through early October, the band played 33 dates in stadiums (with an intentional emphasis on baseball parks as venues in addition to the usual professional football stadiums), mostly composed of multiple-night stands along theEastern Seaboard where Springsteen was most popular, starting with what would become 10 shows in New Jersey'sGiants Stadium. These were Springsteen's first full appearances in United States stadiums since the 1985 leg of hisBorn in the U.S.A. Tour, and included visits to iconic venues such asFenway Park andDodger Stadium. The Rising Tour finally concluded on October 4, 2003, atShea Stadium in New York City.

In all, the tour played 120 shows in 82 cities over a span of 14 months.

Songs fromThe Rising played a key role in the structure of the tour's shows. Concerts typically began with "The Rising" followed by "Lonesome Day", both songs about theSeptember 11 attacks. New touring musicianSoozie Tyrell'sviolin played a prominent role in establishing the texture of these numbers, as it would throughout the concert. Two more September 11-themed songs, "Empty Sky" and "You're Missing", appeared soon after, to continue the mood; the latter featured an extended instrumental coda from the band, led byDanny Federici's organ. Typically seven or eight songs into the show, "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" provided the first buoyant, upbeat moments. Springsteen's first-ever use of recorded backing music took place on the mid-show "Worlds Apart", where Middle Eastern vocals were applied. The role of elongated band introductions song for this tour was taken by "Mary's Place", which also usually included interpolations ofR&B classics. The main set closer was a final September 11 number, "Into the Fire", which, relevant to the new album's themes, emphasized togetherness and praise for sacrifice rather than the pure exuberance of previous tours' closers such as "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" and "Light of Day". A fewRising songs were almost never played during the tour, including "Nothing Man", "Paradise", and "Let's Be Friends".

For the rest of the main set, a mixture of songs from throughout Springsteen's catalog would emerge.Set lists were unusually static during the barnstorming (perhaps due to not having to play multiple shows in a venue, although plenty of the faithful were traveling to multiple cities to see the tour), but gradually loosened up. One consistent mid-show mainstay was "Badlands", which never failed to bring audiences to their feet. The next-to-last spot in the main set was often reserved for Springsteen playing a heretofore unusual solo piano spot, running through an old classic such as "For You" or "Incident on 57th Street".

First encores of shows were typically upbeat, featuring the return after a long absence of Springsteen's biggest hit single, "Dancing in the Dark" (in a more rock-oriented arrangement), humorous numbers such as "Ramrod", and concluding with hissignature song, "Born to Run". Second encores were typically more thematic, centered around "My City of Ruins", the return of the full-band version of "Born in the U.S.A.", and the benedictory "Land of Hope and Dreams".

Some of the second leg shows took place during the run-up to, and March 20, 2003, start of, theIraq War. Springsteen took note of this, reviving his 1980s hit rendition ofEdwin Starr's protest song "War" and opening the March 2 show in PresidentGeorge W. Bush's former hometown ofAustin, Texas with it. All four Australian shows opened with an acoustic "Born in the U.S.A." before the band kicked in with "War". The March 22 show at theSydney Cricket Ground featured threepower blackouts, the first of which came after the opening chords of "War", but the crowd led Springsteen through mass sing-alongs to Max Weinberg's unamplified drums nonetheless.

During the European stadium concerts, the solo piano spot gave way to a rotating epic slot for "Jungleland", "Racing in the Street", and the like, and a new high-energy cover, "Seven Nights to Rock", became a regular in the encores, as did extendedboogie piano solos byRoy Bittan. The final European show in Milan's Stadio San Siro was said by some fans, as well as by Springsteen managerJon Landau, to be "one of the four or five best Bruce shows of all time."[2] By the time summer 2003 rolled around and the United States multiple night stadium dates were being played, the feel of the show became somewhat looser. As each show was about to begin, the stage video screens would show Springsteen and the band relaxedly walking in from backstage, whileFrank Sinatra's recording of "Summer Wind" was aired. The second encores also brought a treat for audiences, as "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", a longtime fan favorite, made fully regular appearances for the first time since 1988.

During the ten Giants Stadium shows, Springsteen thanked the fans who were attending multiple shows and those coming from long distances or out of the country; the advent of robust Springsteen-orientedonline communities had made these practices easier. The final Giants Stadium show concluded with a performance of theTom Waits song "Jersey Girl".

In the two shows immediately following the September 12, 2003, death ofJohnny Cash, Springsteen paid tribute by opening each show with an acoustic rendition of Cash's "I Walk the Line".

The Rising Tour came to a conclusion in the early autumn with three nights inShea Stadium, where a controversy emerged. TheNew York Police Department had given Springsteen a personal boat escort for the first show (in addition to giving E StreeterMax Weinberg an escort because he was running late). But then Springsteen had made a rare performance of "American Skin (41 Shots)", a song about the NYPD shooting ofAmadou Diallo, in that show. The NYPD took revenge by removing Springsteen's escort for the second show. They were criticized by MayorMichael Bloomberg and others for doing this, and the escort was restored for the third and final night.[3]Bob Dylan was a surprise guest on that last night, with Springsteen saying, "We have my great friend and inspiration with us tonight, Mr. Bob Dylan ... we wouldn't be here tonight without him."[4] The two performed Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" together.

Reviews of the Rising Tour were generally favorable.

A reviewer forPopMatters found an early New York City barnstorming show to be the first Springsteen show he'd seen that lived up to the classic Springsteen he imagined from the 1970s and early 1980s.[5] As a response to the tour's role in helping fans mourn after 9/11, David Segal wrote in a review which appearedThe Washington Post, "Lordy, lordy, we needed that. We needed Bruce Springsteen even more than we thought, and we thought we needed him a lot."^[4]CLUAS.com reported that a May 2003Munich show featured tight playing, and that the general admission "pit" was aTower of Babel of different languages from fans come from all over Europe.[6]National Review thought that the tour had gotten much better in 2003 than it had been the year before and that the full-band performance of "Incident on 57th Street" played inPhiladelphia had been especially strong.[7]

E Street drummerMax Weinberg gave his own assessment: "Playing for a country that was so much in pain from the events of 9/11 made the Rising Tour so much more than a series of rock concerts. People looked to us — actually they looked to the music — to quiet their sorrows. At first it seemed like the responsibility hoisted on us was too much. How could rock musicians meet these expectations? But somehow we did it. Somehow the tour was a great success." [Santelli, p. 89]

While Springsteen's popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the United States, it was still quite strong in Europe and along the United States coasts, as exemplified by the unprecedented 10 nights he played atGiants Stadium in New Jersey.[8].Reuters reported that those 10 nights alone resulted in 566,560 tickets being sold and a gross of $38.8 million, a world record for one engagement.[9] The Giants Stadium management reported that ticket buyers to those shows came from all 50 states and all over the world; they had celebrated the event by building a large boardwalk and amusement park in the parking lot next to the stadium.[10]

Overall, according toBillboard Boxscore, the tour grossed $221.5 million over its two years.[11] Reuters reported a $172.7 million gross worldwide for 2003[12], whilePollstar reported a $115.9 million gross within North America for 2003, the best of any act that year, and the second-best ever at the time.[13]Rolling Stone reported that Springsteen kept a bigger share of concert gross receipts than almost anyone, due to better deals with promoters and venues, to lower expenses for not having any fancy stage props or special effects, and to his New Jersey fans buying more merchandise than the average[14]^{[dead link]} (the Giants Stadium shows had specially numbered and coloredT-shirts for each night of the stand).

The first half of the October 16, 2002, show inBarcelona'sPalau Sant Jordi was televised live across Europe onMTV Europe andVH1 UK. A tape of the broadcast was aired byCBS in the United States on February 28, 2003, one day prior to the United States summer stadium show tickets going on sale.

That entire concert was then released as a two-discDVD,Live in Barcelona, on November 18, 2003, the first time any Springsteen concert had been officially released in full. The DVD opened with his performance of the title song, "The Rising".^[2] It also included a documentary,Drop the Needle and Pray:The Rising on Tour, with interviews and additional concert snippets from some of the United States summer stadium dates, including a clip compilation from the shows at Fenway Park entitled "Night of the Living Boss". (The last three nights of the Giants Stadium, both shows at Fenway Park, and all three Shea Stadium shows were filmed in full, but have otherwise not seen release.)

The June 16, 2003, show at theHelsinki Olympic Stadium was released through theBruce Springsteen Archives in October 2018. Live audio of this tour was noted to be difficult to release due to being recorded using proprietary audio software that has since become out of date.^[5]

• Bruce Springsteen –lead vocals, mostlead guitars,harmonica, occasionalpiano
• Roy Bittan –piano,synthesizer
• Clarence Clemons –saxophone,background vocals
• Danny Federici –organ,electronic glockenspiel,accordion
• Nils Lofgren –guitars,pedal steel guitar,dobro,banjo,background vocals
• Patti Scialfa –acoustic guitar,background vocals, some featuredduet vocals,electric guitar on "Ramrod"^[6]
• Garry Tallent –bass guitar
• Steven Van Zandt –guitars,mandolin,background vocals
• Max Weinberg –drums

with:

• Soozie Tyrell –violin,percussion,background vocals

Scialfa missed some shows in Europe due to family duties.

The only change from the 1999–2000Reunion Tour line-up was the addition of Tyrell.

• Santelli, Robert.Greetings From E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Chronicle Books, 2006.ISBN 0-8118-5348-9.
• Springsteen's official website does not have much on the 2002–2003 period anymore.
• Shore Fire Mediapress release archives are useful for understanding scheme behind the tour.
• Live in Barcelona DVD cover notes.
• Backstreets.com's 2002 set lists and show descriptions andBackstreets.com's 2003 set lists and show descriptions
• Killing Floor's concert database

• List of highest-grossing concert series at a single venue
• List of most-attended concert series at a single venue

• THE RISING TOUR 2003-2003 FINAL TOUR STATISTICS

• Bruce Springsteen concert tours
• 2002 concert tours
• 2003 concert tours

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