Bruce Springsteen Flies Cross-Country to Join Zach Bryan Onstage in Brooklyn

Just 48 hours after a show in San Diego and less than 24 hours before he is set to perform at San Francisco’s Chase Center, Bruce Springsteen logged some serious (private) air miles for a surprise performance at country superstar Zach Bryan’s concert at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Wednesday night.

Bryan, wearing a Springsteen shirt, welcomed the 74-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer to the stage for a performance of his new, unreleased song “Sandpaper” as well as Bryan’s song “Revival.” Springsteen traded lyrics with Bryan on the former and took a solo on his famed, battered Fender guitar for “Revival.”

Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, who is featured on Bryan’s “Dawns,” performed that song with the headliner earlier in the evening and joined him for the encores with Springsteen.

While the concert presumably wasn’t the only reason Springsteen flew cross-country, his history has shown he’ll pick up a guitar and join a friend onstage whenever he has time.

Earlier this month, Bryan broke an attendance record in Springsteen’s home state of New Jersey at the Prudential Center in Newark on March 15. Bryan’s “Quittin Time” tour marked the highest attendance ever for a single show in the Newark arena’s 16-plus year history with 19,151 guests in attendance.

Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 2024 tour consists partially of dates he’d rescheduled from last year after suffering a peptic ulcer. The dates in the U.S. are in two groups: a month-long swing taking place in mid-March through mid-April, followed by a second month’s worth of shows in mid-August through mid-September, with European shows coming in-between.

Shortly after the first batch of dates concludes, the artist will appear at Monmouth University on April 24 for the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music’s second annual American Music Honors event, honoring John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples and Dion DiMucci. Stevie Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul will serve as the event’s house band. Award presenters include Springsteen and Jon Landau and 2023 American Music Honors recipients Van Zandt and Darlene Love.

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