October 29, 2024
Last night in Philadelphia, PA, Bruce Springsteen made what is most likely his final campaign-rally appearance in support of the 2024 Kamala Harris-Tim Walz Presidential/Vice-Presidential ticket, given his scheduled concert appearances in Canada before next Tuesday's U.S. Presidential election. Just as he did last Thursday in James R. Hallford Stadium just outside of Atlanta, GA, Springsteen appeared in Philadelphia's Liacouras Center arena at Temple University with former U.S. President Barack Obama and performed three of his songs in solo-acoustic versions: "The Promised Land," "Land of Hope and Dreams," and "Dancing in the Dark."
Introduced to the stage by Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr., who's also running to be re-elected next week, Bruce's Philly campaign-rally appearance and performances closely mirrored those he gave last week in Georgia, albeit with a few notable wrinkles. This time around, when he delivered his short speech between "The Promised Land" and "Land of Hope and Dreams," he added this sentence to it: "Now I understand folks having different opinions about things, but this election is about a group of folks who want to fundamentally undermine our American way of life." When introducing "Dancing in the Dark," Springsteen said, "I'm gonna do this for my brother John Legend [who also appeared and performed at the rally.] John does the most beautiful version of this song I have ever heard." And in Philly Bruce also soulfully stretched out the song's final "You can't start a fire..." section of the chorus, transforming it into an audience sing-along, as well. Even his farewell statement before leaving the stage took on a soulful tinge, incorporating a Stevie Wonder lyrical reference: "Let's vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz November 5th! I'll see you on higher ground!"
The full pro-shot video from PBS is embedded below, and cued up to Bruce Springsteen taking the stage, just after Senator Casey's introduction: