Bruce Springsteen performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. (Rob Demartin)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band return to North America next week, kicking off the remainder of their tour with two shows at Wrigley Field (Wednesday, Aug. 9, and Friday, Aug. 11). A recent stadium tour in Europe sold more than 1.6 million tickets, and Billboard called it “the greatest show on earth.”

Here are a few highlights of Springsteen and the band intersecting with Chicago people and places over the years.

1. Springsteen’s first concert in Chicago was more than 50 years ago in January 1973 at the Quiet Knight (959 W. Belmont Ave.). His debut album — “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” — had just been released, and he was opening for the a cappella group The Persuasions. A review in the Chicago Tribune called the 23-year-old band leader an “engrossing” performer who added “his own original stamp to both his songs and style.”

2. In June 1973, Springsteen was booked as an opening act on a big tour for the band Chicago, his Columbia Records labelmates. But Springsteen never made it to the city of Chicago. He left the tour after being poorly received — he was even booed at some stops on the tour. He told his management he would not be an opening act anymore, and that he didn’t want the band to play big arenas (!).

3. On his most recent release, Springsteen sings two songs co-written by former Cook County Commissioner Jerry Butler. Long before he was a Chicago politician, Butler was in the R&B group The Impressions and also recorded as a solo artist. Butler co-wrote (with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff) the hit songs “Hey, Western Union Man” and “Only the Strong Survive” — which is also the name of Springsteen’s 2022 album of soul covers.

4. The Boss is famously close to another Chicago politician of note: Barack Obama. At President Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebration, Springsteen performed “The Rising” with a gospel choir and “This Land Is Your Land” with Pete Seeger. Obama presented Springsteen with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and they’ve done a podcast together and even published a book, “Renegades: Born in the USA.”

5. Springsteen is a big fan of Chicago music great Curtis Mayfield. Springsteen covered Mayfield’s “Gypsy Woman” on the 1994 album “A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield.” Springsteen’s tune “Land of Hope and Dreams” quotes Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” and one of the E Street Band’s signature songs, “The E Street Shuffle,” was inspired by Mayfield’s composition “Monkey Time,” a hit for Major Vance in 1963.

Bruce Springsteen performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. (Rob Demartin)

6. In November 1980, Springsteen and the band played the Rosemont Horizon while the single “Hungry Heart” was climbing the charts. In concert the song began with an instrumental passage, and the audience spontaneously sang the lyrics. He told Rolling Stone magazine that was the first time he heard the audience sing the opening verse back to him. It began a tradition that continues to this day.

7. Springsteen debuted “Dream Baby Dream” in May 2005 at the Rosemont Theatre, and he then closed each show of his acoustic tour with the song. The song was a cover version of a 1979 song by the synth-punk band Suicide. Springsteen added lyrics and recorded a version of “Dream Baby Dream” for his 2014 LP “High Hopes.”

8. Longtime E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt was on “Chicago Tonight” in 2013. Host Phil Ponce asked, “Do you ever think — what am I doing up here? This is for younger guys!” Van Zandt replied: “Interestingly it’s not for younger guys. The only guys making a living are the older guys. [laughs] But seriously, Bruce has stayed in phenomenal shape physically, and more than that, he continues to write in a way that is vital and relevant.”

9. Drummer Max Weinberg is a dedicated fan of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 2012, Weinberg toured Unity Temple in Oak Park and gave a speech to the Restoration Foundation, whose executive director called Weinberg “well-informed and deeply committed to preservation.” Weinberg told Architectural Record he fell in love with Wright as a child in New York when Weinberg had a chance to tour the Guggenheim Museum while it was under construction.

10. What to expect at Wrigley Field this week: a three-hour show with a setlist that likely will not be as freewheeling as in the past. Springsteen’s latest concerts featured a streamlined set with an intense pace. Expect time-tested hits, newer songs from 2020’s “Letter to You” and at least one tune from his LP of soul covers, “Only the Strong Survive.” And he won’t be crowd-surfing. COVID-19 has retired Springsteen’s leap of faith into the crowd. But the Boss isn’t retiring — even though he turns 74 years old next month.

Bruce Springsteen performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. (Rob Demartin)

Other notes:

• Eddie Vedder has been a guest performer at several Springsteen shows in Chicago, twice he sang “My Hometown” with his host and once he peformed “Atlantic City.”
• Libertyville’s Tom Morello — guitarist and founder of Rage Against the Machine — is not touring with the E Street Band this time around.
• Springsteen has only mentioned the city of Chicago one time in a lyric — in a verse of “We Take Care of Our Own” from the 2012 album “Wrecking Ball.”
• Another key band member, Nils Lofgren, was born in Chicago.

Know of other connections between Springsteen and Chicago? Let us know in the comments. And check back next week for a review of the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performance at Wrigley Field.

Special thanks to The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection at Monmouth University (West Long Branch, N.J.), Architectural Record and Rolling Stone. 

Note: This article was updated to clarify the songs Eddie Vedder performed.