The world tour began on March 18, 2012, in
Atlanta. The early shows established a routine of using "
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", performed as the show closer, as a tribute song to Clarence Clemons. Following the lyric
the Big Man joined the band, Springsteen paused the song so the band and audience could pay tribute to Clemons, following which the band resumed the remainder of the song. "
My City of Ruins" was used as the band introduction song and frequently included a Springsteen rap about "ghosts", referring to Clemons and
Danny Federici, the long-time E Street Band organist who died during the
Magic Tour in April 2008. For cities that had more than one consecutive show,
American Land was used as the show closer, with the entire band on the front line and finishing the show on the main center platform. Per Springsteen's standard practice, the set list varied from night to night, sometimes significantly. The tour saw the revival of a number of long-absent aspects of Springsteen's concerts, such as the return (during some shows) of a lengthy instrumental introduction to "
Prove It All Night" that fans had unsuccessfully requested during the "sign request" (also sometimes known as "Stump the Band") segments during the Magic and
Working on a Dream Tours. The instrumental introduction had been a noted point of 1978's
Darkness Tour show but had not been played since. Shows were longer than on recent tours, culminating in
Helsinki on July 31, 2012, with the longest performance of Springsteen's career at 4 hours and 6 minutes. Earlier the same night, prior to the show proper, Springsteen had performed a five-song acoustic set for early arrivals. ,
Sunderland, UK, June 21, 2012 During the encore of Springsteen's show in London at the
Hard Rock Calling festival, the city council pulled the plug on his performance because he ran a few minutes past the show's 10:30 pm curfew. Springsteen was performing "
I Saw Her Standing There" and "
Twist and Shout" with
Paul McCartney when their microphones and instruments were shut off. Springsteen ended the set with a brief a cappella, unamplified version of "
Goodnight Irene." The incident resulted in the show being the lone concert on the tour at which "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", with its Clarence Clemons tribute, was not performed. Following the performance,
Steve Van Zandt took to
Twitter and said, "English cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn't want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!" and followed that up with "There's no grudges to be held. Just feel bad for our great fans. Hard Rock is cool. Live Nation is cool. It's some City Council stupid rule." When Springsteen next performed three nights later in Ireland, he poked fun at the London incident. During "
Dancing in the Dark" the big screens by the stage displayed only a battery switched "On." A fake policeman came out to the stage to stop them playing "Twist and Shout" but Springsteen refused. While playing
American Land, the fake policeman pulled the plug, but Van Zandt plugged it back in. The tour returned to the United States in August 2012 and focused on baseball and football stadiums. The tour's third (and final) show at
MetLife Stadium on September 22, 2012, was delayed for two hours due to a strong thunderstorm. The show finally got underway around 10:30 pm, prompting fans to sing "Happy Birthday" to Springsteen at midnight to celebrate his 63rd birthday. At the end of the show, Springsteen was presented with a guitar-shaped birthday cake onstage. On October 29, 2012, the New Jersey area was hit hard by
Hurricane Sandy. Springsteen's show in
Rochester, New York, the following day was forced to be postponed until October 31, 2012. That night, Springsteen dedicated his performance to those affected by the storm and those helping to recover. Springsteen and the E Street Band performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" during a one-hour televised telethon called
Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together on November 2, 2012. Springsteen also joined
Billy Joel,
Steven Tyler and
Jimmy Fallon for a performance of "
Under the Boardwalk". He later participated in the
12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, a benefit concert for Sandy victims. Due to filming of his television show,
Lilyhammer,
Steven Van Zandt was forced to miss the Australian leg of the tour in 2013.
Tom Morello replaced Van Zandt for those dates. Van Zandt made his return in late April 2013 when he opened the first of the band's two shows in
Oslo, Norway, by singing
Frank Sinatra's "
My Kind of Town" in character as Frank "the fixer" Tagliano from
Lilyhammer. As with 2009's
Working on a Dream Tour, some shows featured full-album performances of
Born to Run,
Darkness on the Edge of Town, and
Born in the U.S.A. The European leg ended in late July 2013. The final leg of the tour took place in September 2013 with Springsteen's first-ever show in
Santiago, Chile, on September 12. The tour subsequently featured dates in
Argentina and Brazil, with the final show at the
Rock in Rio festival on September 21. The show, which was held at
Cidade do Rock, was broadcast live on cable in Brazil and over the Internet via
YouTube. In the concerts in Brazil, Springsteen performed a cover of "Sociedade Alternativa" by
Raul Seixas in addition to his usual setlist. == Critical and commercial reception ==