# Ghost of Tom Joad Tour

The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad.
The tour represented Springsteen's first full-length, solo tour; he traveled with only an instrument technician and a sound engineer. As such it was a marked departure from the high-energy shows with the E Street Band that Springsteen had become famous for. The album itself was quiet, dark, and angry, and Springsteen presented it as such in the shows on the tour. Older songs from Springsteen's catalog, such as "Born in the U.S.A.," were presented in very different, often harsh re-arrangements.
The result, especially in the tour's first leg of shows, was an uncompromising portrayal of pessimism; Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that with the tour's performances, Springsteen "has taken his music to an extreme, a depressive's view of tedious, unending woe." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "In contrast to past tours, which have been celebratory events tinged by introspection, Springsteen brought a sobering sense of solitude" to the shows of this tour. By some of the later shows of the tour, however, Springsteen relaxed the mood a bit by interweaving a few new songs with an almost comedic bent.

## Itinerary

The tour began on November 21, 1995, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first group of shows ran through the end of the year in major media centers such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.
After a winter holiday break, the show visited other North American cities in January 1996, including a stop in Youngstown, Ohio, due to "Youngstown" being the album track most (relatively) played on radio.
February and March saw shows in Western Europe, followed by a three-week break during which Springsteen attended the Academy Awards show in Los Angeles. The tour resumed in Europe through early May.
A family man with three small children at the time, Springsteen took off the summer of 1996 and then started again in the U.S. in mid-September, playing smaller markets and colleges, as well as local stops in Asbury Park and his old St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, and finishing in mid-December.
Another winter holiday break was taken, then in late January 1997 Springsteen took the show to Japan and Australia for three weeks. In May the final leg started up; first Springsteen went to Stockholm to accept the Polar Music Prize, then he toured Central Europe, seeing Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic, before concluding with additional shows back in Western Europe. The 128th and final show of the tour was on May 26, 1997, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris and was attended by hundreds of fans from around the world.

## Show

While the Ghost of Tom Joad album was in the more acoustic, somber vein of his earlier Nebraska, it did contain some limited additional instrumentation and arrangements. Given that Springsteen was famous for his full-band, high-energy, crowd-rousing concerts, this tour was sure to be a surprising departure. Advertisements tried to make this clear, and all show tickets were printed with Solo Acoustic Tour on them to give audiences a firm understanding of what to expect.

## Critical and commercial reaction

Due to the small venues played on the tour, often in the 2,000–3,000 capacity range, tickets were often hard to get, creating a "ticket scalpers' heaven." Dave Marsh's Two Hearts biography assessed the tour as not expanding Springsteen's audience any, but helping to solidify it, especially in Europe.
The Asbury Park Press characterized a November 1995 Count Basie Theatre show as Springsteen "spinning his acoustic tales of desperation and hope ... he played with power and poise ... The lyrics are bleaker than usual for Springsteen and the music reflects the solemn mood." The New York Times said a December 1995 Beacon Theatre show "easily qualifies as the most earnest concert of the year," that "Where [Springsteen] once saw open highways, he now sees roads to nowhere," and that "Springsteen turned in a painstaking and convincing performance. But with that material, he has turned himself into nearly a one-note performer." The Washington Post, on the other hand, found a December 1995 DAR Constitution Hall performance showing strains of the "sense of triumph" that Springsteen's previous work had evoked, although his physical appearance made him "look more like the custodian at Constitution Hall than the star attraction."
The collection Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, edited by Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, found praise for the tour, saying the album's songs gained onstage and that the shows, "although hushed and void of the anthemic rockers that made him the greatest performer that rock has ever known, managed to bring Woody Guthrie back to life again." Jimmy Gutterman's Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen criticized the first leg of the tour for producing "the most dour performances of his career". However Guterman praised later legs that incorporated new material that was "sly, low-key, and funny."

## Broadcasts and recordings

Portions of the December 8 and December 9, 1995, shows from Philadelphia's Tower Theater were later broadcast on the syndicated Columbia Records Radio Hour on U.S. album-oriented rock stations.
Several shows have been released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives:
* Kings Hall, Belfast, Ireland, 19/03/1996, released September 1, 2017
* Saint Rose of Lima School Gym, Freehold, New Jersey, USA, 11/08/1996, released May 4, 2018
* Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, 11/24/1996, released November 1, 2019
* Palais des Congrès Acropolis, Nice, France, 18/05/1997, released February 5, 2021
* Tower Theater, Pennsylvania, USA, 12/9/1995, released February 4, 2022
* Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, 11/24/1996, released November 4, 2022
* EJ Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Akron, Ohio, USA, 25/09/1996, released February 2, 2024

## Tour dates

| Date | City | Country | Venue |
| North America ||||||
| November 22, 1995 | Red Bank | United States | Count Basie Theatre |
| November 26, 1995 | Los Angeles | United States | Wiltern Theatre |
| November 27, 1995 | Los Angeles | United States | Wiltern Theatre |
| November 29, 1995 | Berkeley | | Berkeley Community Theatre |
| November 30, 1995 | Berkeley | | Berkeley Community Theatre |
| December 3, 1995 | Rosemont | | Rosemont Theatre |
| December 5, 1995 | Washington, D.C. | | DAR Constitution Hall |
| December 6, 1995 | Washington, D.C. | | DAR Constitution Hall |
| December 8, 1995 | Upper Darby | | Tower Theater |
| December 9, 1995 | Upper Darby | | Tower Theater |
| December 12, 1995 | New York City | | Beacon Theatre |
| December 13, 1995 | New York City | | Beacon Theatre |
| December 15, 1995 | Boston | United States | Orpheum Theatre |
| December 16, 1995 | Boston | United States | Orpheum Theatre |
| December 17, 1995 | New York City | United States | Beacon Theatre |
| January 7, 1996 | Montreal | Canada | Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier |
| January 8, 1996 | Toronto | Canada | Massey Hall |
| January 10, 1996 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre |
| January 11, 1996 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre |
| January 12, 1996 | Youngstown | United States | Stambaugh Auditorium |
| January 16, 1996 | Cleveland | United States | Cleveland Music Hall |
| January 17, 1996 | Cleveland | United States | Cleveland Music Hall |
| January 18, 1996 | St. Louis | United States | Fox Theatre |
| January 22, 1996 | New Orleans | United States | Saenger Theatre |
| January 23, 1996 | Houston | United States | Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts |
| January 25, 1996 | Austin | United States | Austin Music Hall |
| January 26, 1996 | Dallas | United States | Bronco Bowl |
| January 28, 1996 | Atlanta | United States | Fox Theatre |
| Europe ||||||
| February 12, 1996 | Frankfurt | Germany | Alte Oper |
| February 14, 1996 | Dresden | Germany | Kulturpalast |
| February 15, 1996 | Munich | Germany | Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle |
| February 17, 1996 | Hamburg | Germany | Congress Centrum Hamburg Halle 1 |
| February 18, 1996 | Düsseldorf | Germany | Philipshalle |
| February 21, 1996 | Paris | France | Le Zénith |
| February 22, 1996 | Paris | France | Le Zénith |
| February 25, 1996 | Rotterdam | The Netherlands | De Doelen |
| February 26, 1996 | Amsterdam | The Netherlands | Koninklijk Theater Carré |
| February 28, 1996 | Manchester | England | Manchester Apollo |
| February 29, 1996 | Birmingham | England | Symphony Hall |
| March 2, 1996 | Newcastle | England | Newcastle City Hall |
| March 3, 1996 | Edinburgh | Scotland | Edinburgh Playhouse |
| March 13, 1996 | Stockholm | Sweden | Cirkus |
| March 14, 1996 | Oslo | Norway | Oslo Spektrum |
| March 16, 1996 | Copenhagen | Denmark | Falkoner Salen |
| March 19, 1996 | Belfast | Northern Ireland | King's Hall |
| March 20, 1996 | Dublin | Ireland | Point Theatre |
| April 10, 1996 | Rome | Italy | Auditorium Santa Cecilia |
| April 11, 1996 | Milan | Italy | Teatro Smeraldo |
| April 13, 1996 | Genoa | Italy | Teatro Carlo Felice |
| April 16, 1996 | London | England | Royal Albert Hall |
| April 17, 1996 | London | England | Royal Albert Hall |
| April 19, 1996 | Berlin | Germany | ICC Berlin Halle 1 |
| April 20, 1996 | Antwerp | Belgium | Koningin Elisabethzaal |
| April 22, 1996 | London | England | Royal Albert Hall |
| April 24, 1996 | London | England | Brixton Academy |
| April 25, 1996 | London | England | Brixton Academy |
| April 27, 1996 | London | England | Royal Albert Hall |
| April 30, 1996 | Strasbourg | France | Salle Erasme |
| May 1, 1996 | Brussels | Belgium | Palais des Beaux-Arts |
| May 2, 1996 | Zürich | Switzerland | Kongresshaus Zürich |
| May 6, 1996 | Barcelona | Spain | Teatro Tivoli |
| May 7, 1996 | Barcelona | Spain | Teatro Tivoli |
| May 8, 1996 | Madrid | Spain | Palacio de Congresos Y Exposiciones |
| North America ||||||
| September 16, 1996 | Pittsburgh | United States | Benedum Center |
| September 18, 1996 | Wallingford | | Oakdale Theatre |
| September 19, 1996 | Providence | | Providence Performing Arts Center |
| September 24, 1996 | Kalamazoo | | James W. Miller Auditorium |
| September 25, 1996 | Akron | | E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall |
| September 26, 1996 | Ann Arbor | | Hill Auditorium |
| October 1, 1996 | Normal | | Braden Auditorium |
| October 2, 1996 | Milwaukee | | Riverside Theater |
| October 3, 1996 | Minneapolis | | Northrop Auditorium |
| October 15, 1996 | Salt Lake City | | Abravanel Hall |
| October 16, 1996 | Denver | | Paramount Theatre |
| October 17, 1996 | Denver | | Paramount Theatre |
| October 19, 1996 | Albuquerque | | Kiva Auditorium |
| October 21, 1996 | Tempe | | Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium |
| October 22, 1996 | San Diego | | Civic Theatre |
| October 23, 1996 | Fresno | | William Saroyan Theatre |
| October 25, 1996 | Santa Barbara | | Arlington Theatre |
| October 26, 1996 | San Jose | | Event Center Arena |
| October 28, 1996 | Portland | | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall |
| October 29, 1996 | Seattle | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 8, 1996 | Freehold | | Saint Rose of Lima School |
| November 12, 1996 | Buffalo | | Shea's Performing Arts Center |
| November 13, 1996 | Syracuse | | Landmark Theatre |
| November 14, 1996 | Lowell | | Lowell Memorial Auditorium |
| November 19, 1996 | Memphis | | Ellis Auditorium |
| November 20, 1996 | Louisville | | The Louisville Palace |
| November 21, 1996 | Indianapolis | | Murat Theatre |
| November 24, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| October 29, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 8, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 12, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 13, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 14, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 19, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 20, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 21, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 25, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| November 26, 1996 | Asbury Park | | Paramount Theatre |
| December 2, 1996 | Sunrise | | Sunrise Musical Theater |
| December 3, 1996 | Sunrise | | Sunrise Musical Theater |
| December 5, 1996 | Columbia | | Township Auditorium |
| December 6, 1996 | Birmingham | | Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Concert Hall |
| December 10, 1996 | Cincinnati | | Music Hall |
| December 11, 1996 | Columbus | United States | Veterans Memorial Auditorium |
| December 12, 1996 | Nashville | United States | Ryman Auditorium |
| December 14, 1996 | Charlotte | United States | Ovens Auditorium |
| Japan ||||||
| January 27, 1997 | Tokyo | Japan | Kokusai Forum Hall |
| January 29, 1997 | Tokyo | Japan | Kokusai Forum Hall |
| January 30, 1997 | Tokyo | Japan | Kokusai Forum Hall |
| January 31, 1997 | Tokyo | Japan | Kokusai Forum Hall |
| Australia ||||||
| February 4, 1997 | Brisbane | Australia | QPAC Concert Hall |
| February 5, 1997 | Brisbane | Australia | QPAC Concert Hall |
| February 7, 1997 | Sydney | Australia | Capitol Theatre |
| February 8, 1997 | Sydney | Australia | Capitol Theatre |
| February 10, 1997 | Sydney | Australia | Capitol Theatre |
| February 11, 1997 | Sydney | Australia | Capitol Theatre |
| February 12, 1997 | Sydney | Australia | Capitol Theatre |
| February 15, 1997 | Melbourne | Australia | Palais Theatre |
| February 16, 1997 | Melbourne | Australia | Palais Theatre |
| February 17, 1997 | Melbourne | Australia | Palais Theatre |
| Europe ||||||
| May 6, 1997 | Vienna | Austria | Austria Center Vienna |
| May 7, 1997 | Vienna | Austria | Austria Center Vienna |
| May 9, 1997 | Warsaw | Poland | Sala Kongresowa |
| May 10, 1997 | Warsaw | Poland | Sala Kongresowa |
| May 12, 1997 | Prague | Czech Republic | Congress Center |
| May 15, 1997 | Lyon | France | Auditorium Maurice Ravel |
| May 16, 1997 | Montpellier | France | Berlioz Opera House |
| May 18, 1997 | Nice | France | Acropolis |
| May 19, 1997 | Toulon | France | Zénith Omega |
| May 21, 1997 | Florence | Italy | Teatro Verdi |
| May 22, 1997 | Naples | Italy | Teatro Augusteo |
| May 25, 1997 | Paris | France | Palais des congres de Paris |
| May 26, 1997 | Paris | France | Palais des congres de Paris |

## Songs performed

Source:

## Sources

* Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Cambridge: DeCapo Press, 2005.
* Marsh, Dave. Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005. Bloomsbury USA, 2006. ISBN 1-59691-282-0.
* Santelli, Robert, "Beyond Folk: Woody Guthrie's Impact on Rock and Roll", in Robert Santelli and Emily Davidson, eds. Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1999.
* Santelli, Robert. Greetings From E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5348-9
* Killing Floor's concert database supplies the itinerary and set lists for the shows, but does not support direct linking to individual dates.
* Brucebase the same, with ticket and promotional images as well.