Bruce's first tour as a recording artist with a different band than the E Street Band. Apart from Roy Bittan, who followed Bruce from the E Street Band to the new band, the band members were young, relatively unknown musicians. A group of four backing singers, along with Patti Scialfa for part of the tour, made the lineup complete.

The first glimpses the world got of the new, soulful band was when Bruce made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live - and his only second live TV appearance ever - and a few weeks later when they performed live on the radio (look under radio and TV performances for info).

The official tour premiere took place in Stockholm, Sweden, under huge media and fan attention. Bruce had his mind set on presenting a completely fresh show with none or few of the old war horses. However, when press as well as fans complained about the lack of "Thunder Road" and "The River", Bruce immediately added them to the set for the second Stockholm show. This pattern became the rule for much of the first months of the tour. More and more old E Street Band favorites were introduced in arrangements that were usually similar to the original versions, only not as good. This changed when Los Angeles Times published a rather negative review by Robert Hilburn criticizing the nostalgia. For the rest of the year, the setlists were dominated by new material and changed very little.

After a long winter break, Bruce and his new band reappeared for a benefit at the Count Basie Theater in March 1993. The show constituted another dramatic departure from previous shows and indeed was a defining moment in Bruce's live performance career. Opening the show with three acoustic songs, including the never performed outtake "This Hard Land", and pulling out long lost songs like "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street", "Blinded by the Light" and "When You're Alone" - not to mention a spontaneous cover of "Achy Breaky Heart" - all bets were suddenly off. The following spring European tour preserved the three-song acoustic set and, to most fans, felt like a much looser and exciting experience than the previous year's shows.

The tour ended with two benefit shows in New Jersey and New York with lots of guest performances, including E Streeters Little Steven, Max Weinberg and Clarence Clemons. Another guest, Terrence Trent Darby, was booed by parts of the audience in Madison Square Garden, and thus the tour was wrapped up on a somewhat sour note that was perhaps telling of the whole "new band" experiment to many fans.

Bruce Springsteen: Vocals, guitar
Zachary Alford: Drums
Roy Bittan: Keyboards
Shane Fontayne: Guitar
Tommy Sims: Bass guitar
Crystal Taliafero: Guitars, vocal, saxophone

Singers:
Gia Ciambotti
Cleo Kennedy
Bobby King
Angel Rogers
Patti Scialfa (not all shows)