Bruce Springsteen and Kid Rock Set Rival Jersey Shows
Bruce Springsteen and Kid Rock are both booked in Monmouth County, New Jersey, on Friday, June 5, but the two rock stars are not appearing together. The same night will see Kid Rock bring his Freedom 250 Tour stop to Holmdel while Springsteen headlines a separate, sold-out event tied to a new music centre opening at Monmouth University.
In Holmdel, Kid Rock (born Robert Ritchie) is set to play the PNC Bank Arts Center with country singer Mr. John Pardi opening, and Asbury Park Press reported that Ticketmaster listings on Tuesday, June 2 still showed several hundred seats available, with prices ranging from $117 to $5,000.
Springsteen, a Freehold native, is scheduled to perform on Thursday, June 4 and Friday, June 5 at “Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us” at the 4,100-capacity OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch. The concerts are presented by the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music and are positioned as cornerstone events ahead of the centre’s opening on June 13, with a line-up also set to include Jon Bon Jovi, Little Steven Van Zandt, Jackson Browne, Public Enemy, Rosanne Cash, Kenny Chesney and Mavis Staples.
The overlapping dates also underscore the artists’ public political divide, with Springsteen a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and Kid Rock a prominent supporter. Springsteen’s recent U.S. run on the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour included pointed onstage criticism of the Trump administration, and in a Fox News appearance last year, Kid Rock attacked Springsteen over comments made during the European leg of that tour.
Springsteen has increasingly drawn attention for his political remarks at shows, including a recent moment when he led an “ICE out now” chant in Washington, D.C. as debate around immigration enforcement intensified nationwide.
Springsteen’s next major festival appearance is also set for later this year, when he is scheduled to perform at the sold-out Power to the People Festival on October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, alongside Tom Morello and members of Foo Fighters, plus Mr. Dave Matthews, Ms. Joan Baez, Ms. Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys and more.
