Working On A Dream Tour - Itinerary

Itinerary

The tour was envisioned by the Springsteen camp as not being "a total marathon", and was thus considerably shorter than usual for Springsteen, especially in North America, where only 26 stops were planned. It did include a date in Oklahoma, where Springsteen had not played in three decades and where officials at Tulsa's BOK Center had been trying to lure Springsteen for years.

On February 23, 2009, it was confirmed that Springsteen would be headlining the Saturday night at Glastonbury festival in June of the same year. Springsteen also signed up for the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands and the Bonnaroo Music Festival in the U.S.; playing such festivals was a departure from his normal routing, and challenged him with audiences that were not pre-selected with his fans.

One continuing subplot with the tour's scheduling was E Street drummer Max Weinberg's availability vis à vis his job as The Max Weinberg 7 bandleader for Conan O'Brien, given that during the first half of 2009 Late Night with Conan O'Brien in New York was ending and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien in Los Angeles was beginning. The mid-January announcement that Late Night would continue until February 20 precluded any notion of starting the tour immediately following Springsteen's appearance at Super Bowl XLIII, in addition to the band feeling that they had just gotten off the Magic Tour and "Wait, let’s stop a minute." Meanwhile, the June 1 start date of The Tonight Show posed problems for Weinberg's continued presence on the tour. O'Brien told a Variety reporter at the time of the announcement that he hoped that Weinberg would follow him to Los Angeles and that he also hoped an arrangement could be worked out to let Weinberg go on the road with Springsteen as had been done for past tours. At NBC, the coexistence between the drummer's two bosses was known as the Weinberg-Springsteen Rule, and was not typically extended to other talent at the network. In a high-profile Rolling Stone cover story interview, Springsteen was vague about the matter: "All I know is this – it's all gonna work out, one way or another. If people wanna come out and see the E Street Band, they'll be able to come out and see the E Street Band." And whether Weinberg would stay with O'Brien and move or not was a subject of conflicting news reports until O'Brien confirmed on February 18 that Weinberg and the band were indeed coming with him. A few days later, E Streeter Steven Van Zandt said of Weinberg's availability for the post-June 1, European leg: “We’re still figuring that out. We’ll see. I think Max will be there for most of it. ... I know he was very much trying to figure it out.” Weinberg had not missed an E Street Band show since joining the outfit in 1974, and Van Zandt said that no amount of rehearsal by another drummer could replace Weinberg's intuitive understanding of Springsteen's performance gambits.

As had been the practice since the Reunion Tour in 1999, Springsteen and the band began rehearsals at Asbury Park Convention Hall. Beginning on March 11, some of the Springsteen faithful listened outside closed doors for what songs and arrangements the tour might bring. The presence of Max Weinberg's 18-year-old son Jay, a freshman at Stevens Institute of Technology and also a drummer, at rehearsals indicated that he might be the one to replace his father for European leg shows where Tonight Show duties came into play. On one occasion on the Magic Tour, Jay Weinberg had sat in on drums for "Born to Run". This was confirmed by Springsteen on March 20, who said that Jay Weinberg would be drumming at a small number of shows during the tour. Springsteen added, "Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O'Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him. We promise to return him in one piece." Van Zandt said, "I’ve been avoiding this question for weeks! Thank God they finally announced it. We already did three days of rehearsals. Jay's a fantastic drummer. It’s in the Weinberg DNA."

By the time the American first leg was well underway, there was speculation of more American dates to come in the late summer and fall, but E Street guitarist Nils Lofgren said that Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa would make a decision later on.

On May 21, 2009, while playing at the Izod Center, Springsteen announced he would be playing three dates at next-door Giants Stadium in late September and early October, saying the band would "say goodbye to old Giants Stadium ... Before they bring the wrecking ball, the wrecking crew is coming back!" The video screens on stage showed a huge banner being hung on the stadium, which was the forerunner of heavy advertising for the shows on local television. They sold out quickly, and two more dates were added, finishing on October 9. These were scheduled to be the last concerts ever at the stadium. The final show sold out quickly but not the one before it. Subsequent U.S. tour dates in the late summer began to be announced as well, focusing on outdoor amphitheaters in the Northeast. In mid-July, a further extension to the U.S. tour was announced, adding shows in indoor arenas through November.

The November 22, 2009 performance in Buffalo, New York was slated as the tour's last. After that the E Street Band was expected to take a one to two year hiatus, while Springsteen worked on another project.

The October 26, 2009 show in Kansas City, Missouri was canceled an hour before its scheduled start time due to the death of Lenny Sullivan, Springsteen's cousin and assistant road manager for ten years. It was not rescheduled.