Bruce Springsteen played songs from Western Stars publicly for the first time Monday evening at Stand Up for Heroes at David Geffen Hall in New York City. He included “Hello Sunshine” and “Moonlight Motel” in his annual acoustic set.
The appearance gave the audience at the Bob Woodruff Foundation benefit the first public performance of those two songs and the first public Western Stars set after seven years. Stand Up for Heroes has raised $123 million for veterans and their families over 20 years.
David Geffen Hall
Springsteen also performed “I’ll Work for You Love” and “Dancing in the Dark,” keeping the set centered on familiar material while adding the two Western Stars songs that had stayed out of his public concerts. The event also included Josh Johnson, Hasan Minhaj, the Resilient, Jon Stewart, and Alex Warren.
That choice stood apart from Springsteen’s usual arena and stadium approach. In 2025, he told Rolling Stone, “If I was going to do that, I’d go out on probably a smaller tour, where I might engage an orchestra and play those records specifically.”
Western Stars
He added, “When I go out with the E Street Band, I go out to do a rock show. I want to come out, put the pedal to the metal for three hours, and exhaust you, myself, and anybody in the immediate 20-mile vicinity.” He also said, “and so, there’s certain things that mix and certain things that don’t mix for me, and that’s sort of the way I look at the work that I do with the band.”
Springsteen had not publicly played any Western Stars songs before Monday, even though he had already performed the album in full at a special concert in 2019 and had sung “Hello Sunshine” and “Moonlight Motel” last month at a private jam session at Danny Clinch’s Transparent Clinch Gallery in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Monday’s set broke that pattern in front of a benefit audience that has long paired music with fundraising for veterans and their families.
The public debut of the two songs at Stand Up for Heroes is the key change for fans: the album is no longer limited to private settings or one-off special performances. For listeners, the next question is whether Springsteen treats these songs as a one-night exception or as material he will bring back in a future acoustic set.
