Last month, Bruce Springsteen's stone-cold classic third studio album Born To Run turned 50 years old, and he shared the LP outtake "Lonely Night In The Park." Springsteen celebrated the occasion last Saturday with a day-long symposium at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, which featured panels with the Boss himself and many of his cohorts: Steve Van Zandt, Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg, David Sancious, Ernest “Boom” Carter, former manager Mike Appel, manager Jon Landau, and more. The event culminated in a performance of album highlight "Thunder Road" and, of course, "Born To Run."
Springsteen talked about the writing process of Born To Run, which began when he was in his mid-20s, broke, and trying to shake off the Bob Dylan comparisons that marred his nascent career. He said he was listening to a lot of Duane Eddy and early ’60s music by Roy Orbison and Phil Spector at the time, and once he thought of the album's name, he put all those influences together to create "Born To Run." He also cracked a few jokes about his age -- 76 this month -- and how he'll be needing his own lyrics on a teleprompter soon.
The symposium wrapped up with just enough time for Springsteen to head to the US Open finals over the weekend with his daughter, Olympian equestrian Jessica Springsteen. There were a whole bunch of famous people in his section: Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, Sting and Shaggy, BJ Novak and Mindy Kaling, and Pink and Carey Hart with their kids. At one point Courteney Cox came over to reunite with the Boss 40 years after she starred in his "Dancing In The Dark" video. They seemed happy to see each other! I doubt Springsteen said hello to Donald Trump, however.
See some relevant photos and clips below.
Donald Trump was booed by the crowd at the US Open today. pic.twitter.com/Y2NbAGVWB9
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 7, 2025
Springsteen just announced plans to release the fabled electric version of Nebraska as part of his Nebraska '82 box set. The biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere comes out next month.
