Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance during Bleachers’ set at Jack Antonoff’s Shadow of the City Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey, joining the band for two songs with strong local significance. The reunion underscored the connection between Antonoff, Springsteen and the Jersey music scene, with Antonoff reflecting on the importance of performing at home and receiving support from his community.

They performed Tom Waits’ ‘Jersey Girl’, a song closely associated with Springsteen despite having been written by Waits, followed by Bleachers’ ‘Chinatown’. Springsteen featured on ‘Chinatown’ for Bleachers’ 2021 album Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night; the pair had last performed it together in 2020 at New York’s Electric Lady Studios.