When Bruce Springsteen played the first post-Hurricane Katrina Jazz Festival in New Orleans, back in 2006, it was an emotional and cathartic moment. Now, in 2012, with his Wrecking Ball album to promote, Springsteen returned to the festival, with another moving performance, full of emotion, political fervour and a surprise special guest.
Part-way through the set, Huffington Post reports, Springsteen asked the enormous crowd "Anybody here back in 2006?" The crowd roared. Springsteen answered them. "This is a song about calling on ghosts and spirits and asking them to speak. And we're in such a strong city of spirits, and such a strong city of so many ghosts, ghosts that have been powerful enough to haunt the rest of the nation and guard this town. And so we ask the spirits to inform us. To provide strength and faith to the living." According to today's report from the Telegraph (April 30, 2012), the veteran rocker's two-and-a-half-hour closing set had fans staking out their vantage points in the crowd as soon as the gates opened.
The New Orleans blues legend Dr John also joined Bruce and the E Street Band onstage, playing along to the R&B classic 'Something You Got' and 'Oh Mary, Don't You Weep.' It was a moment that ensured that this emotional festival headlining set will be remembered just as fondly as his legendary moment in 2006, which encapsulated the mood of the post-Katrina city.