Updated

Updated · Rolling Stone · Jun 11

Bruce Springsteen Debuts Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released' Live With Sheryl Crow at 2026 New Jersey Concert

Updated

Updated · Rolling Stone · Jun 11

Bruce Springsteen Debuts Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released' Live With Sheryl Crow at 2026 New Jersey Concert

Q: Why did Springsteen wait 50 years to perform 'I Shall Be Released' to launch his new American Music Center?

There is no evidence in the available reporting that Springsteen deliberately “waited 50 years” to unveil “I Shall Be Released” as a symbolic launch song for the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music. What the reporting does show is that he finally performed the Dylan song in May 2026 at the second “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concert in West Long Branch, New Jersey, part of the opening celebrations for the new center at Monmouth University. The event’s broader purpose was to celebrate the songs that shaped American music and to tie into the nation’s 250th-anniversary commemorations, making a Dylan song thematically fitting. Springsteen’s choice also fits his long, well-documented relationship with Dylan’s catalog. He has covered 13 Dylan songs over more than five decades and has repeatedly described Dylan as a foundational influence who expanded what American songwriting could do. “I Shall Be Released,” a Basement Tapes-era song about freedom, redemption and American identity, aligns naturally with the center’s mission and Springsteen’s own artistic concerns. But the record does not show a stated reason for why he had never played it live before. The simplest answer is that it was a notable late addition to his Dylan repertoire rather than a long-planned gesture. In other words, the timing appears meaningful in context, but not explicitly explained by Springsteen as a 50-year wait for this specific occasion.

3 articles · Updated · Rolling Stone · Jun 11

Springsteen performed Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” live for the first time at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, New Jersey, joining Sheryl Crow on the song.
The debut came on the second night of the “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concerts, staged to mark the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music and America’s 250th anniversary.
The performance extended a Dylan connection that dates to Springsteen’s early 1970s sets; he has now played 13 Dylan songs in concert.
That renewed focus on Dylan coincided with Dylan’s own tour moves: he revived Basement Tapes rarity “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby” the previous night and played “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” the next night.