Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger fronting the Rolling Stones – it doesn’t get any better than that, folks! The Boss sat in with the Stones on “Tumbling Dice” on the 50 & Counting tour, and you better believe everyone had a ball up there. The sight of seeing two of the greatest frontmen ever rocking out together was definitely a historic moment. Watching the recently uploaded performance was also an emotional moment for fans, as it featured the now late great Charlie Watts behind the drums.
Springsteen is a huge Stones fan, and he looked like a kid on Christmas as soon as he hit the stage with his heroes. The Boss and Jagger traded verses before coming together to sing the main hook together, and that was truly a magical moment right there. The sound of their husky voices together, the energy on the stage, and the rollicking sound of the Rolling Stones groove was one helluva combo. The Music Man has to say that the boogie woogie vibe of “Tumbling Dice” was def the right choice for this collab!
Springsteen hit the stage with the Rolling Stones on December 15, 2012, although it was only released digitally in 2023. Fans of both acts were loving the collab, and added comments such as “I’ll bet Bruce was amazed he was on stage with Mick. And Mick was in Newark so he was proud to be with the Jersey boy!” and “I almost started crying when I saw Charlie behind the kit. Such a moment of pure happiness.”
Springsteen has shared the stage with many a legend in his day. Another huge collab for The Boss came when he teamed up with Sir Paul McCartney to sing The Beatles’ early bop “I Saw Her Standing There.” You can again see how much boyish joy Springsteen has playing next to arguably the greatest singer-songwriter of all time, and their voices certainly sound fantastic together.
The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that we might not have Springsteen as we know him if not for the Rolling Stones. The New Jersey hitmaker spoke at length about the influence the Stones had on him as a young musician in his memoir Born to Run. One great detail from the book was that Springsteen revealed that Keith Richards’ guitar solo on “It’s All Over Now” was the first thing he ever learned on guitar. The Boss noted that it took him all night to puzzle out the “simple but great” licks on the Rolling Stones number.