Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

There is little left to be said about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that hasn't already been echoed in the cheers of a million fans and in a million more attempts at hagiography. While it can be easy to overstate Springsteen's importance to American music, he's earned the accolades by doing what dreamers do best — by following instinct, conviction and vision while never abandoning his belief in rock & roll's saving graces. E Street concerts have long been legendary for both their length and crowd-pleasing nature, and the reasonable ticket prices this time around make it easy for the uninitiated to experience the sometimes corny but always fulfilling live show. This marks the first tour without founding member Danny Federici, who succumbed to melanoma earlier this year. Federici's organ, glockenspiel and accordion left an indelible imprint on the E Street sound — try to think of "Hungry Heart," "Born to Run" or "4th of July, Asbury Park" without his flourishes — and his passing underpins the fatalism that runs concurrent with hope in Springsteen's canon.