Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi Close Out Madison Square Garden Together, and Why New Jersey Never Forgets Its Own SHAREFacebookXPinterestWhatsApp Don Lichterman 28 July 2026 Rock and roll came home to New Jersey this week, and it did it with two of the state’s own standing shoulder to shoulder under one roof. Bruce Springsteen walked onto the Madison Square Garden stage Sunday night unannounced, and the building nearly came off its foundation. Jon Bon Jovi called him “the king of the great state of New Jersey.” That was it. No fanfare beyond those nine words. The crowd didn’t need more. Let me get you caught up, because if you weren’t glued to your phone Sunday night refreshing every fan account and bootleg clip, you missed something that won’t happen again anytime soon. The Complete July 26 Finale Setlist: According to official tracking from Ultimate Classic Rock and Setlist.fm, the band played a powerhouse 19-song set: Beautiful Drug We Weren’t Born to Follow Lost Highway You Give Love a Bad Name Born to Be My Baby Legendary Whole Lot of Leavin’ In These Arms The People’s House (Featuring a live guest performance debut with the country-soul duo The War and Treaty) It’s My Life Livin’ on a Prayer Raise Your Hands This House Is Not for Sale I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead Keep the Faith First Encores: I’ll Be There for You Bad Medicine Second Encores (With Bruce Springsteen): Who Says You Can’t Go Home (Trading lead vocals with The Boss) The Promised Land (Springsteen’s 1978 classic, closing with the two rock icons locking arms for a group bow) Bon Jovi’s nine-show residency at the Garden was already a big deal before Bruce ever showed up. This marked the band’s first extended New York run since Jon underwent serious vocal cord reconstruction surgery back in 2022, a procedure that had fans quietly wondering whether that voice, the one that carried arenas for four decades, would ever sound like itself again. It does. Anyone who caught even a clip from July 26 can tell you that.
