Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne & More Christen the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music

Two nights of cross-generational rock at the OceanFirst Bank Center marked the opening of the $50 million facility at Monmouth University.

Bruce Springsteen was joined by Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Little Steven Van Zandt, Kenny Chesney, Public Enemy, and the Dropkick Murphys for two nights of music celebrating the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music. The concerts, billed as Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us, took place June 4 and 5 at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the Monmouth University campus in Long Branch, New Jersey. The center itself opens to the public June 13.

A Classic Rock Summit on the Jersey Shore

The lineup read like a cross-section of rock history. Springsteen shared the bill with fellow Jersey icon Jon Bon Jovi and longtime E Street Band guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt, putting three of the Shore’s most celebrated figures on the same stage in the region that shaped them. Jackson Browne brought the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter tradition, Sheryl Crow represented the roots-rock generation that followed, and Rosanne Cash connected the proceedings to country and Americana’s first family.

The bill deliberately stretched beyond rock’s borders. Public Enemy, Kenny Chesney, and the Dropkick Murphys rounded out a roster designed to mirror the center’s cross-genre mission, but the heart of the event was unmistakably classic rock, anchored by Springsteen and the artists who built the FM canon alongside him.

Robert Santelli, the center’s executive director, served as emcee for both nights. Recordings of the concerts are available through the center’s archives, making the performances a permanent part of the institution rather than a one-time event.

The Center Behind the Concerts

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music spans two floors. The ground level traces the broader story of American music, with artifacts including Louis Armstrong’s trumpet and Frank Sinatra’s tuxedo. The upper floor is devoted to Springsteen and the E Street Band. The building also houses exhibition galleries, research archives, immersive interactive experiences, a performance theater, and a gift shop covering Springsteen’s entire career.

The wood-accented facility was designed by Rick Cook of New York-based CookFox Architects. Eileen Chapman serves as director and Melissa Kozlowski as director of curatorial affairs.

In a phone interview with the Asbury Park Press, Springsteen, 76, framed the project around live music’s power to bring people together. “Live music is one of the few things (that), one, it demands that you come out of your house,” he said. “It demands you pretty much shut off your screens for a while. It demands that you gather together with your neighbors. Then the shows itself are sort of a true melting pot of American culture.”

He added: “Music always has a message. It tells you you are not alone. Whatever you’re feeling, whatever you’re thinking about, you are not alone.”

What we know

• The Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us concerts were held June 4 and 5 at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the Monmouth University campus.
• Performers included Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Little Steven Van Zandt, Kenny Chesney, Public Enemy, and the Dropkick Murphys.
• Recordings of both nights are available through the center’s archives.
• The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opens to the public June 13 in Long Branch, New Jersey.
• The $50 million facility was designed by Rick Cook of CookFox Architects.
• Robert Santelli is executive director and emceed the opening concerts; Eileen Chapman is director and Melissa Kozlowski is director of curatorial affairs.

The take

The opening concerts functioned as a statement of purpose as much as a celebration. Putting Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Van Zandt on the same Jersey Shore stage acknowledged the region’s outsized place in rock history, while Browne, Crow, and Cash extended the lineage backward and outward through the singer-songwriter and Americana traditions. The presence of Public Enemy, Chesney, and the Dropkick Murphys signaled that the center’s definition of American music is broad by design, but the gravitational center of the event was the classic rock generation that Springsteen embodies. Few artists could convene a bill like this, and fewer still could anchor it to a permanent institution. The decision to archive the performances also matters. These were not just opening-night festivities but the first entries in a living collection, which positions the center closer to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s archival model than to a static museum.

Why it matters

For classic rock fans, the Music America concerts represent one of the most significant multi-artist gatherings of the era’s major figures in recent memory, and the archive model means the performances remain accessible long after the houselights came up. The center itself stands as one of the most substantial brick-and-mortar commitments to preserving American popular music in years, with rock’s golden era at its core.

What’s next

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opens to the public June 13. Recordings of the Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us concerts are available through the center’s archives. No additional programming has been announced.

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