Bruce Springsteen made his first live appearance of 2022 Sunday evening when he honored longtime friend Jon Stewart, who received the 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
During the show, Springsteen linked up with Gary Clark Jr. to cover the Beatles’ “Come Together,” and a fan-shot video is available below.
During the ceremony, Springsteen also performed an acoustic solo rendition of his classic, “Born to Run.”
Along with Springsteen, the ceremony featured Dave Chappelle, Steve Carell, Pete Davidson, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel, and Olivia Munn.
“It’s a miracle to watch you work,” Chappelle told Stewart. “You are a cure to what ails our culture.”
Back in 2009, the roles were reversed when Stewart spoke about Springsteen at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. “Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen do anything, he empties the tank – every time,” Stewart said that night. “And the beautiful thing about this man is that he empties that tank for his family, he empties that tank for his art, he empties that tank for his audience, and he empties it for his country. And we, on the receiving end of that beautiful gift are ourselves rejuvenated, if not redeemed, and I thank you.”
Springsteen’s performance of “Come Together” with Gary Clark Jr marks his first time performing the Beatles classic since the 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony where he played it with Axl Rose to honor John Lennon.
Springsteen’s plans for the rest of the year are unclear, but he did tell E Street Radio last month that a tour with the E Street Band is coming at some point. “We’ll be out there,” he said. “We hoped to be out there this year, but I just didn’t have the confidence or want to take the risk for my audience that it was going to be OK. We put it off a little while. But we’re working on plans to get it all together now, so you’ll be seeing the E Street Band pretty soon.”
