See Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ at Academy Museum Gala

Bruce Springsteen delivered a three-song acoustic set — including a rare performance of “Streets of Philadelphia” — Saturday at the Academy Museum Gala, where the E Street rocker was given the Legacy Award.

Taking the stage at the Academy Museum, Springsteen opened with the track that earned him both the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1995 and the Grammy for Song of the Year. With the upcoming arrivals of Deliver Me From Nowhere and a new five-disc reissue, Springsteen also performed Nebraska’s “Atlantic City” before closing out the mini-set with “Land of Hope and Dreams.”

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The “Streets of Philadelphia” performance marked the first time in over a dozen years that Springsteen has sung the Philadelphia single outside of Philadelphia: While the sparingly played song was performed at Philly’s Citizens Bank Park as recently as August 2024, it hadn’t been played outside the City of Brotherly Love since a November 2012 gig in Louisville, Kentucky.

Springsteen was also the recipient of the Academy Museum’s Legacy Award, which “honors an artist whose body of work has inspired generations of storytellers and deeply influenced our culture.”

Other honorees at this year’s gala included Penelope Cruz, Walter Salles, and SNL‘s Bowen Yang, who missed the taping of the Sabrina Carpenter-hosted episode in order to attend Saturday night’s event.

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