{"id":222525,"date":"2026-05-06T22:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222525\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:01:15","slug":"bruce-springsteen-says-long-island-and-new-jersey-kinda-like-the-same-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/222525\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen says Long Island and New Jersey kinda like the same place"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey … Long Island … what\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen, stage-bantering during his Tuesday night concert at UBS Arena in Elmont,\u00a0told the audience he has seen\u00a0little difference between the two bedroom communities of New York City.<\/p>\n

And he paid tribute to Billy Joel.<\/p>\n

“You see, Long Island and New Jersey \u2014 they\u2019re the same thing. We were just separated at birth. That was what happened,” he said to cheers<\/a> while performing “Wrecking Ball.” “We\u2019re all my fellow bridge and tunnel people.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, maneuvering his guitar, he added: “If you shake up New Jersey like this it becomes Long Island.”<\/p>\n

The banter was prompted by the song lyrics, “I was raised outta steel \/ Here in the swamps of Jersey.”<\/p>\n

Springsteen’s tribute to Long Island drew laughter, cheers and nods of agreement. His lyrics referencing the Giants and the Meadowlands Sports Complex also received warm and enthusiastic reactions from the audience.<\/p>\n

Springsteen also gave a shoutout to the\u00a0Piano Man,\u00a0who has boosted his presence in Florida and isn\u2019t much in a “New York State of Mind” after listing his Gold Coast mansion<\/a>, movin\u2019 out and becoming a Florida resident.<\/p>\n

“Let Billy hear ya in Florida!” Springsteen said<\/a> during “Hungry Heart.”<\/p>\n

Springsteen, of Freehold, New Jersey,\u00a0has shouted out Long Island \u2014 and Hicksville-raised Joel \u2014 before.<\/p>\n

In 2009, at a 25th anniversary concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at Madison Square Garden, Springsteen asked the audience: “Are you ready for the bridge-and-tunnel summit meeting right here, right now? Because Long Island is about to meet New Jersey on the neutral ground of New York City!”<\/p>\n

Then, Joel emerged. The two performed together.<\/p>\n

Newsday’s Rachel Weiss contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\n\tMatthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Jersey … Long Island … what\u2019s the difference? Bruce Springsteen, stage-bantering during his Tuesday night concert at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1214,157,2538,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-222525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}