Backstage in Ashbury Park as Springsteen Preps 'Dream' Tour

Dressed down in a pink T–shirt and jeans, Bruce Springsteen is pacing an arena–size stage crammed into the empty Asbury Park Convention Hall — a gymnasium–like structure where the band is rehearsing for its new world tour. Clarence Clemons, relaxing on a stool in a gray sweatsuit, fiddles with his sax and cracks jokes as Springsteen provides meticulous direction to the E Street Band. Tonight is the second of two open–to–the–public rehearsal shows behind the new Working on a Dream tour, and the group will be ironing out the last few kinks in front of an intense hometown audience. Dissatisfied with the previous night?s gig, Springsteen is completely reinventing the show, and even songs that survive the set–list change are under tight scrutiny. "Just remember," he says after two consecutive run–throughs of a raved–up version of the Nebraska track "Johnny 99," "if we don't get it, we do it until we get it."

The tour, which kicks off April 1st in San Jose, California, comes just eight months after the last E Street Band tour and will hit multiple festivals, including Bonnaroo and Glastonbury in England."We saw it as a good opportunity to expose Bruce to people who haven't seen him before," says Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau. "Maybe some younger people."