The LEGENDARY, AMAZING and BREATHTAKING 1990 solo acoustic performances in support of The Christic Institute are among the most emotional and revealing of Bruce's career.

The two shows in the Shrine Auditorium Nov. 16th and 17th 1990 featured Springsteen playing solo: not only on guitar, but – for the first time in many years – on piano as well. It was Bruce’s first public performance since dismissing the E Street Band and was the debut of four new songs, including “Real World.”

WILD BILLY'S CIRCUS STORY is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 1973 album The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle.

Wild Billy's Circus Story was inspired by the Clyde Beatty/Cole Brothers circus that visited Springsteen's hometown of Freehold, New Jersey every summer. In the song, we hear about all the unusual folks who are part of the circus: the sideshow performers, the ferris wheel mechanic, the acrobats and the barker among them. At the end of the song, the circus boss spots a little boy and asks if he'd like to join the show. Springsteen made up the characters, but he could relate to Billy. "I've stood around carnivals at nights when they're clearing up and I was scared," he said in a 1974 ZigZag interview.

Springsteen was intrigued by the constant travel of the circus, a lifestyle similar to his as a touring musician. There are many parallels in the professions, including the equipment hauls, the strange cast of characters, the visits to small towns and the will to entertain.
In his book Songs, Springsteen wrote that the song is about "The seduction and loneliness of a life outside the margins of everyday life."

The last line is "All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop." Springsteen released his album Nebraska in 1982.

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