Bruce Springsteen and the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, booty-shaking E Street Band played Hyde Park in London Thursday night on their world tour. Sixty-five thousand screaming fans. In the audience were Billy Joel, who would be playing there the following night, and Peter Gabriel.

But this story is about two other famous people. Some very well-known people met up with Bruce before the show that night. The first one is easy to guess. The second one I never would have.

Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are long-time friends who met in the early ’80s at the Fast Lane, a club in Asbury Park, according to app.com. This was so long ago Jon wasn’t even in Bon Jovi yet but another band that came before. I wonder what kind of advice Springsteen, having already been a megastar by then, gave the young Jersey rocker.

It should come as no surprise Bon Jovi stopped by before the Hyde Park show. After all they hang at places like Jersey Freeze here.

jerseyfreeze1952 via Instagram
jerseyfreeze1952 via Instagram
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Besides, Jon was already in London with son Jesse Bongiovani for a promotional event.

The other famous person that visited Springsteen before the show along with Bon Jovi? I would never guess it. But here’s a hint. The other reason Bon Jovi was in London was to go to Wimbledon.

Any guesses?

No, not a current player. He retired last year.

It was Roger Federer.

@rogerfederer via Instagram
@rogerfederer via Instagram
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Now I'm not sure if Federer and Springsteen knew each other prior to this or if it was Jon who made the introductions. Either way, what a cool pic of Bruce working that tennis racket as if it were his old favorite Fender guitar bought at Petillo’s.

@rogerfederer via Instagram
@rogerfederer via Instagram
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By the way, here was the setlist from that night.

🎵 No Surrender
🎵 Ghosts
🎵 Prove It All Night
🎵 Letter to You
🎵 The Promised Land
🎵 Out in the Street
🎵 Darlington County
🎵 Working on the Highway
🎵 Kitty's Back
🎵 Nightshift
🎵 Mary's Place
🎵 My Hometown
🎵 The River
🎵 Last Man Standing
🎵 Backstreets
🎵 Because the Night
🎵 She's the One
🎵 Wrecking Ball
🎵 The Rising
🎵 Badlands
🎵 Thunder Road

Encore:

🎵 Born in the U.S.A.
🎵 Born to Run
🎵 Bobby Jean
🎵 Glory Days
🎵 Dancing in the Dark
🎵 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Second Encore:

🎵 I'll See You in My Dreams

9 Springsteen lyrics that won him the Woody Guthrie Prize

The award is given to artists from any medium who carry on the legacy of its namesake by speaking “for the voiceless with an understanding of how a platform can be used to shine a light on our world, showing us what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.” 

Every NJ celebrity with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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