Through five decades, Bruce Springsteen has served as a cultural phenomenon (twice, at least), a brittle and dark acoustic storyteller, a folk revivalist, a new Dylan, a working-class hero, "rock 'n roll future," a force for political and social change, an eloquent songwriter and unabashed party-rocker (often in the same song), a live performer of legendary energies, and a prodigy and preacher of the "majesty, the mystery and the ministry of rock ‘n roll."