4. 41 Shots (American Skin) (2000, 2014)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQMqWAiWPMs 41 Shots (American Skin) was first performed live in Atlanta, Georgia during the summer 2000 leg of the Reunion Tour. The lyrics were inspired from the brutal shooting of 23 year old Amadou Diallo by the New York City police in early 1999. Famously, when Springsteen came to New York City after this for a ten night stand at Madison Square Garden, the labor union for New York City's police called for a boycott of Springsteen's shows. Bruce brought the song out of retirement and performed it live again in 2012 in response to the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida. A studio version of the song was released on 2014's High Hopes. 3. The Rising (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBZECKVuQQ The title track to 2002's The Rising was Springsteen's biggest hit song in nearly a decade. A good majority of the 2002 album was inspired by the events of 9/11/01, and this particular song was no different. One particularly memorable performance of this track occurred when the E Street Band performed the song (in the rain) on the roof of New York City's Rose Center and Planetarium (American Museum of Natural History) at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. Suddenly, Springsteen was relevant to a whole new generation of fans. The song received another boost in media coverage when Barack Obama made the song his unofficial campaign theme song during his 2008 Presidential campaign.