Bruce Springsteen played a seven-song acoustic set at a rally in Philadelphia yesterday to help the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama register voters and recruit volunteers.

The rally, planned by the Obama campaign a week ago, drew tens of thousands of people to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Springsteen said that America remains a house of dreams for some, but that too many people have given up on the promise of fairness and equality.

"I've spent 35 years writing about America and its people and the meaning of the American promise -- a promise handed down right here in this city," said Springsteen, whose songs often depict down-on-their-luck, working-class dreamers. "Our everyday citizens ... have justifiably lost faith in its meaning."

Springsteen approached the Obama campaign and asked to help out, an Obama aide said.

Springsteen cited the Iraq war, the recent economic turmoil and Hurricane Katrina as examples of the Bush administration's failures. He bookended the set with "Promised Land" and Woody Guthrie's "This Land is My Land."