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Watch Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Kick Off Their 2024 World Tour

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Six months after Bruce Springsteen suspended his world tour so he could recover from a painful peptic ulcer, he was back onstage with the E Street Band Tuesday night in Phoenix, for the first gig of the year. And while the setlist was largely the same as the one he delivered nightly in 2023, he did make some minor alterations, and create space for further additions as the year progresses.

The majority of last year’s concerts kicked off with “No Surrender,” but it loosened up during the stadium portion at the very end when he started breaking out “Lonesome Day” and “Night” prior to it. He stuck with that trio of songs at the top of the Phoenix show, and also performed “Darlington County” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” early in the night. Both songs were only played on selection occasions last year.

The second half of the show, kicking off with the story of his late Castiles bandmate George Theiss and the emotionally-charged double shot of “Last Man Standing” and “Backstreets,” was largely identical to previous sets. But he did bust out “Twist and Shout” at the end of the first encore in response to a sign from an 18-year-old fan that was seeing him for the first time.

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If the past is any precedent, the setlist should continue to evolve in the coming months. It may never reach the point Springsteen hit in the 2010s where the show changed radically from night to night, and he took random sign requests throughout the evening, but it’s impossible to say for sure. We have a long way to go until closing night in Vancouver.

Here is the complete Phoenix setlist: “Lonesome Day” “Night” “No Surrender” “Two Hearts” “Darlington County” “Ghosts” “Prove It All Night” “Darkness on the Edge of Town” “Letter to You” “The Promised Land” “Spirit in the Night” “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” “Nightshift” “Mary’s Place” “Last Man Standing” “Backstreets” “Because the Night” “She’s the One” “Wrecking Ball” “The Rising” “Badlands” “Thunder Road” Encore “Born To Run” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” “Glory Days” “Dancing in the Dark” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” “Twist and Shout” Encore “I’ll See You in My Dreams”

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Bruce Springsteen returns to the stage after health issues postponed his 2023 world tour

In september, springsteen announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease, by ross d. franklin | the associated press • published march 20, 2024 • updated on march 20, 2024 at 8:35 am.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage Tuesday evening at the Footprint Center in Phoenix in a triumphant reboot of the Boss’ postponed 2023 world tour.

In September Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024 , citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease.

“The Boss” arrived on stage to an audience chorus of “Bruuuuce!” Wearing dark jeans and a rolled up red plaid flannel shirt, he had the energy of a man half his age. His signature “One, two, three, four” was the only thing that separated most songs, showing no signs of his illness from the previous year. Once he shouted, “Good evening, Arizona” the show was off and running.

Springsteen spoke to the crowd briefly about his illness prior to playing his final song “I’ll See You In My Dreams” solo on stage. “Phoenix, first I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time. . . . I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much.”

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The 29-song show came in just under three hours, but “The Boss” hardly broke a sweat while showing off a strong voice, all the while dancing, tearing into guitar solos, playing the harmonica and even ripping his shirt open near the end of the show.

On stage with Springsteen was the legendary E Street Band which features drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, keyboardists Roy Bittan and Charlie Giordano, guitarists Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, saxophonist Jake Clemons — nephew of original and still missed sax man Clarence Clemons who died in 2011 — guitarist and violin player Soozie Tyrell, a full horn and brass section and four backup vocalists. The only missing member of the band was Springsteen’s wife, singer and guitarist Patti Scialfa.

Springsteen performed most of the hits in his vast collection, minus “Born In The U.S.A.,” but he added covers “Nightshift” by the Commodores, “Because The Night” by Patti Smith Group, and a surprise: “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles. Fans went wild for “No Surrender,” “Born To Run,” “Rosalita,” “Dancing In The Dark,” “Glory Days” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" that left the rocker grinning from ear-to-ear as he conducted fans singing along like his own chorus.

This year has been particularly challenging for Springsteen. In addition to his health issues, in January his mother, Adele Ann Springsteen, a fan favorite who could frequently be seen dancing at his shows, died. She was 98.

Two days after her death, Springsteen performed at the 2024 MusiCares Person of the Year event , which honored Jon Bon Jovi for his musical achievements and philanthropic efforts.

The 2024 edition of the tour kicked off in Phoenix and ends Nov. 22 in Vancouver, Canada. It hits 17 countries across 52 dates, including a special performance on Sept. 15 where Springsteen will headline the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in his hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

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Bruce Springsteen’s Tour Resumption Is Its Own Kind of Promised Land: Concert Review

An early tour stop in San Diego, on the way to his rescheduled L.A. dates in April, shows that for Springsteen, singing about the souls of the departed and throwing a party for the living are easily balanced twin tasks.

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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Most of the really essential rituals of American life — religious observances; Halloween and New Year’s Eve; opening day in baseball — are cyclical, endlessly repeatable experiences, independent from individuals or cults of personality. But to that list, a lot of us would add the ritual, stretching past 50 years now, of Bruce Springsteen in concert. And as the world found out last year, that guy can take a sick day. So, as if Springsteen tours weren’t already irregular enough, the fresh resumption of this U.S. tour, after a six-month timeout, has an extra resonance.

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Springsteen didn’t directly bring up his illness or the postponement of the last leg of the tour when he talked to the audience at the Pechanga Arena, but he did address the absence that’d been on so many local fans’ minds over the last four decades.

Why hadn’t he gotten back to San Diego sooner? Maybe because he felt it’d be too on-the-nose, having name-checked the city so famously in “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”? Naturally, when that nearly eight-minute rouser did come up as an encore number Sunday, it got some special treatment for the occasion. Standing on the ramp that extended into the GA section with members of his band, Springsteen halted the song for a 21-second pause following the line “I know a pretty little place in Southern California, down San Diego way,” which, as a prompt for 13,500 people to go wild, probably could been extended a couple of minutes longer.

It’s a little bit surprising that Springsteen had not been back sooner just in that his last SD gig back in 1981 had also been at this same facility, then known as the San Diego Sports Arena. And the place maintains just a little bit of the old-school feel of his former favorite locale further north, the L.A. Sports Arena, which he had dubbed “The Dump That Jumps” before closing it down with a series of final concerts there in 2016. Speaking of things that will all seem funny, it may seem odd to point out the artist’s nostalgia for something as unsentimental as arenas, but he will tend to play the older of those venues when he’s coming to a city with more than one, as he did in San Diego and will when he shortly hits Inglewood’s Forum (his distaste for Staples/Crypto.com Arena being legendary). He’s got a thing for things that have escaped the wrecking ball; the Pechanga Arena has been upgraded above dump status, but on a night like this, it did jump, too.

The faithful haven’t been sure whether to call his 2024 tour (which has a lot of rescheduled North American shows bookending a long summer trip to Europe) a continuation of the aborted 2023 U.S. tour, or something that counts as a new one. It does affect how songs are counted or not counted as “tour premieres” in the inevitable collation of setlists — which really boils it down to an especially first-world problem. The artist himself had a point of view on that when asked about it on the E Street Radio satelite channel earlier this month, saying, “There will be some things from last year’s tour that will hold over; some of my basic themes of mortality and life and those things, you know, I’m going to keep set… (But) I think I’m gonna move around the other parts of the set a lot more, so there’ll be a much wider song selection going on. So we’re looking at it like it’s a little bit of the old tour, but we’re looking at it like a new tour.”

Looking at what’s gone from last year, “Kitty’s Back” is no longer back, and “Glory Days” and “Out in the Street” are also out, along with semi-regular staples like “The E Street Shuffle,” “Candy’s Room” and “Johnny 99.” But since the show still clocks in at a very healthy 27 songs, spread out over about two hours and 40 minutes, additions are in place, like his 1973 debut album’s “Spirit in the Night,” which has been played at all three shows so far, after only getting two plays total in all of 2022. His cover of the Ben E. King/Aretha Franklin classic “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” (as heard on his soul covers abum two years ago) also looks like it may be a nighty regular now, after having been bumped out of the set after a handful of appearances in February 2022. The change-ups distinct to San Diego in the fresh run of shows included his first performance of “My City of Ruins” since 2017, plus the revival of his “Detroit Medley,” which was performed only three times last year. “Death to My Hometown” and, in the encore, “Bobby Jean” also made what have recently counted as rare appearances.

What remains rock-solid from last year are the vast majority of songs a casual fan might be coming to hear, mostly from the 1973-84 era, although service is also paid to the “Rising” and “Wrecking Ball” albums and the two most recent releases that he is ostensibly touring behind, “Letter to You” and “Only the Strong Survive.” Songs that would be set-closers for anyone else are thrown in almost in random spots, until it becomes a sheer onslaught of classics. Rest assured that the show’s final stretch will allow everyone to resume ongoing internal debate over whether “Born to Run” is the quintessential rock song of all time, or whether that honor is rightly reserved by “Thunder Road.” (Team “Thunder,” here, after 49 years of consideration.)

It counts as a thunderously upbeat best-of show, in other words. But it’s an exhilarating greatest-hits show sandwiched within momentarily sobering ruminatings about death, and death’s effect on the living. Which is quite a hoagie.

Also still a staple of the show from last year is another one of those recent songs about remembering missing loved ones, “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” as a final benediction after the celebratory encore material.

On top of this, Springsteen has made some other additions to the show, whether for the entirety of the remaining tour or as recurring one-offs, that further reinforce this theme. For instance, the show no longer begins every night with “No Surrender” (which is still in the set, pushed back a bit); he’s replaced it with the brooding “Lonesome Day,” one of the 9/11-prompted songs from “The Rising.” As he thought about what kind of messaging to start these new concerts with, maybe Springsteen’s bout with illness made him realize that we all have to succumb to some surrendering now and again. More likely, it has something to do with providing an opening bookend to “I’ll See You in My Dreams” at the beginning — starting the show with an anxious response to death at the outset, so that his calming thoughts about it at the end feel like the conclusion to some kind of story.

In adding “My City of Ruins” to the set for the first time in seven years, Springsteen also used that as a bed for more of these thoughts, on top of full-band intros, extending that gospel-like ballad to 11 minutes in length — less than a third of the way into the running time. “I plan on sending you home with your feet hurting, your ass hurting, your sexual organs stimulated,” Springsteen promised during the “Ruins” spoken interlude, before getting down to business about having “a story to tell. It’s a story about yesterday and about tonight and hopefully tomorrow. It’s about hellos and goodbyes. It’s about the things that leave us and the things that remain.” After introducing the extended band (E Street Horns and E Street Choir included), he asked, “Are we missing anybody?” The crowd roared with implicit Clarence Clemons/Danny Federici appreciation. “Everybody’s missing somebody at this point,” he affirmed. “I don’t know where we go when this is all over, but I know where we remain. The only thing I can guarantee tonight is, if you’re here and we’re here, then they’re here.”

Spaced out over the better part of three hours, these reflections aren’t going to hit anyone in the crowd as heavy-handed; if anything, they’re just barely enough in making the obvious point that everyone present who’s been with him for the long haul has probably been spending more time in hospital rooms or at funerals than revving up hemi-powered drones. Fortunately, there’s a timelessness to most of the classics that transcends youth, even if some of the aspirational dreams in the early material are long since in rear-view mirrors for much of the audience. “Let the broken hearts stand as the price you’ve gotta pay”: some things can sung along with at 18 or 88.

The stage for this tour is almost hilariously basic, if you’ve been to any major superstar outings lately, and witnessed the bizarre shapes of the ramps that extend into SRO floors and practically twist around each other. Springsteen’s ramp doesn’t look to extend much more more than 15 feet into the audience, as if to dare the incoming audience to imagine how much he can do with just a minimum of thrust staging. (Honestly, we’re trying to keep this as clean as we can here.) He spent plenty of time on that modest extension, which allows plenty of room for camera angles catching the surrounding crowd, and for occasional visits from mobile band members and backup singers, without having to go so far out into the crowd that it looks like he’s, you know, overcompensating.

As is tradition, he and some of his traveling accompanists occasionally visited the rear riser, which now holds a five-man horn section, to provide eye candy for the audience watching from behind the stage. Everyone turning around to give the folks in the so-called cheap seats a thrill is especially nice when it’s timed to one of his great key changes, as it was in the instrumental bridge of the Pogues-like “Death to My Hometown.”

Memorable moments stand out almost randomly: Nils Lofgren going crazy on “Because the Night,” making up for the lack of solo time he gets as one of three guitarists by doing a whole night’s worth of shredding in one tune… Saxophonist Jake Clemons leaning on Springsteen’s shoulder during “Prove It All Night,” in what has to be a subtle but intentional inverse of his late uncle Clarence’s famous “Born to Run” cover pose… A moment when backup vocalist Curtis King joins Springsteen on the ramp during “Nightshift” for a few modest steps in unison. (Guaranteed, the only actual dance choreography of the night.)… Springsteen taking a sign from the audience and saving it for much later so that he could dedicate “Last Man Standing” to a specific fallen serviceman.

Meanwhile, here’s an advisory for anyone coming to the tour down the road: plan for traffic and invest in a watch. The tickets say 7:30 p.m., and so far on this leg, that is exactly the minute the band walks on stage. The ultra-prompt start allows Springsteen and company to prove it for what still feels like all night, yet get everyone home before the witching hour. It’s true: a benevolent boss is always looking out for everyone’s health.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band setlist, Pechanga Arena, San Diego, March 25, 2024:

Lonesome Day

Prove It All Night

No Surrender

Death to My Hometown

Letter to You

The Promised Land

My City of Ruins

Spirit in the Night

Don’t Play That Song (Ben E. King cover)

Nightshift (Commodores coer)

Mary’s Place

Last Man Standing

Backstreets

Because the Night

She’s the One

Wrecking Ball

Thunder Road

Detroit Medley

Born to Run

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Dancing in the Dark

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

I’ll See You in My Dreams

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Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band alive and well in 3-plus hours of thunderous hits

The pent-up demand for Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band had put ardent fans on edge.

Would the Boss' energy be the same after the rocker was forced to cancel last year's show in March due to illness and then a rescheduled performance in September due to a peptic ulcer?

Did the 74-year-old still have the stamina to navigate a stage for more than three hours? To gyrate with his guitar and hit the high notes of ballads and rock classics? To remember the lyrics as he's done for more than four decades in over 1,300 concerts with the band?

The answer, from about 20,000 devotees at Sunday's concert at Nationwide Arena, was a resounding, deafening "Yes." It was the band's first show in Columbus since 2016.

The tone was set in the opening bars of "Youngstown," a nod to the Rust Belt factories that build the weaponry "that won this country's wars," but then died off to leave empty shells and unemployment. A searing guitar solo by Nils Lofgren infused the song with powerful shards of despair.

And like the canon blast after a Columbus Blue Jackets' goal, "Lonesome Days" followed, with a jarring rim shot by drummer Max Weinberg, a percussive human metronome throughout the sell-out concert that lasted about three hours and 10 minutes.

Springsteen, in a short-sleeve denim shirt, black vest and purple tie, appeared to relish the arena crowd. With eyes often closed, he channeled deeply personal songs like "The Promised Land," The Rising," and "Ghosts."

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His grimacing was not from bad joints, but during his guitar solos, thrashing the strings during extended versions of favorites such as "Streets of Fire."

He didn't pause much between songs, often exchanging one guitar for another by tossing it to a stagehand, as Weinberg continued to strafe the crowd with nonstop rhythmic transitions.

During "Spirit in the Night," Springsteen graciously walked behind the stage to focus on those seated behind the band, sauntering at times for effect.

He ended up in front, resting his legs on the edge of the stage and his back against saxophonist Jake Clemons, whose uncle Clarence Clemons, also a sax player, was one of Springsteen's closest friends.

While mortality and distant youth were themes that may have resonated with the older crowd, many of whom were in high school or college when Springsteen blasted into stardom in the late 1970s and early '80s, there were also some younger fans.

Michelle Grinestaff and her husband, Jared Schuetter, brought their daughters, Claudia, 14, and Vivian, 12, both of whom had memorized many of Bruce's hits.

"She's been playing Springsteen their entire lives," said Schuetter of his wife.

Grinestaff's attraction followed her father Jerry's, a rabid fan who, two years ago died of pulmonary fibrosis. The night before his passing, she told him she really wanted him to come to last year's concert with the girls. "He said to just make sure you have a good time," she recalled, halting to wipe a tear.

She vividly recalls that Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" was playing while to spoke to her dad. She hoped she'd hear it Sunday night.

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Sure enough, the concert's 19th song, "Racing in the Street," was a beautiful rendition of love, loss and redemption with exquisite interplay between Roy Bittan's piano and Charles Giordano's organ. The audience quickly silenced, seemingly in hushed awe of Springsteen's meticulous alchemy of music and lyrics, considered by many among his best work.

The Boss still is in top form, telling the audience that his little "bellyache" from last year is a memory. "It's all good now," he said. He even skipped across the stage at one point during "Hungry Heart."

Springsteen seems to thrive on the adulation, but not in a selfish manner. He's keenly aware of audience temperament. And knowing when to end a marathon show is about having empathy for the crowd, which stood most of the night.

Typical of the band's recent encores, the iconic "Born to Run" led a string of hits, including "Rosalita (Come out Tonight)," "Bobby Jean," "Dancing in the Dark" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."

Full, bright arena lighting illuminated the crowd during a medley of oldie covers, including a Detroit medley, "Devil with the Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly and C.C. Rider," among others.

Brothers Darrell and Don Miller, of Hilliard, both in their early 60s, recalled before the concert training for high school basketball with a coach playing the song "Born to Run" endlessly to inspire track workouts.

"It's the one song not on my playlist," said Don, "because I had to run laps to that thing for two years."

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Darrell couldn't help wonder how much longer Springsteen can keep running.

"He's going overseas. This might be his ride off into the sunset," he said.

The blast furnace of a performance is the tour's last in the U.S. as the band now heads to Great Britain to begin its European tour. It returns in late summer, including two shows in Pittsburgh on Aug. 15 and 18.

Toward the show's final encore, "I'll See You in my Dreams," from his 2020 album, "Letter to You," Springsteen bent over in feigned (or likely real) exhaustion.

"I don't think you got anything left," he challenged the crowd, which answered in a deafening roar. "Are you saying you can outlast the E Street Band?"

A test of an artist's emotional reach is often found in the most distant seats. In the upper bowl, at the far end of the Nationwide stage, fans could be seen dancing, pumping their arms and waving.

Springsteen looked skyward, opened his eyes and smiled broadly.

Springsteen's setlist

• "Youngstown," tour debut; first time since 2017
• "Lonesome Day"
• "Prove It All Night"
• "No Surrender"
• "Letter to You"
• "The Promised Land"
• "Spirit in the Night"
• "Hungry Heart"
• "Trapped," Jimmy Cliff cover
• "Streets of Fire," tour debut, first time since 2016
• "I'm Goin' Down," tour debut, first time since 2017
• "Nightshift," Commodores cover
• "Racing in the Street," sign request
• "Last Man Standing," acoustic, with Barry Danielian on trumpet
• "Backstreets"
• "Because the Night," Patti Smith Group cover
• "She's the One"
• "Wrecking Ball"
• "The Rising"
• "Thunder Road"
• "Born to Run"
• "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
• "Bobby Jean"
• "Dancing in the Dark," followed by band introductions
• "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
• "Detroit Medley"
• "Twist and Shout," The Top Notes cover

Encore No. 2

• "I'll See You in My Dreams," solo acoustic

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Bruce Springsteen Is Back! Rocker Resumes Tour After Postponing Dates Due to Peptic Ulcer Disease

After canceling the remainder of his tour dates in 2023, the rock icon relaunched his tour on Tuesday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix

John Medina/Getty 

"The Boss" is back on stage.

On Tuesday night, Bruce Springsteen resumed his tour after postponing several of his 2023 dates due to peptic ulcer disease .

According to the Associated Press , the "Born to Run" singer, 74, appeared in good spirits as he performed alongside the E Street Band — sans wife wife Patti Scialfa — at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Sporting dark jeans and a red flannel shirt, Springsteen was greeted with audience cheers of “Bruuuuce!” ahead of his performance, per the outlet.

At the end of his 29-song set — which included hits like "Born to Run" and a string of soul covers like “Nightshift” by the Commodores, “Because The Night” by Patti Smith Group, and “Twist and Shout” by The Top Notes/The Isley Brothers/The Beatles — he addressed his illness before starting his final track "I’ll See You In My Dream," per the AP.

"Phoenix, first I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time. . . . I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much," he told the crowd, according to the outlet.

In May 2022, Springsteen initially announced he'd be heading out on tour in February 2023 for his and the band's first international run since 2017, and their first US tour dates since 2016. However, his road back to the stage was rockier than expected.

Just a month after the tour began, Springsteen postponed three shows in a week "due to illness," according to a statement shared on the musician's Twitter page.

That April, the rock icon and Scialfa, 70, both tested positive for COVID at the end of the first leg of his tour and his first hometown show in their native New Jersey in seven years.

By August, Springsteen had to postpone two of his Philadelphia shows due to having “taken ill."

It was revealed in early September through a statement shared on the singer's social media accounts that he was "being treated for symptoms of peptic ulcer disease."

The announcement advised that due to Springsteen's medical treatment and the "decision of his medical advisors," the remainder of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band's September shows were postponed .

The message also included a personal note from "The Rising" performer, who reassured fans that the band will "be back soon" with new tour dates.

“Over here on E Street, we’re heartbroken to have to postpone these shows. First, apologies to our fabulous Philly fans who we missed a few weeks ago. We’ll be back to pick these shows up and then some," it read.

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Jamie McCarthy/Getty

The message continued: "Thank you for your understanding and support. We’ve been having a blast at our US shows and we’re looking forward to more great times. We’ll be back soon."

Later in the month, the remainder of dates for Springsteen's 2023 shows were canceled , and a statement was posted to his  social media explaining he was recovering from peptic ulcer disease: “Bruce Springsteen has continued to recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks and will continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor's advice. With this in mind, and out of an abundance of caution, all remaining 2023 tour dates for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be postponed until 2024.”

The 20-time Grammy winner shared a note of gratitude for his fans, too: “Thanks to all my friends and fans for your good wishes, encouragement, and support. I'm on the mend and can't wait to see you all next year.”

Ahead of resuming his tour, Springsteen made a surprise appearance during John Mellencamp 's concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey earlier this month where he joined the singer onstage for a special duet of "Pink Houses."

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Bruce Springsteen announces rescheduled U.S. dates after ulcers halted tour

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be back on the street soon enough. After recently pushing back all of his remaining concerts for 2023 due to a health issue , Springsteen’s camp has announced the makeup dates for the rescheduled shows set to take place in 2024.

The new dates come in two clumps — a month-long swing taking place in mid-March through mid-April, followed by a second month’s worth of shows in mid-August through mid-September.

This rollout of dates represents all the U.S. dates that Springsteen put off. He has not yet revealed the makeup dates for the Canadian shows that were also recently postponed, but those makeup gigs are set to be revealed next week, the announcement says.

The new U.S. dates are as follows:

March 19 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center (rescheduled from Nov. 30, 2023)

March 25 — San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena (rescheduled from Dec. 2, 2023)

March 28 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center (rescheduled from Dec. 10, 2023)

March 31 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center (rescheduled from Dec. 12, 2023)

April 4 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum (rescheduled from Dec. 4, 2023)

April 7 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum (rescheduled from Dec. 6, 2023)

April 12 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena (rescheduled from Sept. 16, 2023)

April 15 — Albany, NY @ MVP Arena (rescheduled from Sept. 19, 2023)

April 18 — Syracuse, NY @ JMA Wireless Dome (rescheduled from Sept. 7, 2023)

April 21 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena (rescheduled from Sept. 21, 2023)

Aug. 15 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena (rescheduled from (Sept. 12, 2023)

Aug. 18 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena (rescheduled from Sept. 14, 2023)

Aug. 21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park (rescheduled from Aug. 16, 2023)

Aug. 23 — Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park (rescheduled from Aug. 18, 2023)

Sept. 7 — Washington, DC @ Nationals Park (rescheduled from Sept. 29, 2023)

Sept. 13 — Baltimore, MD @ Oriole Park at Camden Yards (rescheduled from Sept. 9, 2023)

The announcement said that all tickets for the postponed shows remain valid for the new dates. Information about refunds for anyone not able to make the rescheduled concerts is available through the companies that originally issued the tickets. It was previously announced, when the gigs were first postponed, that ticketholders would have 30 days to request a refund after the new dates were revealed.

The revelation that Springsteen would be putting off all his shows for the remainder of 2023 came on Sept. 27. “Bruce Springsteen has continued to recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks and will continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor’s advice,” that announcement said.

The first sign of trouble came when Springsteen missed gigs in Philadelphia on Aug, 16 and 18, bowing out because of an illness that was not revealed at the time. Those two shows were immediately rescheduled for August 2024. He returned to the road, briefly. Then, on Sept. 6, Springsteen postponed the nine remaining shows he had set for September, and at that time revealed the peptic ulcer diagnosis. It would be another three weeks before the news came that his recovery would take longer than expected and the towel was thrown in on the rest of the dates, which were originally to have concluded Dec. 12 in San Francisco.

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Springsteen, band back live in concert, says he 'couldn't sing at all' due to peptic ulcer disease

NEW YORK -- Bruce Springsteen is speaking out after relaunching his tour with the E Street Band following a six-month break to deal with a diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease.

"The Boss" revealed that during the worst stages of his condition, he wasn't able to sing at all.

Calling into Sirius XM's E Street Radio on March 21, Springsteen said, "You sing with your diaphragm. You know, my diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me, so I literally couldn't sing at all, you know? And that lasted for two, three months, along with just a myriad of other painful problems."

"It took a while for the doctors to say, 'Oh, no, you're gonna be OK,'" he said. "At first, nobody was quite saying that, which made me nervous, y'know?"

Now that Springsteen is back in good shape, he said he and the band consider their return to the stage a "whole new tour."

"There'll be a much wider song selection going on," he said. "Some of the second half of the set is built so solid, so a lot of it'll stay. The opening ... I'm not sure what's going to happen up top, but it'll shift around. I'm waiting to see myself where the show is going to take me."

SEE MORE: Bruce Springsteen postpones remainder of 2023 tour dates as he recovers from peptic ulcer disease

"But ... for us, it's a new tour, a new day, and we're approaching everything like that," he continued. "We're looking forward to having a lot of fun."

The band currently has dates scheduled through November.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, "a peptic ulcer, or stomach or duodenal ulcer, is a sore on the lining of your stomach or duodenum."

Acid from the stomach can cause sores or other types of injury or damage to the esophagus, stomach or small intestine.

"The most common causes of peptic ulcers are Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) [ such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen ] ," the NIDDK states, adding the "common symptoms of peptic ulcers include pain or discomfort in your abdomen, feeling full too soon during or too full after a meal, nausea, bloating, and belching."

Doctors may recommend proton pump inhibitors, H2 blockers or other medicines to treat the condition and help ulcers heal.

"If your peptic ulcers aren't caused by H. pylori infection or NSAIDs, doctors will check for uncommon causes," the agency states. "Depending on the cause, doctors may recommend additional treatments."

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Bruce Springsteen postpones all 2023 tour dates until 2024 as he recovers from peptic ulcer disease

FILE - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 2023 tour will be postponed until 2024. (Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP, File)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 2023 tour will be postponed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice.

The Boss, who last week celebrated his 74th birthday, is “steadily recovering” from peptic ulcer disease, a press release read. “Out of an abundance of caution,” the remainder of this year’s tour has been pushed to next year.

Earlier this month, Springsteen announced that he would be postponing all of his September 2023 dates while he was treated for symptoms related to the disease, which causes ulcers to form in the stomach or small intestine that can cause heartburn, nausea and stomach pain.

Those postponed shows included stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Albany and Syracuse in New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, and shows in Connecticut and Ohio.

The newly postponed shows include Canadian dates and a West Coast run of Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Rescheduled concerts will be announced this week and will take place at the original venues.

Peptic ulcer disease can be dangerous, leading to bleeding and emergency situations such as perforation of the ulcer through the stomach. Typical treatment uses common drugs called proton pump inhibitors, such as Prilosec, which can help heal the ulcers within four to six weeks. People who are treated “recover completely from peptic ulcer disease,” Dr. Lawrence Kosinski of the American Gastroenterological Association told AP .

“Thanks to all my friends and fans for your good wishes, encouragement, and support,” Springsteen said in a short statement. “I’m on the mend and can’t wait to see you all next year.”

News of Springsteen’s illness first emerged in May of this year, when he postponed three dates .

Springsteen’s 2023 tour, his first in six years, kicked off on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Florida, before 20,000 fans who mostly stood through the 28-song arena show that included staples like “Born to Run,” “Glory Days,” “Rosalita,” “Promised Land” and “Backstreets.”

A million reasons why Bruce Springsteen keeps coming back to Ireland

By the time he finishes his four shows in belfast, kilkenny, cork and dublin in may, the boss will have sold his millionth ticket in ireland.

Bruce Springsteen: Familiarity breeds not contempt but loyalty for his legions of Irish fans

The Boss is back next month in Ireland, but it feels like he has never been away.

Bruce Springsteen’s concerts in Belfast, Kilkenny, Cork and Dublin will take place almost a year to the day since his three sold-out shows at the RDS, though it had been a six-year hiatus before that, partially caused by Covid-19.

Familiarity breeds not contempt but loyalty for his legions of Irish fans. By the time he finishes his last Irish show, which is at Croke Park on Sunday May 19th, he will have sold his millionth ticket in Ireland, according to promoter Peter Aiken.

His father, Jim, first took a punt on Springsteen almost 40 years ago when, off the back of the success of the Born in the USA album, he invited Springsteen to play his first concert in Ireland. That was in front of 80,000 fans at Slane Castle in 1985.

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That storied concert on the one sunny weekend of an atrocious summer was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Springsteen and his Irish fans.

He has played 28 shows in Ireland to date, never letting his Irish fans down. He still turns up on time and plays for three hours plus. He will have a 10.30pm curfew at Croke Park with a start time at 7pm. There might well be a lottery as to how long he goes over his allotted time.

He is doing all of this at the age of 74 when a little garden weeding is the height of strenuous activity for many of his contemporaries.

“He doesn’t need the money, but this is what he does. He is an insurance man’s dream, he never cancels,” said Aiken.

He begins his Irish tour on May 9th in Boucher Road, Belfast, followed by Kilkenny on May 12th, Páirc Uí Chaoimh on May 16th and Croke Park on May 19th. He will have sold 350,000 tickets in a calendar year in Ireland.

Aiken reckons there is a new audience for Springsteen in Ireland among the children and the grandchildren of those for whom he provided the soundtrack of their lives. “His youngest fan base in the world is in Ireland. If you went to other countries it would all be people like me,” he said.

Springsteen’s first concert at Croke Park was in 2016. According to Aiken, the musician was amazed at the size of the stadium and even more amazed that those who played in it were amateur sportspeople.

[  ‘In tears with his closing number. We hope this isn’t his last tour’: Readers share their Bruce Springsteen concert experiences  ]

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna said concert revenue is a large part of its financial plan and 83 per cent of it goes back into the GAA.

Just 22,000 supporters turned up for the Leinster semi-finals in Croke Park on Sunday and there is a clamour for these games to be taken out of the venue and put into provincial locations.

McKenna said the crowds will increase in Croke Park when the “jeopardy games” start to kick in after the provincial championships are ended.

“I wouldn’t take a judgment on one weekend. It certainly isn’t troubling us,” he said.

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Bruce Springsteen, 74, gives alarming health update after postponing tour – and it confirms what we feared

Bruce Springsteen has had a rough time of it over the past few months, with his health issues forcing him to postpone all remaining concerts for 2023.

Springsteen & The E Street Band put out a statement last month announcing the year’s remaining concerts would be postponed until 2024 due to Springsteen’s recent health diagnosis with peptic ulcer disease.

“Bruce Springsteen has continued to recover steadily from peptic ulcer disease over the past few weeks and will continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor’s advice,” the  statement  read.

“With this in mind, and out of an abundance of caution, all remaining 2023 tour dates for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be postponed until 2024.

Now, the 74-year-old has finally opened up about the challenging health condition that compelled him to step back from performing and reschedule his remaining 2023 concert dates.

“Greetings, greetings, greetings, from your favorite rock star with a b***h of a bellyache,” Springsteen shared during his SiriusXM E Street Radio show, ‘ From My Home to Yours ‘.

In September, Springsteen began receiving treatment for peptic ulcer disease, commonly referred to as a burning stomach pain. The Mayo Clinic defines peptic ulcers as “open sores that develop on the inside lining of your stomach and the upper portion of your small intestine.”

Though the episode wasn’t primarily focused on his health, Springsteen did take a moment to express his gratitude to his fans and their unwavering support.

“Let me take a moment and thank my fans affected by our postponed shows for their understanding,” he said. “I am deeply sorry, but this belly thing, despite my ability to laugh at it, has been a monster and is still, unfortunately, rocking my internal world.”

Troubles began for the musician in August when he abruptly canceled two of his concerts in Philadelphia. At that time, his team refrained from disclosing the nature of Springsteen’s ailment, stating only that the shows would be rescheduled. All September shows would eventually be postponed as well.

On September 27, Springsteen made it known that he would not be performing for the remainder of the year.

The ‘ Born in the U.S.A ‘ singer said at the time: “Thanks to all my friends and fans for your good wishes, encouragement, and support. I’m on the mend and can’t wait to see you all next year.”

The tour dates have already been rescheduled, with the first shows set to take place in March.

• Bruce Springsteen forced to postpone remaining 2023 concerts due to lingering illness
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The post Bruce Springsteen, 74, gives alarming health update after postponing tour – and it confirms what we feared  appeared first on Newsner English .

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Ross Douthat

Taylor swift needs to become other people.

By Ross Douthat

Opinion Columnist

The biggest cultural news of the month is that a lot of people are kind of “meh” about Taylor Swift’s latest album (or albums, if you prefer to treat the 31-song release as a twofer). After spending the past few years illustrating how internet-era culture encourages a singular kind of superstardom, to the point where Swift has sometimes felt like the only celebrity singer in the world — or maybe that’s just how it feels when you’re driving a minivan with tween-age daughters making song requests — we’ve maybe, maybe finally hit a point of overextension and oversaturation.

Two takes on this interested me. One is from Damon Linker, who argues that Swift badly needs an editor and that her art is suffering because nobody is manufacturing scarcity, forcing her to kill her darlings and otherwise imposing what the limits of vinyl LP technology used to impose on singer-songwriters — namely, a requirement of curation:

If a band records 20 songs for a project, but only has room for 12 on the final album, decisions need to be made. Which are the 12 best songs — not just in absolute terms, but in terms of the whole (the album) being constructed out of the parts (the songs)? What kind of statement are the artists trying to make? What kind of sound and mood do they want to become immortalized at this moment in their career? Which of these songs do they want to play live dozens of times on their upcoming concert tour? Which song would make for the best opening track, and which the best closer? And how about pacing? How many upbeat tunes, how many ballads, and in which order?

Linker goes on to suggest that this process helps define an artist’s aesthetic, forcing them toward their greatest strengths and their most original material. For this reason, someone like Bruce Springsteen, who recorded many more songs than appeared on his most famous albums, might have been a weaker cultural presence — or so Linker argues — if he had just dumped every song he ever wrote in the laps of his most eager fans. The best work would have been lost inside the pretty good work, and the sense of Springsteen as a very specific kind of rock music legend might have been diminished.

For a very different analysis of Swift, consider these comments on X from Katherine Boyle, an Andreessen Horowitz venture capitalist, repurposing a take she offered in 2023. In our cultural environment, Boyle argues, being prolific is everything: “You can’t cede ground to competitors. You have to keep producing, keep sending a constant wave of stuff, that again, follows a consistent formula which helps your fans anticipate when it’s coming.”

So the fact that Swift constantly “ships” is a feature, not a bug: “A continuous stream of shipping must be maintained,” Boyle says. You can’t worry about having your best material lost in the churn, because the “most successful people in competitive industries win by taking more shots, not fewer. If Taylor writes 31 songs and 3 are memorable, she’s written three epic songs. No one remembers the bad ones, even if there’s more of them on a double album.”

These arguments seem diametrically opposed, but one could synthesize them by saying that Linker could be more correct about art (the requirements of curation might yield a more refined oeuvre) and Boyle could be more correct about commerce (the requirements of the media environment don’t allow the luxury of holding potential hits and bangers back).

Supposing that to be true, what should superstars do when they follow Boyle’s advice and people — well, some people at least, if not the truest fans — suddenly claim to feel exhausted? Or more specifically, what should Swift do if she feels like she needs to ship but the shipping hits a saturation point?

I feel vaguely qualified to address this since I’m not a passionate Swiftie, but I am someone who has been required to listen to almost all of her music, many times over, and taken pleasure from it even though it isn’t always my first choice. Which means I’m the kind of listener who’s most likely to feel the oversaturation first — and I’m inclined to agree with the provisional consensus that the new album underwhelms.

My prescription is that if Swift is going to be this prolific, she needs more leaven in her content. The core of her brand will always be the personal drama of Being Taylor Swift, but that story’s cycle of infatuation, love, rapture, disappointment, pain, revenge has hit a limit of interest in her current work.

One escape from this limit is, of course, to change the story by marrying Travis Kelce and inspiring a new American baby boom. But pending that happy possibility, another way to escape a personal cul-de-sac as an artist is to ship fewer stories about her own ’shipping (if you will) and tell more stories about other people — or more subtly, to expand what Being Taylor Swift means musically to encompass more lives besides her own.

This was of course always the basis of Springsteen’s success — the fact that his music wasn’t dependent on real events in the life of Bruce Springsteen, and instead he inhabited a wide range of characters who were recognizably connected to his brand as a blue-collar balladeer.

Swift’s brand is different and much more authentically autobiographical than The Boss’s; the idea that she’s telling stories about her real self has always been crucial to her appeal. But she has already shown that she can play Swift-adjacent characters in her music, in a way that might be expanded and serve her better than another round of relationship-and-breakup songs.

Here are three examples. “The Lucky One,” from the original cut of the album “Red,” is an autobiographical song in one sense — Swift is singing from a version of her own perspective, as a star disillusioned with the way the culture uses and discards female celebrities. But the core of the song is someone else’s story, a legend in which a famous singer ditches the celebrity life at the height of her fame.

I always assumed that the song was about Bobbie Gentry, a country star who deliberately disappeared from the music industry more than 40 years ago, but the internet suggests other candidates, including Joni Mitchell and Kim Wilde. In any case, it’s a good song, a favorite in our minivan, in which a biography other than Swift’s takes center stage.

Likewise with “The Last Great American Dynasty,” one of my favorites from the pandemic album “Folklore.” Here again there is a personal framing device, since Swift is singing about Rebekah Harkness, a prior owner of the beach house she bought in Rhode Island. But the I-Taylor Swift part of the song is a frame for a more traditional ballad, telling a life story quite different (the claimed affinities notwithstanding) from her own.

Finally, “Ronan,” a song on the second version of “Red,” about a child dying of cancer, told from the perspective of the mother. Not a great song, maybe, but a very good, genuinely moving one, its story is drawn from a personal blog kept by Maya Thompson, whose son Ronan died of a neuroblastoma just before his fourth birthday, in 2011. Swift in most of her music does sadness but she doesn’t do grief, and here she’s imagining herself into a life more distant from her own, in a way that reaches emotional registers that you just can’t hit in songs about breaking up with Matty Healy.

So far in my listening, the song on the new album that seems closest to this becoming-other-people model is “The Bolter,” which may be loosely based on the life of Idina Sackville, an Edwardian-era socialite who earned the nickname in the song’s title for her several marriages.

Is it a good song, too? Does my theory hold? Ask me when my daughters have made me listen to it a few hundred more times.

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Ross Douthat has been an Opinion columnist for The Times since 2009. He is the author, most recently, of “The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery.” @ DouthatNYT • Facebook

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Bon Jovi docuseries 'Thank You, Goodnight' is an argument for respect

Eric Deggans

Jon Bon Jovi at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., in 2013. David Bergman/Hulu hide caption

Jon Bon Jovi at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., in 2013.

Hulu's docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story , spends a lot of time building up the Bon Jovi legend — exploring the band's almost unbelievable 40-plus-year run from playing hardscrabble rock clubs in New Jersey to earning platinum albums and entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

But what moved me most in the four-part series was something more revealing: its close look at the struggle by lead singer Jon Bon Jovi to overcome vocal problems which nearly led him to quit the band.

Footage of the singer croaking through vocal exercises, undergoing laser treatments, enduring acupuncture and finally turning to surgery is sprinkled throughout the series, which toggles back and forth between his problems in 2022 and a chronological story of the band's triumphs and tragedies from its earliest days.

Refusing to be Fat Elvis

Jon Bon Jovi was interviewed for Thank You, Goodnight . Disney/Hulu hide caption

Jon Bon Jovi was interviewed for Thank You, Goodnight .

Through it all, a question hangs: Will Bon Jovi ever recover enough vocal strength to lead a 40th anniversary tour?

"If I can't be the very best I can be, I'm out," he tells the cameras, still looking a bit boyish despite his voluminous gray hair at age 62. "I'm not here to drag down the legacy, I'm not here for the 'Where are they now?' tour ... I'm not ever gonna be the Fat Elvis ... That ain't happening."

Filmmaker Gotham Chopra — who has also directed docuseries about his father, spiritualist Deepak Chopra, and star quarterback Tom Brady — digs deeply into the band's history, aided by boatloads of pictures, video footage and early recordings provided by the group.

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora in Thank You, Goodnight Disney/Hulu hide caption

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora in Thank You, Goodnight

Chopra gets folks from the group's tight inner circle to speak up, including former manager Doc McGhee and guitarist Richie Sambora, who quit the band in 2013. ("Are we telling the truth, or are we going to lie, what are we going to do?" Sambora cracks to his offscreen interviewer. "Let's figure it out.")

But anyone expecting gossipy dish will walk away disappointed. Even major scandals in the band's history are handled with care, including the firing of founding bassist Alec John Such in 1994 (and the admission that his replacement, Hugh McDonald, already had been secretly playing bass parts on their albums for years), drummer Tico Torres' stint in addiction treatment and Sambora's decision to quit midway through a tour in 2013, with no notice to bandmates he had performed alongside for 30 years.

Alec John Such, a founding member of Bon Jovi, dies at 70

Sambora's explanation: When issues with substance use and family problems led him to miss recording sessions, Bon Jovi got producer John Shanks to play more guitar on their 2013 record What About Now . And Sambora was hurt.

"[Bon Jovi] had the whole thing kinda planned out," Sambora says, "which basically was telling me, um, 'I can do it without you.'"

Building a band on rock anthems

Jon Bon Jovi with guitarist Phil X. Disney/Hulu hide caption

Jon Bon Jovi with guitarist Phil X.

The docuseries shows how young New Jersey native John Bongiovi turned a job as a gofer at legendary recording studio The Power Station – owned by a cousin — into a recording of his first hit in the early 1980s, Runaway . His song eventually caught the ear of another little-known artist from New Jersey called Bruce Springsteen.

"The first demo I got of Jon's was a good song," says Springsteen, a longtime friend of Bon Jovi. "I mean, Jon's great talent is these big, powerful pop rock choruses that just demand to be sung by, you know, 20,000 people in an arena."

Music Interviews

Rock star jon bon jovi comes full 'circle'.

Thank You, Goodnight shows the band really took off by honing those rock anthems with songwriter Desmond Child, while simultaneously developing videos that showcased their status as a fun, rollicking live band. Hits like You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer and Wanted: Dead or Alive made them MTV darlings and rock superstars.

Through it all, the singer and bandleader is shown as the group's visionary and spark plug, open about how strategically he pushed the band to write hit songs and positioned them for commercial success.

"It wasn't as though I woke up one morning and was the best singer in the school, or on the block, or in my house," he tells the camera, laughing. "I just had a desire and a work ethic that was always the driving force."

I saw that dynamic up close in the mid-1990s when I worked as a music critic in New Jersey, spending time with Jon Bon Jovi and the band. Back then, his mother ran the group's fan club and was always trying to convince the local rock critic to write about her superstar son – I was fascinated by how the band shrugged off criticisms of being uncool and survived changing musical trends, led by a frontman who worked hard to stay grounded.

Bon Jovi was always gracious and willing to talk; he even introduced me to then-New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman at one of his legendary Christmas charity concerts. (And in a crazy coincidence, the band's backup singer Everett Bradley is an old friend from college.)

I think the docuseries captures Bon Jovi's skill at leading the group through challenges musical and otherwise — from metal's slow fade off the pop charts to the rise of grunge rock — something the singer rarely gets credit for achieving.

Still, much of Thank You, Goodnight feels like an extended celebration of the band and its charismatic frontman, leavened by his earnest effort to regain control of his voice. If you're not a Bon Jovi fan, four episodes of this story may feel like a bit much (I'd recommend at least watching the first and last episodes.)

More than anything, the docuseries feels like an extended argument for something Bon Jovi has struggled to achieve, even amid million selling records and top-grossing concert tours – respect as a legendary rock band.

The audio and digital versions of this story were edited by Jennifer Vanasco .