Bruce Springsteen is postponing shows again. Should Philly fans be worried?
Get well in time for August, Boss.
Try not to get nervous, Philadelphia Bruce Springsteen fans.
Last summer, the Boss was just hours away from kicking off a two-night stand at Citizens Bank Park with the E Street Band in South Philadelphia when he postponed the shows due to an illness that was later revealed to be peptic ulcer syndrome. Those dates were rescheduled, and the shows are now set to take place on Aug. 21 and 23.
Springsteen returned to the road in March and kicked off a European stadium tour on May 5 in Cardiff, Wales. But now that tour has hit a snag. Last weekend, he postponed four shows — one in Marseille, one in Prague, and two at Milan’s legendary football ground San Siro — due to “vocal issues.”
This week, Springsteen posted an Instagram video apologizing and vowing to return. “Hey, this is Bruce Springsteen,” the 74-year-old Jersey rocker said in an Instagram video shot in France by his photographer sister Pam Springsteen. “I’m in Marseille. Unfortunately I could not sing for you, but we will be back to Marseille, to Prague, and to Milan to give you the show of your life — that I promise you.”
Springsteen didn’t go into any details about his vocal struggles, but said he would return with the band to “rock you into the ground.” The tour is scheduled to resume in Madrid on June 12 and wraps up its Euro leg on July 27 in London before resuming in Pittsburgh on Aug. 15.
In other Springsteen news, Born in the U.S.A., the album that turned him into a megastar in the 1980s, turns 40 on June 4. He has begun working the title track and “My Hometown” into the tour set list, but surprisingly, no expanded deluxe anniversary version of the album has been released.
Instead, a less-interesting Best of Bruce Springsteen collection that spans his oeuvre from 1973′s Greetings From Asbury Park to 2020′s Letter to You came out in April. A new Spotify streaming “Live Series” set, Songs From Around the World, Vol. 2, came out this month.