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

MARCH 20, 2024:

PHOENIX (AP) — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage at the Footprint Center in Phoenix in a triumphant reboot of the Boss’ postponed 2023 world tour. In September 2023, Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease. In September, Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease. 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, ripping into guitar solos, playing the harmonica and even tearing his shirt open near the end of the show.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023:

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 (Sept. 23, 2023) 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 he would be postponing all 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. Newly postponed shows include Canadian dates and a West Coast run of Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

MARCH 13, 2023:

SOUTH AMBOY, N.J. (AP) — Bruce Springsteen’s planned performance Tuesday (March 14, 2023) in Albany has become the third concert in a week postponed by the New Jersey rocker, who cited illness as the reason in a tweet Sunday but did not give specifics.

The postponements come a month into Springsteen’s first major tour in six years.

“The Boss,” as he is known to his fans, also gave himself and his E Street Band sick days last Thursday when they were to have performed in Columbus, Ohio, and again for a scheduled concert Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Details were lacking in Springsteen’s social media posts. Though the Twitter feed blamed the latest postponement on illness, it did not specify who was ill or what kind of illness was involved.

It merely said: “Due to illness, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s concert at MVP Arena in Albany on Tuesday, March 14 has been postponed. We are working on rescheduling the date so please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled show.”

The post made no mention of a major winter storm forecast to hit Albany late Monday.

On Saturday, E Street Band member Little Steven Van Zandt posted an encouraging message about the concert postponements on Twitter, saying: “No need to be anxious or afraid. Nothing serious. Just a temporary situation. We will all be back in full force very soon.”

Springsteen, 73, began the tour 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.”

In a story last month that began “COVID has come to E Street,” the Asbury Park Press reported that E Street Band members Van Zandt and Soozie Tyrell missed a Feb. 10 show in Dallas.

The newspaper, quoting one of the show spectators, said Springsteen from the stage blamed their absences on COVID-19.

In his Twitter feed at the time, Van Zandt answered a fan who asked why he missed the show with: “Sorry folks. Covid.”

He added that he had “a very mild case,” crediting his vaccines and adding: “No real danger or damage.” He returned to the tour soon afterward.

The setbacks come several months after Springsteen released his latest album, “Only the Strong Survive,” in November.

The famed musician has sold about 140 million albums while winning 20 Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony award in a career that has spanned all or parts of six decades.

The first leg of his U.S. tour is to end with an April 14 homecoming in New Jersey before the band goes abroad starting with an April 28 show in Barcelona, Spain. Springsteen then returns for more U.S. concert dates this summer, including a performance at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and other dates into December.

FEBRUARY 8, 2023:

NEW YORK (AP) — A fan publication devoted to Bruce Springsteen says it is shutting down after 43 years, with its publisher saying he’s been disillusioned by the talk about ticket prices for their hero’s current tour. Backstreets, active as both a website and magazine, is unusual for its journalistic rigor while leaving no doubt of its fan worship. But its publisher wrote that complaints among some fans about high prices for the Springsteen tour that began in Tampa on Feb. 1, 2023, left people at Backstreets lacking enthusiasm. Springsteen has said that it’s “no fun being the poster boy for high ticket prices,” but said pricing was in line with others in live music.

FEBRUARY 2, 2023:

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — It has been six years since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on a major tour. Judging by the first show Wednesday night (Feb. 1, 2023) in Tampa, Florida, you would never know it. The Boss and his band served notice they are back. At just under three hours, it wasn’t quite one of the marathon performances the 73-year-old Springsteen is best known for. But kicking off with “No Surrender” and finishing with a solo acoustic “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” Springsteen was in fine voice, and his big band matched his energy. There were 19 musicians on the Amalie Arena stage at various points during the show.

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

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