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Bruce Springsteen Says E Street Band Will Not Tour In 2019
Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP, File – Bruce Springsteen
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN performs at the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto Sept. 30, 2017.
Bruce Springsteen concludes his one-man Broadway show’s spectacular run later this month — and he announced Thursday evening that he’ll take a much-deserved touring break in 2019.
“Just a note to quell some of the rumors over here on E Street,” wrote Springsteen in a statement. “While we hope to be back with you soon, the E Street Band won’t be touring in 2019. Before I go back to my day job, the year will be consumed with a break after our Broadway run and various recording projects I’ve been working on.”
Springsteen’s statement followed less definitive comments from his E Street Band comrades. On Dec. 2, guitarist Nils Lofgren responded to a fan inquiry about 2019 touring by tweeting, “Only the Boss knows.” Fellow E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt then tweeted that there were “no plans” for an E Street Band tour next year, but left the door open: “Could that change at any moment? Yes.”
At press time, Springsteen’s team had not responded to Pollstar‘s inquiry regarding Springsteen’s upcoming projects and future touring plans.
Springsteen’s Tony-winning Springsteen on Broadway opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre in October 2017 and was only supposed to run through through Nov. 26, 2017. Predictably, demand far exceeded supply, prompting Springsteen to extend the show first through June 2018 and then through the end of the year. Through Nov. 10, the most recent date for which Pollstar has data, the show had grossed $104.49 million across 218 performances.
The show wraps on Dec. 15; the following day, Springsteen will release a soundtrack album and a Netflix film of the performance.
Springsteen on Broadway was just the latest sign that the 69-year-old rocker isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In 2016, he launched his acclaimed River Tour, where he and the E Street Band played his 1980 album The River in its entirety; with 2.41 million tickets sold for a total gross of $268.3 million, Springsteen was the year’s top-grossing artist worldwide. The tour extended into early 2017, racking up an additional $38.1 million.
In September 2016, Springsteen released his 500-plus-page autobiography Born to Run. But, despite a flurry of activity, the typically prolific Springsteen has not released a studio album since 2014’s High Hopes — his longest stretch between LPs since he took seven years between 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and 2002’s The Rising. In October 2017, as Springsteen on Broadway debuted, Springsteen teased his next studio project, telling Variety “it’s not topical at all.”
Springsteen ended his statement by encouraging fans to seek out E Street Band musicians on their respective solo projects and by wishing all happy holidays.