Bruce Springsteen Sets Fans Straight: No E Street Band Tour in 2019

By Michele Amabile Angermiller

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – If you thought the idea of Bruce Springsteen following his grueling run on Broadway with an E Street Band tour sounded too good to be true, now it’s official: it was.

Springsteen — who is set to wrap his show, “Springsteen on Broadway,” on December 15 — took to Twitter to gently let down fans hoping for a return to the road with the E Street Band, after inadvertently raising some false hopes with an interview in the UK’s Sunday Times where he hinted he would be going back to his “day job.”

The particular day job some fans were imagining will have to wait a beat, as the 69-year-old musician is planning to take it easy in the new year.

“Just a note to quell some of the rumors over here on E Street,” he wrote. “While we hope to be back with you soon, the E Street Band won’t be touring in 2019.” Springsteen continued that before he goes back to that “day job,” the year will be focused on “various recording projects.”

Springsteen then encouraged his fans to support other members of the E Street Band “out there regularly performing with their own projects who’d love and deserve your support.”

Both Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren took to Twitter earlier this week to squash the rumors, while indicating that they hadn’t been in touch with Springsteen about it. “This is very likely a misunderstanding,” tweeted Van Zandt. “Only the Boss knows,” added Lofgren. Now, we all do.

His impending emphasis on studio time will come as no surprise to fans who’ve followed his interviews. Shortly before opening on Broadway in 2017, Springsteen spoke with Variety about a solo album he planned to get back to after his time on the Great White Way.

In the meantime, “Springsteen in Broadway” will be live-streamed In Netflix beginning Dec. 16, with a release of the soundtrack coming two days earlier.