Bruce Spingsteen Shuts Down Retirement, Farewell Tour Rumors: ‘I Ain’t Going Anywhere’
“Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name,” Springsteen told a crowd in Philadelphia last week
The Boss doesn’t plan to say farewell anytime soon.
On Friday, Aug. 23, Bruce Springsteen shut down retirement and farewell tour rumors during a gig at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, when he reminded his crowd that the E Street Band has “been around for 50 f—ing years.”
“We ain’t doing no farewell tour bulls—,” Springsteen, 74, said in a clip shared to X (formerly Twitter). “Jesus Christ. No farewell tour for the E Street Band!”
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While speaking to the enthusiastic crowd, Springsteen smiled as he reiterated that his current world tour — next set to stop in Washington, D.C. at the top of September — isn’t the last one fans will be seeing him on.
“Hell no… Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name? Yeah, I wanna quit that,” Springsteen added. “That’s it. That’s all it takes. I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”
Guitarist Steven Van Zandt also shut down retirement talk during a conversation with The Telegraph last month, explaining that stepping back is not on the horizon for the E Street Band.
“I don’t see the end anywhere in sight, to be honest, especially in Europe, where we’re bigger than we’ve ever been,” he said at the time. “I think we can play every summer for evermore, man.”
Springsteen’s latest comments come amid tour date postponements earlier this year, when The Boss pushed back four European shows as part of his E Street Band 2024 World Tour due to “vocal issues.” That included performances in Marseille, Airport Letnany in Prague, Czech Republic, and San Siro Stadium in Milan.
The 20-time Grammy winner previously postponed several tour dates in September 2023 due to peptic ulcer disease.
Springsteen now has a string of dates set for the remainder of the year, and has even played a few surprise gigs here and there this summer — like when he showed up at a Zach Bryan this month to sing a duet of his 1982 song “Atlantic City” as well as their collaboration “Sandpaper” at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
After his Sept. 7 stop at the nation’s capital, Springsteen will make his way to Baltimore, Asbury Park, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and beyond in the fall. He’ll also be taking his talents to Milan, Prague and Marseille next summer to make up for lost time earlier this year.
