Bruce Springsteen may be haunting the pharmacies of Philadelphia, as his being under the weather has been cited as the reason for the postponement of two shows that were supposed to take place in the city. An announcement on his X/Twitter page said that concerts on Wednesday and Friday night would need to be rebooked.
“Due to Bruce Springsteen having been taken ill, his concerts with the E Street Band at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on August 16 and 18 have been postponed,” said the social media account. “We are working on rescheduling the dates so please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled shows.”
Springsteen has some time to recuperate before the following dates on the tour are affected. The next scheduled concert dates for the band are just over a week away — Aug. 24 and 26 in Foxborough, Mass.
The Philadelphia news marks the third time this year that illness has been cited in a postponement or cancellation, although it’s not clear that it was Springsteen himself becoming sick in every instance. Back in March, three concerts — in Albany, Columbus and Uncasville, CT — were put off and rescheduled for September, “due to illness,” without further specification.
In April, Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa had to cancel an appearance when they both were diagnosed with COVID, although it came during a tour lull and no actual concerts were affected. They both missed the inaugural American Music Honors awards show in New Jersey — a fundraiser for the Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University — after testing positive the day after the last show on the 2023 U.S. tour’s initial run. They taped a video acceptance speech instead, professing to be feeling fine despite the diagnosis, and the pair were back in business without incident when the tour resumed two weeks later.
A few dates on the 2023 tour have gone on with E Street Band members missing in action. Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren missed single shows and Soozie Tyrell and Jake Clemons missed two shows apiece in the early weeks of the tour, which began Feb. 1.
Springsteen and the E Street Band have a fairly full itinerary for the rest of the year, except for the month of October, which they’re taking off entirely. The 2023 tour skews toward the east coast through the end of September, then picks up in Canada after the break for the month of November. It finally reaches the southwest for a U.S. tour wrap-up in the first half of December, ending with shows in San Francisco Dec. 10 and 12.