Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: What’s Next?

Many bands put on a good show, but when it comes to the greatest, no one can touch Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. If you’ve seen them live you get it, if you haven’t, you’re missing out. It’s more than a concert with music. It’s a communal experience with one shared goal led by a guy who has been at the peak of the game for over 50 years. That’s essentially the subject of a new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which debuted on Hulu and Disney+ last fall.

There’s a famous quote that was attributed to a female fan years ago when asked to explain what makes an E Street show so good. Her answer was, “It’s like he knows that you know that he knows what he’s doing.” And Springsteen knows it, too. On this last tour, there was a bit of outrage from the fans and the press regarding the Ticketmaster ticket prices. Springsteen’s answer was “I know it was unpopular with some fans. But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.” Like I said, he knows that you know.

In a band where most guys are over the age of 70 where do they go from here? To answer that, let’s take a look back at the legendary E Street band. When Springsteen signed his record deal, he needed a band in both the studio and to take on tour and he picked his musicians from the New Jersey shore scene. The first members included Garry Tallent on bass, Danny Federici on keyboards and accordion, Clarence Clemons on saxophone, David Sancious on keyboards, and Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez on drums. They took the band name from the street that Sancious’s mother lived on (1107 E Street in Belmar, NJ). In February 1974, Lopez was asked to leave and was replaced by Ernest “Boom” Carter until September 1974. Normally, a band member with such a short tenure would not warrant a mention, except it was during those months that the band recorded the track ”Born To Run” (the only studio track Carter plays on).

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Sancious and Carter would leave and be replaced by Roy Bittan on keyboards and Max Weinberg on drums in 1974. Steve Van Zandt on guitar would also be added around this time and this version of the group stayed together through the late 70’s and early 80’s. Van Zandt left and Nils Lofgren joined in 1984 along with singer and guitarist Patti Scialfa. Van Zandt would return in 1995 and there would be no more people walking away from the E Street band.

The band was playing shows that came close to 4 hours (and even topped it on a few occasions). In 2008, Federici was the first member to pass away followed by Clarence Clemons in 2011. Clarence’s nephew Jake Clemons would take his place and Charles Giordano (although not an official member) would replace Federici on tours.

This lineup is currently touring and they just added new European dates in 2025. But how do you maintain a rock band for over 50 years without imploding? Except for U2 (and maybe the Rolling Stones), there don’t seem to be any other rock bands that have been able to last. First, you put one guy in charge. There’s a reason Springsteen is known as the Boss. It’s his music, his direction, and his themes. Two, the band has never done a gimmick tour. There is no “farewell” tour. They tour when they have new music. (Yes, there have been anniversary tours for albums but even those featured new previously unreleased tracks.)

Last year they had to cancel a few dates due to Springsteen’s peptic ulcer. The man just turned 75 in September so there were bound to be some health complications at some point. And just recently, Patti announced that she’d been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2018 which is the reason she’s missed tour dates.

So, will the band eventually pack it in? Never, according to Bruce. He announced at the Philadelphia show in August 2023, “We’ve been around for 50 f**ing years, and we ain’t quitting! We ain’t doing no farewell tour bullsh*t! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band!”

The band enjoys it too much and they’re too good at it to pack it in. When you’ve faced the death of band members and you reach a certain age, the idea of grabbing those high moments seems extra worthy. I’ve heard people say you need to see them on this past tour because this is it. He doesn’t move as fast, he might not be jumping off amps, and his shows are only 3 hours long. But I think it’s safe to say he’ll keep going. As Bruce says in the Road Diary documentary trailer, they will keep touring “until the wheels fall off.” So don’t worry there is still a lot more music to come from the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking, love-making –Le-gen-dary E – Street – Band!

-Robert Matvan

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This post was previously published on CultureSonar.

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