Bruce Springsteen forced to postpone tour due to health issue

Bruce Springsteen has canceled several dates of his tour due to “vocal issues”. 

‘The Boss’ shared the news on Instagram and explained he and The E Street Band were postponing Prague and Milan under doctor’s orders. 

“Following yesterday’s postponement in Marseille due to vocal issues, further examination and consulting has led doctors to determine that Bruce should not perform for the next ten days,” the statement read. “With this in mind, additional postponements are required for Airport Letnany in Prague (originally scheduled for May 28) and San Siro Stadium in Milan (originally scheduled for June 1 and 3).

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“New dates for these shows will be announced shortly.”

Bruce is “recuperating comfortably,” and they’re “looking forward” to resuming the tour on June 12 in Madrid.

The news comes hot on the heels of Bruce performing in “hellacious” wet weather in Sunderland, England, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. 

Last year, Bruce had to postpone shows due to symptoms of peptic ulcer disease. 

During an interview with Sirius XM’s E Street Radio host Jim Rotolo after his comeback show, Springsteen opened up further about his condition and how it affected his ability to sing and perform.

“Once I started singing, you know, you can rehearse singing, but your voice isn’t the same in rehearsal,” he shared, adding that the disease left him unable to actually sing. “You don’t have that edge of adrenaline that really pushes it into a better place and the thing when I had the stomach problem, one of the big problems was I couldn’t sing.”

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The Mayo Clinic describes the condition as “open sores that develop on the inside lining of your stomach and the upper portion of your small intestine,” saying that the “most common symptom of a peptic ulcer is stomach pain.”

“You sing with your diaphragm…My diaphragm was hurting so badly that when I went to make the effort to sing, it was killing me, you know?”

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The inability to sing lasted for months. “So, I literally couldn’t sing at all, you know, and that lasted for two or three months, along with just a myriad of other painful problems.”

Bruce was recently honoured at Ivor Novellow Awards when Paul McCartney bestowed him with the award and took the opportunity to roast him in his speech. 

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In a warm yet teasing manner, Sir Paul praised Springsteen, calling him a fitting recipient, before cheekily suggesting a few other names. “I couldn’t think of a more fitting recipient,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “Except maybe Bob Dylan. Or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift. The list goes on.”

Known for his quick wit, Sir Paul continued, “He’s known as the American working man, but he admits he’s never worked a day in his life.” Imagining Springsteen as a member of The Beatles, he joked, “When it comes to talent, he’d definitely be in the top five.”