Steven Van Zandt commented on Bruce Springsteen‘s health amid The Boss’ recovery from peptic ulcer disease.
The E Street Band guitarist said Springsteen is in “great shape” when he spoke with People at the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York City on Friday (Nov. 2).
“We’re gonna come back stronger than ever in March,” he added, referring to Springsteen and the E Street Band’s tour picking back up in March 2024. “It was a very, very intense first six months of the tour — maybe our most intense ever. And so we’re gonna come back with that same intensity, and it’s gonna be great.”
“Well, it’s wonderful, isn’t it? Because we were gone for seven years. So, you know, we weren’t really sure what was gonna happen. It could have been like, ‘E Street who?’” Van Zandt remarked.
“But we came back stronger than ever in terms of the business, in terms of enthusiasm,” says Van Zandt. “Everything sold out immediately. So it was a wonderful surprise and, I think, just a tribute to the craft.”
Springsteen and the E Street Band had to announce new tour dates after postponing their September schedule in order to allow Springsteen time to recover from the stomach issue. The U.S. dates of the tour are set to start up again on March 19 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.
About a week ago, the band announced more dates, this time for a 22-date European stadium run beginning in May 2024.
To learn more about peptic ulcer disease, Billboard recently spoke to a medical professional, Dr. Rudolph Bedford, a gastroenterologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, who says that it can cause “severe abdominal pain… to the point of doubling you over.” He explained that the condition is caused by an imbalance in the protective lining of the stomach: “The stomach is full of acid and whenever something in that acid destroys the protective lining the nerves in the stomach wall become inflamed and cause severe pain.”
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