Steven Van Zandt gives Bruce Springsteen health update after postponing tour dates
The Boss isn’t quite ready to hit “Thunder Road” just yet.
Steven Van Zandt revealed Friday during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony that E Street frontman Bruce Springsteen, 74, is in “great shape” amid his battle with peptic ulcer disease.
“We’re gonna come back stronger than ever in March,” Zandt, 72, told People. “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,” Zandt added.
According to the guitarist, the band’s enduring popularity onstage has been “wonderful.”
“Well, it’s wonderful, isn’t it,” Zandt gushed to the outlet. “Because we were gone for seven years. So, you know, we weren’t really sure what was gonna happen.”
He added: “It could have been like, ‘E Street who?’”
“But we came back stronger than ever in terms of the business, in terms of enthusiasm. Everything sold out immediately,” the music icon continued. “So it was a wonderful surprise and, I think, just a tribute to the craft.”
Zandt said that the band had spent “so much time honing the craft” and that Springsteen’s songs “just hold up so well.”
“And look [at] what’s happening this week, in the past two weeks. We had a new Rolling Stones record, a new Beatles record … It just shows that people who work on their craft tend to last a while,” Zandt continued.
The Post reached out to Springsteen for comment.
Zandt’s remarks come a month after Springsteen, who was diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease in September, announced that he would be rescheduling the remainder of their 2023 tour dates.
“Over here on E Street, we’re heartbroken to have to postpone these shows,” read a statement on the “Born To Run” singer’s Instagram on Sept. 27. “We’ve been having a blast at our US shows and we’re looking forward to more great times. We’ll be back soon. Love and God bless all, Bruce.”
Last month, Springsteen went on to say he was “deeply sorry” about the change in plans while appearing on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio show “From My Home to Yours.”
“Let me take a moment and thank my fans affected by our postponed shows for their understanding,” he said. “I am deeply sorry but this belly thing, despite my ability to laugh at it, has been a monster and is still unfortunately rocking my internal world.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the main symptom of a peptic ulcer is a sharp, burning pain in the stomach which can be aggravated by consuming spicy or acidic foods.
In a severe case, symptoms include vomiting, vomiting blood, dark blood in stools or stool that appears to be black and tar-like. Others affected said they had trouble breathing, felt faint, nausea or vomiting, unexplained weight loss and changes in appetite.
