Bruce Springsteen cancels a handful of shows




Bruce Springsteen has been forced to postpone a few of shows at the last minute, including ones at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut (this is the venue where we saw Black Sabbath in the summer of 2016) and more dates are likely to be affected.

Although there is no official confirmation, it's pretty obvious that the Boss has come down with COVID. The man is in his seventies, but since he is vaccinated, boosted and in astoundingly great shape, I don't think fans should worry. Steve Van Zandt has tweeted as much recently:

Bruce is just the latest in the E Street Band to have contracted the dreaded virus, but unlike Nils Lofgren, Soozie Tyrell and Little Steven himself, Bruce can't be sidelined while the gig goes ahead without him. But fret now: the E Street Band does not cancel shows. These dates will happen, and Bruce will make sure that the people in attendance will experience an amazing, life-changing event. This is what Bruce does.

But this poses the question of post-COVID touring. Thankfully, we have returned to a semblance of normalcy, and for a lot of us, live music is an important part of that. Bur gigs keep being cancelled, tours keep being postponed, events keep being moved... The whole economy of music is still trying to find its footing, it seems. And how safe are the shows, really?

The answer is disheartening: not very. Stadium rock concerts can quickly turn into super spreader events. So can sports games, protests and most gatherings. What can we do? Do we still have to advance masked? Well, yes. It would be best. But three years into the pandemic, rightly or wrongly, most of us have left masks behind.

Nothing is ever a hundred percent safe. No umbrella is going to protect you from a piano that is being dropped from the fifth floor directly onto your head. But, in the same way you wear kneepads when roller skating, perhaps a good idea would be to get vaccinated. Yeah, I know. Some of you are dead set against it. But very few of have a good reason. I'm not even going to dignify the batshit conspiracy theories. Obviously, if you have health issues prohibiting you from getting jabbed, don't fucking do it. But then you should also stay away from concerts. And public transport. And crowds in general.

It's crazy to me that the whole world had to shut down because of a fucking virus that caused people to fucking choke to death, and that when scientists came up with a vaccine to prevent people from getting it, the same people who were clamoring for the world to un-shut itself are now too chickenshit to even consider taking the miraculous scientific breakthrough. These selfish fucknoodles are the reason people keep getting sick and events keep getting cancelled. So fuck 'em right up the urethra. I have no use for them.

These fucking idiots already have millions of deaths on their conscience... Well, they would if they had a conscience. But I'm supposed to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in May, and if I end up missing it because Bruce, Little Steven, or I contract COVID again, then it's going to get fucking personal.

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