No real news, but rumors that something big is imminent around the end of November. Suggestions span from a box set to a week of benefit shows in Asbury Park. Still, don't hold your breath that something will happen. Read more

   

Bruce performed last night (Friday) at Cheers Bar in New Jersey with Bobby Bandiera. Together they performed "Mustang Sally" and a long version of "Lucille". This week has also seen the release of the One Step Up/Two Steps Back albums. They have been received with mixed feelings, many people arguing that the artists involved are mediocre at best, but that the set is still altogether worthwhile. Read more

   

Sorry for not keeping you up to date, but most of you of course will know that Bruce performed with The Wallflowers at MTV's annual music video awards on September 4. Bruce, sporting an unusually short haircut, played guitar and sang a verse on the song "One Headlight". Prior to that he also performed at a club with a band called Jimmy & the Gigolos. Backstreets has more details about that. These two appearances were Bruce's first public performances since the last Paris show on May 26. The future is still unknown, but rumors continue circulate about more acoustic shows in November. On another note, the latest issue of Q has an interview with Jon Bon Jovi in which he mentions the Springsteens: "We all had dinner at my house, and he looked right through me and said, 'I tell you, I'm happier now than I've ever been in my life.' He's playin' an acoustic guitar by himself, pretending to be Woody Guthrie. And I went, 'OK, for the first time I'm not gonna tell you to put the band back together. I finally get it!' I'd been relentless in telling him to put the fuckin' band back together. He wouldn't have a word of it. He don't wanna be The Boss all the timer, either." Read more

   

Bruce did not turn up at Tradewinds or anywhere else last weekend (at least not publicly). In return, there are now rumors of him planning more solo acoustic shows this fall at American college auditoriums. If it's true, certainly no one can accuse him of commercialism, touring for an album which hasn't been near a chart for 18 months and for an audience who will now no doubt mostly consist of fans who have already seen at least one show already. Question is, can he even sell out small auditoriums playing with the same concept as he's done for almost two years? Read more

   

Rumors have been circulating for a while about Bruce appearing at a Joe Grushecky/Nils Lofgren show at Tradewinds on August 15th. Also quite likely is an appearance the next night at Cheers in Long Branch where Elliott Murphy is going to perform with Joe D'Urso. Whether there's more to it than the fact that it would be natural for Bruce to attend these gigs, is not known by us. Read more

   

"Secret Garden" has been nominated for "Best video from a film" for MTV's annual Video Awards which will take place on September 4th. No word yet as to whether or not Bruce himself will be present, let alone perform. Bruce won this prize with "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994. Read more

   

Bruce has remained inactive since the end of the European tour. The biggest news is, for those of you who haven't heard it yet, a double album of other artists covering Bruce songs called, respectively, One Step Up and Two Steps Back. The albums will be released on Bruce's birthday, Sept. 23, and will feature such artists as Joe Grushecky, Nils Lofgren, John Hiatt, Maria McKee and lots more. Backstreets has a full contents list, so no need to show it here. Read more

   

"This is the last show of the tour - at least for a while". That was Bruce's only comment at the second show in Paris on May 26 in regard to whether the Solo Acoustic Tour was over or not. Inside sources have said it was definitely the last show of the entire tour, but Bruce's words leave a door open. Perhaps a theory is that he will take a look at the recordings he may (or may not) have been doing in the spring and decide if they are worth building a record and a new tour on. If not, then it's not unthinkable that he's prepared to continue the Tom Joad tour until he has thought up a new concept to replace it. The last few years have seen him break with the old pattern of touring and then hibernating for a long time. As if he really wants to be more visible to his fans. Even if it means stretching a tour concept for an indefinite period of time. However, at the moment there are no concrete news. Rumors circulate about an album and a new tour by late this year. But there are always rumors of that. Read more

   

For anyone who didn't know already, Bruce commenced his European tour last night in Vienna, Austria. The set list was pretty unremarkable, except maybe for the fact that he performed "Freehold", his ode to his hometown in New Jersey, that was first performed in Freehold and has since been aired a few times in Australia. Read more

   

Bruce received the Polar Music Award in Stockholm Sweden this afternoon. The event was broadcast live on Swedish TV, first the actual award ceremony this afternoon, and tonight the dinner where Bruce made a long acceptance speech and performed two songs acoustically: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Thunder Road". This was followed by a message from Bill Clinton read by the American Ambassador in Sweden and finally an interview with Bruce recorded earlier in the day. Read more