This is an absolutely unconfirmed rumor... Bruce's next album is to be released on September 29. That's all we've heard, so don't ask us for more details. Read more

   

Something's cooking. There are now rumors of Bruce doing more shows in the States this summer. A local radio station reported that negotiations were taking place concerning a show in Oklahoma City, but a few days later the same radio station said that the parties involved couldn't agree on a date, so the plans had now been scrapped. However, it can be taken as an indication that Bruce has still no plans of going into hibernation. Whether any new shows in the US will follow the same concept as Bruce has been touring with since 1995, remains unknown. Read more

   

A few weeks ago a Norwegian newspaper reported that Bruce would play in Norway this year with the E Street Band. We have investigated the matter (thanks Thorleif!). It turns out the journalist who wrote the piece talked to an employee at the Norwegian concert bureau Gunnar Eide A/S who said that Bruce planned to go out on a new tour later this year (as in, not the Shut the Fuck Up Tour) and that this tour was going to be with a band. The journalist concluded that must mean the E Street Band, but we find it more likely that (if there's any truth to this story at all) it will be a small acoustic folk band, which Bruce has expressed interest in on a couple of occasions. The source at Gunnar Eide was definitely not talking about the tour in May, because they tried to get Bruce to Norway for this tour also, but were turned down. Anyway, if anything comes of this, it could mean two European tours in 1997, but don't get your hopes up yet. Bruce's plans can change overnight, and there's absolutely nothing that's certain at this point in regard to what's going to happen after May. Read more

   

It's official! Here are the tour dates for May: May 6, 7 Vienna Austria Center May 9, 10 Warsaw Sala Kongresowa May 12 Prague Congress Center May 15 Lyon Auditorium May 16 Montpelier Le Corum May 18 Nice Acropolis May 19 Toulon Zenith May 21 Florence Teatro Verdi May 22 Naples Veatro Augusteo May 25, 26 Paris Palais de Congress The question still remains: why so many dates in France of all countries and absolutely none in places like Germany, England and Scandinavia? For instance, wouldn't a show in Stockholm be the least he could do when he gets this major Swedish music award? And when he apparently has set out to play in places he hasn't played in before, like Warsaw and Vienna, then why not Finland? Finnish fans (and there are many of them) have been screaming for shows for years and been more or less promised a show by Landau himself, but this time around a show in Finland hasn't even been negotiated. Read more

   

Tickets for the Vienna shows went on sale at 10 o'clock this morning without any announcement. The shows haven't even been officially confirmed. The most surprising thing is that the dates of the shows have been changed to the 6th and 7th of May whereas previously they were scheduled for the 11th and 12th. This means that the Warsaw dates will probably also be moved, most likely to the 9th and 10th rather than the 8th and 9th. Or else Bruce would have to play four shows in four days, which doesn't sound likely. Read more

   

Unlike what we've been writing earlier it really does look like Bruce is going to carry out his own personal Tour de France in May with no less than six shows taking place in French provincial towns and Paris. Why he's doing this is a good question. France has never been a big Bruce country. He only played one show there on the '93 tour, allegedly because the French promotors weren't interested in more. In '96 his two shows in Paris were among the easiest tickets on the European tour. So either it's a vain attempt to conquer the French market with The Ghost of Tom Joad or they pulled the city names out of a hat and by chance ended up with five cities in France. In either case, it's a rather absurd decision and one that will make people in more overlooked countries wonder. Read more

   

Bruce made a guest appearance with Jakob Dylan's band The Wallflowers at Tradewinds in Sea Bright, N.J. He sang backup and played guitar on several songs. The band was also joined by Bon Jovi (for what it's worth). For those of you who're not familiar with Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers, Jakob is the son of Bob Dylan, but his music may have more in common with Bruce's than with his father's. He has gotten quite a reputation in the States, but is not very well known in Europe. Bruce's appearance with the band comes after he saw them a few weeks ago supporting Sheryl Crow in New York. Apparently he was sufficiently impressed to honor them with one of his rare electric appearances. Read more

   

Bruce won a Grammy for "best contemporary folk album" with The Ghost of Tom Joad and performed the title track at the ceremony. His song "Dead Man Walkin'" was nominated in the category "best male rock vocal" and the Blood Brothers documentary was nominated in "best music video long form", but none of them prevailed. Read more

   

Bruce reveals some of his plans for the future, saying that for the next few months he'll be in the recording studio before touring Europe for three weeks in May. What's going to happen after that is all in the air. Dates of the European tour have yet to be announced. However, Backstreets Magazine has nosed out some tentative dates in cities such as Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Paris plus numerous French provincial towns (check out Backstreets' homepage for more info), but those dates to us look more like part of a very extensive tour which may have been under construction at some point, but which, judging from Bruce's statement about a three-week tour only, could have been scrapped by now. Otherwise, it would seem very strange to do so many shows in France and absolutely no shows in for example Germany or England. So our guess at this point is a tour covering parts of Eastern Europe plus major cities in Western Europe. The only thing that's certain is that he will be in Stockholm on May 5 to receive the Polar Music Award and probably sing a couple of songs in that connection. The prize will be presented by the Swedish King Carl Gustav, and it's expected that the ceremony will be broadcast live on Swedish TV. Read more