Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band launch The River Tour, a nine-week US trek, on Jan. 16 in Pittsburgh, and include a stop at Atlanta’s Philips Arena on Feb. 18. The announcement of the tour coincides with today’s release of “The Ties That Bind: The River Collection,” a comprehensive look at the era of the 1980 “The River” album that “Rolling Stone” calls “Springsteen’s best archival release yet.”
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 11 at 9am at Ticketmaster.com, Philips Arena Box Office, by phone (800-745-3000) and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
Springsteen precedes the tour with a Dec. 19 performance on “Saturday Night Live,” his third appearance on the NBC show.
The River Tour (#TheRiverTour) is the first for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band since the 2014 High Hopes Tour.
Each night of the tour will be mixed for release on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net as high-quality downloads and CDs. Recordings will be available within days of each performance.
The original The River Tour began Oct. 3, 1980, two weeks before the release of Springsteen’s fifth album, and continued through Sept. 4, 1981. With sets that regularly approached the four-hour range, the 140-date international tour firmly established a reputation for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as marathon performers.
“The Ties That Bind: The River Collection” includes 52 tracks on four CDs with a wealth of unreleased material and four hours of never-before-seen video on three DVDs. It contains the original “The River” double album; the first official release of “The River: Single Album”; a CD of 1979/80 studio outtakes; a brand-new documentary about “The River”; and a coffee-table book of 200 rare or previously unseen photos and memorabilia, with a new essay by Mikal Gilmore. The set also includes a two-DVD film of never-released, newly edited multi-camera footage from a Nov. 1980 show in Tempe, AZ, described by NPR as a “holy grail.”
“The Ties That Bind: The River Collection” is available at Amazon ( 4CD/3DVD or 4CD/2Blu-ray — http://smarturl.it/tiesthatbind_amz ) and iTunes ( http://smarturl.it/tiesthatbind_itunes ).
The E Street Band’s members are: Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer; Nils Lofgren – guitar, vocals; Patti Scialfa – guitar, vocals; Garry Tallent – bass guitar; Stevie Van Zandt – guitar, vocals; and Max Weinberg – drums; with Soozie Tyrell – violin, guitar, vocals; Jake Clemons – saxophone; and Charlie Giordano – keyboards.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2016 US Tour Dates:
January 16 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
January 19 Chicago, IL United Center
January 24 & 27 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
January 29 Washington, DC Verizon Center
January 31 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
February 2 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
February 4 Boston, MA TD Garden
February 8 Albany, NY Times Union Center
February 10 Hartford, CT XL Center
February 12 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
February 16 Sunrise, FL BB&T Center
February 18 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
February 21 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
February 23 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
February 25 Buffalo, NY First Niagara Center
February 27 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
February 29 St Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
March 3 Milwaukee, WI BMO Harris Bradley Center
March 6 St Louis, MO Chaifetz Arena
March 10 Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Arena
March 13 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
March 15 & 17 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena