Going to a Bruce Springsteen concert and needing an absentee slip for your child? No worries. Springsteen himself is happy to help.
Springsteen has resumed his tour after postponing several dates due to an ulcer.
The house lights were up as Springsteen took bows with the E Street Band on March 31 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. He spotted a young girl holding a handwritten sign near the front of the stage. "Skipping school. Sign my note?"
He took the paper, unfolded it and, using the sign as a backing, knelt down and proceeded to (probably) scribble a sentence to excuse the fan for missing class. The 74-year-old icon handed it all back, blew a kiss as the band reacted to this moment with enthusiastic clapping. There's been no viral follow-up if indeed the note was received and duly processed.
A Facebook post from Karen Pitcher Scovell covered the entire exchange. Watch and listen below.
These types of requests are not unusual in the realm of Springsteen. He had two requests in 2016, one at a book-signing event and one at a show for the inevitable young fan needing permission/absentee note signed. He obliged both times.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has had a few viral moments since resuming his tour on March 19 in Phoenix Arizona, postponing a good portion of 2023 due to his treatment and recovery from peptic ulcer disease at the beginning of September.
On March 22, Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav stopped in to give Springsteen a hug in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he had been hanging out the previous night with Steven Van Zandt at the Shag Room at Virgin Hotel for an invite-only "Hard Rock and Little Steven's Underground Garage Present: The Wicked Cool Records Revue," showcasing groups from Van Zandt's record label.
So when Flav asked for a meet-and-greet, Van Zandt was happy to oblige.
The band's current U.S. leg runs through April 21 in Columbus, Ohio. The tour then visits Europe in May, June, and July, before mounting a second U.S. leg in August and September. While he's in the UK, he'll be inducted as an Academy Fellow of the Ivors Academy, becoming the first-ever international songwriter the Academy has inducted into Fellowship in its 80-year history.
He will become the twenty-seventh Fellow of the Academy, joining a roster of songwriter greats including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Joan Armatrading, and Sting, who received the award in 2023. Springsteen will receive the award at the Ivors with Amazon Music, which takes place at the Grosvenor House in London on May 23.
Springsteen heads to Europe and the U.K. this summer.
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He has also announced the release of a career-spanning collection, Best of Bruce Springsteen, set to release on April 19 from Columbia/Sony Music and will be available in two versions: an 18-track version available as a 2LP or 1CD set, or a 31-track version available digitally.
The cover art for the forthcoming compilation 'Best of Bruce Springsteen.'
And finally, word has come down that The Bear's Jeremy Allen White is the first choice by producers for the proposed adaptation of Warren Zanes' acclaimed 2023 book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. Springsteen and manager Jon Landau are attached to the project, as reported by Deadline in late March. Should the stars align, White would begin shooting after wrapping up Season 4 of The Bear later this year with Scott Cooper set to write and direct the film.
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