Bruce Springsteen is selling out his tour with E Street Band and everyone’s going crazy over it. Every show seems better than the last, and Bruce has never been in better form. New dates are being added all the time.
But there’s one Bruce show that may be the ultimate– L’Ultimo– that most fans don’t know about it and almost no one can attend. That’s a show on April 15th in West Long Branch, New Jersey at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theater.
The Pollak has a capacity of 714 seats. Tickets went on sale March 13th and presumably sold out instantly. The price of the tickets? Unknown, but likely more than a refrigerator and a little less than a Maserati. They’re meant to benefit the school via The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music.
The inaugural “American Music Honors” will honor E Street Band impresario Steven van Zandt, plus Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave fame, and Darlene Love, who rose to fame with the Phil Spector Wall of Sound, as well as country blues-rock-singer songwriter Steve Earle.
van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul will be the house band. Jon Stewart is the host. And making the tributes, and possibly performing, will be Bruce, musician wife E Streeter Patti Scialfa, E Street Band member Garry Tallent, and Southside Johnny Lyon of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
Yes, this is really happening. You are not hallucinating.
“This event showcases the ‘American Music’ part of our name and mission,” said Monmouth University president and board chair of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, Dr. Patrick Leahy in a statement. “By honoring American music greats, such as those named today, and by creating dynamic education and public programs, along with major museum exhibitions, we make valuable contributions to the understanding and importance of American music in our lives.”
The Bruce Springsteen Archives serves as the official repository for the music of Bruce Springsteen, plus photographs, periodicals, oral histories, rare recordings, films, and artifacts related to Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Center for American Music produces museum exhibitions, symposiums, and seminars, teacher workshops, concerts, internships, and various public programs to promote and celebrate the many forms of American music and their impact on our culture and national identity.
PS Please God they film this thing!
