Springsteen back onstage after illness
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage Tuesday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix in a triumphant reboot of the Boss’ postponed 2023 world tour.
In September, Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease.
The Boss arrived on stage to an audience chorus of “Bruuuuce!” Wearing dark jeans and a rolled up red plaid flannel shirt, he had the energy of a man half his age. His signature “One, two, three, four” was the only thing that separated most songs, showing no signs of his illness from the previous year. Once he shouted, “Good evening, Arizona” the show was off and running.
Springsteen spoke to the crowd briefly about his illness prior to playing his final song “I’ll See You In My Dreams” solo onstage. “Phoenix, first I want to apologize if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time. ... I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much.”
The 29-song show came in just under three hours, but Springsteen hardly broke a sweat while showing off a strong voice, all the while dancing, tearing into guitar solos, playing the harmonica and even ripping his shirt open near the end of the show.
Simmons reveals skin
cancer diagnosis: Fitness guru Richard Simmons announced his diagnosis with skin cancer, just after quelling fears he was dying. The reclusive personality, 75, on Tuesday revealed in a Facebook post how he discovered a “blemish” on his face was actually cancerous.
“Mirror mirror on the wall what’s that blemish which is so small? There was this strange looking bump under my right eye. I had a tube of Neosporin which I would put on (in) the morning and the evening . ... it was still there,” he said.
Simmons recalled a trip to the dermatologist, where the doctor needed “to scrape it and put it under the microscope.”
He scared his followers Monday when he posted that he was “dying.” He issued an apology later that day “for this confusion.” He also said, “I am not dying. It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have.”
Soprano returns to Met 30
years after firing: Soprano Kathleen Battle is returning to the Metropolitan Opera for a recital three decades after the company fired her and publicly accused her of “unprofessional actions” following a verbal confrontation.
Battle, 75, is scheduled to perform May 12 in only her second appearance there since the 1994 firing. She will be accompanied by harpist Bridget Kibbey and guitarist Chico Pinheiro in a program of Purcell, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Fauré, Villa-Lobos, Rodrigo and spirituals.
Battle made her debut at the Met in 1977. Years later, she walked off the stage during rehearsals in 1993 after battling with conductor Christian Thielemann over tempo.
March 21 birthdays: Actor Kathleen Widdoes is 85. Actor Timothy Dalton is 78. Singer Russell Thompkins Jr. is 73. Comedian Brad Hall is 66. Actor Gary Oldman is 66. Actor Matthew Broderick is 62. Comedian Rosie O’Donnell is 62. Actor Cynthia Geary is 59. Actor Sonequa Martin-Green is 39. Actor Scott Eastwood is 38.