Bruce Springsteen rules out farewell tour and calls The Rolling Stones “a great inspiration”

Bruce Springsteen has confirmed he has no plans to retire, citing The Rolling Stones as his “great inspiration” to continue touring for as long as possible.

Currently, Springsteen is on a stadium tour across Europe, which began in Manchester last month and has since taken him to Liverpool, Lyon, Marseille, Frankfurt, Prague and Berlin with more dates set to commence in San Sebastian, Gelsenkirchen, and Milan.

Springsteen’s calendar will be free after these summer dates, but don’t expect him to announce a farewell tour anytime soon.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen was asked about the late Pete Seeger performing until he was in his 90s, and whether he’d like to do the same, to which he replied, “Oh, absolutely. I mean, I knew Pete, and Pete had a lot of energy. And when his voice began to go, he simply found another way to do it. I think, was it his cousin or something who would play alongside him? Pete understood that people were coming to experience his spirit, which was as strong as could be. “

Springsteen remarked that Seeger “certainly was” a role model in that regard, before adding, “As is Willie Nelson, as were a lot of the fathers [of rock] who played well into their eighties.”

‘The Boss’ then gave more props to his peer group, noting, “And the Stones are a great inspiration right now. I think the Stones are playing better than they’ve ever played, as is Paul McCartney. And Bob Dylan is out there. So these guys, they’re a little in front of me, and they’re showing, “Hey, it’s not time to sleep yet. There’s many miles to go.”

Springsteen simply replied, “No” when asked about a potential farewell tour. Last year, he denied rumours of one last rodeo during a show in Philadelphia, telling the crowd, “We’ve been around for 50 fuckin’ years, and we ain’t quitting! We ain’t doing no farewell tour bullshit! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band!”

His new box set compilation, Tracks II: The Lost Albums, is released on June 27th which consists of seven complete records made by ‘The Boss’ between 1983 and 2018.