Springsteen Says It’s Time to Play Israel

October 6, 2016 JTA

American rock star Bruce Springsteen recently gave his Israeli fans some hope that they may soon be able to see “The Boss” and the E Street Band live in concert in the “Promised Land,” to reference one of his best-known songs.

“I really need to play there,” he told an Israeli fan last week at a book-signing event at a Barnes & Noble in his hometown of Freehold, N.J., for his new autobiography “Born to Run,” according to The Times of Israel.

Springsteen, 67, who has played in more than three dozen countries over the course of his 50-year career, also told the fan, Jerusalem resident Amy Kalman, that the fact that she flew all the way from Israel to meet him “gets a hug.”

The Toronto-born Kalman, a mother of four who made aliyah in the early 1980s, said she was impressed with how quickly Springsteen expressed his desire to play in the Jewish state.

“There wasn’t even a nanosecond between me saying Israel and him offering the hug and saying he needed to play here,” she told The Times of Israel.

While the Catholic-raised rock legend has never played in Israel, his guitarist, Steven Van Zandt, seems to be on board with a concert in the Jewish state.

In May, amid rumors that Springsteen would perform in Tel Aviv, Van Zandt did not mince his words when addressing criticism from those urging a boycott of Israel.

In a series of tweets, Van Zandt — who is also known for portraying a mobster on HBO’s “The Sopranos” and played a significant role in the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s — called Israel boycotters “politically ignorant obnoxious idiots” and suggested to one “go f— yourself.”

— Josefin Dolsten