The end of the road is about two months away, and for many fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the big question is what's next?

After spending the past two years circling the globe numerous times on back-to-back tours behind two albums, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform their final show November 22 in Buffalo, NY. The burning question on the minds of Springsteen fans here is, how "final" is final?

The answers to that may have come this week — well, sort of anyway — in a conference call held by band members Steve Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, and Roy Bittan. Those same answers, as reported in articles this week at Billboard and Backstreets magazines (among others), however may have left the biggest question still largely unanswered.

"We are gonna take, I don't know how long — a year, year and a half, two years," Van Zandt said, before adding, "You never know, do ya? It could be the last show, could be the last tour. You never know. We do every show like it's our last show, anyway. But don't wait around; if you're waiting to come see us, come now. This is a good time to see us."

In other words, as to the question of whether or not this is the end of the road called E Street, the answer seems to be kinda', sorta', maybe. Here is what we do know:

The E Street Band does need the break. After two years which saw the band release two albums, lose a member (keyboardist Danny Federici, who lost his battle with melanoma), play the Super Bowl, and tour more or less non-stop, it could be argued that they are coming off one of the most active, but also tumultuous periods of their entire career.

Keep in mind as well, that these are not young men we are talking about here. Despite their advancing ages, it can also be said that the soon-to-be-concluded marathon treks behind the albums Magic and Working On A Dream saw the band playing some of their most high-energy shows ever.

We also know that at least some of the various band members have day jobs to go back to. Max Weinberg has been going back and forth between the WOAD tour and his duties on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (with his son Jay filling the E Street drum stool on many dates), and Van Zandt has his syndicated Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show. As for the rest of the guys?

Article Author: Glen Boyd

You'll find Blogcritics assistant music editor Glen Boyd sharing his Thoughtmares on his personal blogs The World Wide Glen, and The Rockologist. In a previous life, Glen was a music professional and journalist whose work has appeared in The Rocket, SPIN, Pulse!, and The Source. …

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