D.C. Getting the Boss Before New Jersey

Photo by Kyle Gustafson

In other words, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are going on tour this spring and, discounting whatever secret shows the Bard of Asbury Park might play at the Stone Pony before hitting the road, a few cities, Washington included, will see the Boss' new tour before New Jersey does.

Springsteen, whose 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, is set to be released March 6, will play the Verizon Center on April 1, the seventh night of what will be the E Street Band's first tour since the death last year of the Big Man, saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

The first track off Wrecking Ball, "We Take Care of Our Own," came out last week, sounding a lot like the hurdy gurdy-driven songs on 2002's The Rising but with a bit more edge than we've heard from the Boss in quite some time. Let's be honest, his last album, Working on a Dream, with its inflections of the 2008 presidential campaign, was kind of a dud.

Tickets for the Verizon Center show are $71 to $101 (plus a bunch of fees) and go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at LiveNation.com.