Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul

Stevie Van Zandt, a founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, has announced that he will embark on a seven-date UK tour in November 2017.

The tour will see Van Zandt - also known as Little Steven - and his band, The Disciples Of Soul, celebrate the release of Soulfire, his first album in 15 years. It also follows a successful tour of Europe, which saw Van Zandt sell out venues, including one UK show in Manchester. The November shows will be the band’s first major UK tour in over two decades, a chance for the UK to experience one of the greatest soul bands performing today.

The tour is set to begin at London’s Roundhouse on November 4, visiting Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool, before ending at Newcastle’s O2 Academy on November 16.

SOULFIRE is Stevie Van Zandt’s first solo album in almost 20 years, named by Rolling Stone as one of the best records of 2017. It is without question his purest and most uniquely personal artistic statement thus far. The album sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer revisiting songs that span the length of his career as artist, performer, producer, arranger, and songwriter. He focuses directly on the hugely influential “soul horns-meet-rock ‘n’ roll guitars” approach he first pioneered on Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ classic first three albums.

“I’ve always been very thematic with my work, very conceptual,” Van Zandt says. “I need a big picture, I can’t just do a collection of songs, that doesn’t work for me. In this case, the concept became me. Who am I? I’m kind of my own genre at this point. So I tried to pick material that when you added it all up, really represented me. So there are a couple of covers, a couple of new songs, and some of what I feel are the best songs I’ve written and co-written over the years. This record is me doing me.”

Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul made their long awaited live return last October, prompted by a friend’s request to perform at London’s BluesFest 2016. Van Zandt had only just returned home from The E Street Band’s summer stadium run but as luck would have it, his autumn plans already included a trip to the UK to celebrate both his wife’s birthday and his friend Bill Wyman’s 80th.

“It was perfect circumstances coming together,” says Van Zandt.

Little Steven quickly put together a Disciples of Soul for the 21st century, an “ever-changing group of misfits, rogues, and roustabouts” complete with three backing vocalists and a full horn section currently featuring original Asbury Jukes/Miami Horns saxophonists Stan Harrison (tenor) and Eddie Manion (baritone). Stevie and his 15-piece big band crossed the Atlantic and blew the roof off London’s indigo at The O2 with what was supposed to be just a “one-night-only” performance highlighted by classic hits like “I Don’t Want To Go Home,” solo favorites, songs written for other artists, and inventive covers of tracks made famous by Etta James, James Brown, and The Electric Flag.