May 02, 2026
Tanya Breen/Imagn Images
Bruce Springsteen played for more than three hours in Newark a few weeks ago.
Excited to see Bruce Springsteen this coming Friday? You might have to be flexible if you're ready to pump your fist to Badlands, because things at Xfinity Mobile Arena are getting a little crazy this weekend.
After the Sixers' impressive Game 7 win in Boston Saturday night, the schedule for their second round series has already been determined. They'll play at Madison Square Garden on Monday and Wednesday nights and then return home to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.
Springsteen, who kicked off his Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour back in late March, is slated to take the stage at 7:30 p.m. on May 8. The Sixers and Knicks are tipping off just after 7 p.m. If that schedule is out already, the NBA is probably taking precedence.
Springsteen fans purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster were notified that postseason scheduling could require the concert to be postponed or cancelled when they got their seats. It looks like that's about to happen.
The problem is, the Flyers are still alive and kicking as well, and they're playing their own Games 3 and 4 in South Philly on Thursday and Saturday nights respectively. So they can't simply move it back a day.
The next open date for Springsteen to play in Philly would be Monday, May 11 — the day he'll be playing Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
His politically charged tour is purposefully planning to wrap up with a final date in Washington, D.C. on May 27, leaving limited time for this show to be rescheduled. He's playing shows every two or three nights for the next three weeks.
Could they simply move his show to another venue? It happened with Florence + The Machine earlier in this spring postseason, with a Flyers playoff game forcing the band to move their show to Atlantic City. Finding a similarly sized venue might be tough with this short notice, unless he plays outdoors somewhere (Friday is currently looking to be sunny with a high of 66 degrees, it'll be in the 50s after the sun goes down).
It's quite the conundrum — and one Philly sports fans are probably not feeling sorry about. Springsteen will find a way to play in front of the Philadelphia faithful one way or another.
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