Stevie Van Zandt, a principle architect of the “Jersey Shore” sound and a founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, has announced his return to Europe this summer, including dates in Ireland and the UK for the “Soulfire TeachRock Tour 2018” following a successful run of European shows last year. The tour will see Van Zandt (also known as Little Steven) and his 14-person band, The Disciples Of Soul, kick off things on June 28 in Dublin. They will perform shows in Liverpool, Whitley Bay, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and Norway, before the finale at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on July 27. “I can’t get back to Europe often enough. I love it all,” says Van Zandt.
The tour will also benefit The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation’s TeachRock programme. Established by Dr. Van Zandt (woooo! – he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Rutgers University), the Foundation creates education materials that use the history of popular music to create engaging, multicultural lesson plans for history, social studies, language arts, music, and science classrooms, all of which are available to educators at no cost. This marks the first-ever rock tour specifically geared towards addressing this societal need. At each stop of the tour, The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation is also hosting free TeachRock Professional Development Workshops, with educators who attend receiving a complimentary ticket to that evening’s concert. As Van Zandt explains, “Music will forever be humanity’s most effective and consistent source of inspiration and motivation, and we have learned, music turns out to be our most solid common ground for establishing communication between teachers and students which is where education begins.” Don’t worry, it won’t be compulsory. As well as the tour, there’ll be a new live album entitled Soulfire LIVE! available digitally from tomorrow.
Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul UK/Ireland Dates 2018
THU JUNE 28 – DUBLIN, IRELAND – BUTTON FACTORY
SAT JUNE 30 – LIVERPOOL, UK – O2 ACADEMY
MON JULY 2 – WHITLEY BAY, UK – MOUTH OF THE TYNE FESTIVAL
FRIDAY JULY 27 – LONDON, UK – SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE
