Here’s a sentence you probably never thought you’d read: A bar in Toms River, New Jersey, won’t allow a Bruce Springsteen cover band to perform there. And the reason has nothing to do with the actual band.
According to NJ.com, Riv’s Toms River Hub had booked a Springsteen cover band called No Surrender to perform on May 30. However, after Springsteen made headlines by criticizing President Donald Trump‘s administration from the stage in Manchester, England, bandleader Brad Hobicorn got a text from the bar owner, Tony Rivoli, telling him the gig was canceled.
According to Hobicorn, Rivoli told him it was “too risky at the moment” to have them play, because his customers are conservative. When Hobicorn offered to simply play classic rock songs, Rivoli said he wouldn’t pay them their fee for that.
“Unfortunately it’s just too much money,” Rivoli texted Hobicorn. “We would have done well but now because Bruce can’t keep his mouth shut we’re screwed.”
In a separate message to bass player Guy Fleming, Rivoli wrote, “Whenever the national anthem plays, my bar stands and is in total silence, that’s our clientele. Toms River is red and won’t stand for his bulls***.”
Hobicorn said that after Fleming revealed what happened in a Facebook post, Rivoli reached out and denied he’d canceled the gig. But the band decided not to play due to safety concerns and the “negative vibes.”
“This is not political for us at all,” Hobicorn said Thursday. “We’re just a cover band that’s trying to make some money and people rely on it financially. We’re the ones really getting hurt.”
Rivoli told NJ.com that he would have let the band play, adding, “I think a lot of people of my base would not have came, but I could have been wrong.”
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