With the Bruce Springsteen tour coming up right around the corner, it’s not hard to say what my most anticipated day in early 2016 is going to be.

When the Boss announced his River 2016 Tour in November, fans all around the country began comping at the bit to figure out if the Superstar was coming to their city. The tour begins on January 16^th in Pittsburgh and ends in March 17^th when the Boss plays in Los Angeles, and has a total of 22 stops around the country.

This tour will revisit Bruce’s The River album that was released in 1980, and while playing the hits from that historic album, he will of course play the all-time classics that fans have come to know and love for over 40 years.

Although Bruce won’t come to Cincinnati in this tour, he will visit both Louisville and Cleveland, which are within four hours of driving. As a die-hard fan of the E-Street Band, I am fired up to see Bruce for my third time this year. My friends and I said we would travel up to four hours to see Bruce again, and we will do just that this year.

Seeing Bruce for the first time during his High Hopes Tour two years ago, he met my expectations and then some. He was so good live that my friends and I decided to jump back  into the car two weeks later and head up to Columbus to see the Boss again, and it was the trip of a life time.

The modern generation seems to have a taste for pop and rap music, but I am proud to say I was raised to love and appreciate rock and roll and have grown to follow my family’s footsteps and fell in love with Springsteen when I was in grade school.

Bruce has been way more than just an artist in my family, he’s been a way of life. My mom and aunt have a special love for the legend, and I couldn’t help but to listen to him myself when I was 13 to see what all the talk was about. Greatest decision I’ve ever made when it comes to music.

My aunt Kelly Nie has been a Bruce aficionado since she was a high school when Bruce was just beginning, and says she’s seen him live around 20 times.

“My friends and I would travel all over the Midwest to see him when we were younger,” Kelly said. “He was amazing every single time, and I’m proud to say I’ve seen him more than anyone else I know.”

Searching for gifts around Christmas time, I came across Bruce Springsteen’s The Ties That Bind box collection and knew it had my mom written all over it. In anticipation for the upcoming concert we’re going too, I thought this would be a perfect pregame for my mom (and myself). This collection includes a plethora of items Bruce fanatics drool over, including multiple concert DVD’s from the eighties, interviews, concert posters, and much more. I’ll be honest, as soon as my mom opened this gift I opened it up and watched it before she even did, and it couldn’t have made me any more excited for the concert.

Bruce plays in Louisville on the 21^st of February (Sunday night) and in Cleveland the following Tuesday. If you’re a fan of the Boss, I highly suggested getting some friends and family in the car and head to one of these locations, you won’t regret it.