Springsteen with his wife, Patti Scialfa, and the E Street Band, including Danny Federici, far left, who died last month.

Bruce Springsteen fans who paid $1,000 or more per seat for his May 7 fundraiser at the Count Basie Theatre next week are in for an earful: the Star-Ledger reports that instead of a solo performance by Springsteen, this will be a full-on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band show.

The Sledger doesn’t cite its source, and there’s no mention of the change on either Springsteen’s website or in an email the Basie sent to subscibers yesterday. Consistent with billing since the concert was announced March 6, that missive described the show as “An Evening with Bruce Springsteen,” with no mention of his sizable stage entourage.

Ditto for the fanzine Backstreets.

But Sledger music writer Jay Lustig speculates that:

It’s possible that the April 17 death of E Street keyboardist Danny Federici contributed to Springsteen’s decision to add the band. This will be Springsteen’s first New Jersey concert since Federici died, and the presence of the band could help make the show, in part, a tribute.

While the change will no doubt delight many of the 1,500 or so ticketholders, we have to wonder: what about those folks who anted up with the expectation that their eardrums would be spared the assault of a rock concert? Or will Springsteen accommodate them with a softer show?

We have no fresh info at this hour on ticket availability. The last time we checked (three weeks ago), there were 200 pairs of seats left, at $1,000 per pair.

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