By Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band this week released the first series of additional tour dates for 2008, which will start Feb. 28 in Hartford, CT and wrap up April 30 in Charlottesville, VA.

The current leg of the tour, which finished in the States earlier this week and will take the band to Europe through the middle of December, has been a rousing success, in part due to the strength of Springsteen’s 23rd album, “Magic.” The critically acclaimed album was released Oct. 2 on Columbia Records and debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. In addition, the tour consistently has been among the top-selling, according to TicketNews’ exclusive weekly rankings.

“Magic” has been certified double platinum in Norway; platinum in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Holland and Sweden; and gold in Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. It was number one on the charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the U.S. and the pan-European chart.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2008 tour itinerary:

February 28 Hartford, CT HCC Arena
March 2 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
March 3 Hamilton, ONT Copps Coliseum
March 6 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
March 7 Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena
March 10 Hempstead, NY Nassau Coliseum
March 14 Omaha, NE Quest Center
March 16 St. Paul, MN Xcel Center
March 17 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
March 20 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
March 22 Cincinnati, OH U.S. Bank Arena
March 24 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
March 28 Portland, OR The Rose Garden
March 29 Seattle, WA Key Arena
March 31 Vancouver, BC GM Place
April 4 Sacramento, CA Arco Arena
April 5 San Jose, CA HPPavillion at San Jose
April 7-8 Anaheim, CA Honda Center

April 13 Dallas, TX TBA
April 14 Houston, TX TBA
April 18 Ft Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center
April 19 Orlando, FL Amway Arena
April 21 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
April 25 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
April 27 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Bobcat Arena
April 28 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
April 30 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena

(The image accompanying this story is from USInfo.state.gov)