Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen is set to join the lineup at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. WikiCommons

The Boss is headed back to NOLA.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, along with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder are joining the already stellar lineup for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The annual celebration will take place from Apr. 27 to May 6.

With the 2012 festival already having a full schedule of rock-heavy artists like Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and The Eagles, Quint Davis, producer/director of JazzFest, received word in early January that Springsteen wanted in.

That stood the whole thing on its axis, Davis told USA Today, but doing the impossible is something we never shy away from.

Springsteen is scheduled to close out the first week of the festival on Sunday, Apr. 29, only after John Mayer agreed to play earlier in the day and give up the closing slot.

Springsteen's last JazzFest appearance was in 2006, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His emotional performance that year brought many fans to tears as he captured the crowd with songs like, How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live, My City of Ruins and a prayerful When the Saints Go Marching In.

It seemed poetically and historically correct, Davis said of Springsteen's 2006 gig. What he did that day was transformative, one of the transcendent moments in Jazz Fest history. He put away his Boss hat and was Right Reverend Springsteen, ministering to the crowd.

The previously announced lineup includes: The Beach Boys, Zac Brown Band, Trombone Shorty, The Neville Brothers, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Ne-Yo, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, Allen Toussaint, Feist and many others.

Since 1970, the JazzFest has been graced with rock legends like Jeff Beck, Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, Jimmy Buffett and Warren Haynes, just to name a few. Over the years, the festival has celebrated the culture of Louisiana, topped with the combined performance of a gospel hymn and the joy of a jazz parade.

Tickets to the 2012 JazzFest are currently on sale through Ticketmaster and can also be purchased on the festival Web site.

For more information on The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, go to NoJazzFest.com