1/31/98 - Come Together...

Ten years ago today, Jon Bon Jovi organized a concert to benefit the Sgt. Patrick King Memorial Fund. Sgt. King was a Long Branch police officer who was murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time while wearing a police uniform. The concert raised money for his family, his children and their educations. While the concert may have been organized to help a fallen police officer, the show itself was a celebration of music, life, and friendship.

Looking back, I can't believe that it was only 10 years ago. At the time, my world was a different place, and the world itself was a different place. I was 23 years old, having just returned from a Cancun vacation with Ira (who I am still friends with) and Adam (who I am not still friends with) and was working for my family down the shore. The numbers 9-11 didn't yet have any meeting, the internet wasn't the driving force in the world, and people carried pagers and had no idea what a text message was.

The musicians took over The Paramount Theater in Asbury Park on the Thursday preceding the show for an all day rehearsal. Since I had some flexibility in my schedule that afternoon, I went down to the theater to see what was going on. While I was there, I met Matt Bon Jovi, Jon's brother. I offered to bring some food in from The WindMill for the guys and the next thing I knew, I was on bringing three huge bags of hot dogs, burgers, and fries through the stage door. While I wasn't able to stay long enough to see much, I was there long enough to see Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres, Bobby Bandiera, and some of the other musicians starting to run through a song that I had never heard. Then, Little Steven walked through the stage door and I was in total awe. He took the lead on this amazing song that I had never heard, but would later find out was "Until The Good Is Gone" off of his Men Without Women album. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, but I knew that I had tickets to the show two nights later (thanks to Ticketmaster New Mexico).

That show really changed music for me. I had seen great shows before, but nothing like this. I can still see the opening of the show in my mind. Danny DeVito did a little intro (he probably couldn't get a ticket otherwise), and at the end he said, "Are you ready? Because This Time It's For Real" and with that the curtain rose. A wall of sound erupted...horns, drums, guitars...and four men walked with amazing purpose towards two microphones at the front of the stage. Southside Johnny, Jon Bon Jovi, Little Steven, and Bruce. Jersey Shore Music royalty.

They shared vocals on Southside's This Time It's For Real with Johnny doing the first half of first verse, JBJ the second half...all four on the chorus...then Little Steven the first half of the second verse, and then Bruce with the second half...and the show was a freight train running down the tracks from the opening song.

From there, the band launched directly in to Two Hearts, which is still one of my favorite Bruce songs and at that time, I had never seen live in a full band version. Bruce and Little Steven shared the mic on that song for the first time since 1984 and for me, it was pure magic even though I was in the last row of the Count Basie Theater. Bad Medicine was next with Southside helping JBJ with the second verse and on a mean harp. From there, Bruce and Steven were back in the spotlight for Until The Good Is Gone. Seeing these great musicians take such joy in playing with each other is what I took away most from the night. 10th Avenue Freeze Out was next with JBJ singing the second verse and Clarence Clemons coming out for his solo mid-song to a raucous applause. Then Southside and JBJ sang duet on Broken Down Piece of Man.

Richie Sambora took center stage next for Hard Times Come Easy, a song off of his forthcoming album Undiscovered Soul, followed by Patti Scialfa with her contribution, Love's Glory. Southside then sang an old tune, There Goes My Baby with the horns. From there, Little Steven stole the show. He announced that Southside loaned him a few songs for the night, which was pretty funny considering that Steven actually wrote all of them. They launched in to Baby's Gone For Good with Johnny singing back up. Steven was amazing. You Give Love a Bad Name was shared by JBJ and Bruce, and while Bruce didn't nail it, it was still a lot of fun. Next up was a straightforward version of Promised Land followed by Little Steven taking back another of his songs from Southside, All I Needed Was You. Some straightforward versions of Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (Southside tried...but wasn't great), Bobby Jean (not yet ruined for me by the 99-00 tour), and Blood on Blood followed. During Blood on Blood, my Uncle Steven, forever thinking about me, came upstairs and allowed me and Andy to switch seats with him and go down to the 9th row. Amazing!

What happened next was the coolest song of the night. Someone in the front yelled out for The Fever. Southside said that they hadn't rehearsed it and that it would be a disaster. That didn't stop JBJ from signing a line...and then Johnny sang the first line and Bobby and Rusty Cloud followed along. Bruce wandered on stage and La Bamba was waving for Clarence to join them on stage also. Southside did the first verse and the first chorus and then said, "Bruce...one time" and Bruce took over for the second verse with Clarence singing his parts in the chorus. It was completely off the cuff and amazing.

After that, the band launched directly in to Working Too Hard with Southside and JBJ singing their parts just like on the album with Little Queenie being thrown in for good measure. I Don't Wanna Go Home was next and it was time for everyone to share the stage again, similar to the first song with everyone taking a turn for part of a verse. I remember thinking that the show must be starting to wind down. Wow, was I wrong. It's Been A Long Time followed with Southside, Little Steven, and Bruce sharing the vocals similar to the album version. "Just one coat between us and we never felt cold, yeah we were never gonna get old." The only difference was the schtick at the end, which culminated in Clarence being crowned The King of New Jersey.

The encores started with Wanted Dead or Alive and Bruce again taking a crack at helping out JBJ. He did a much better job the second time around and followed it up with a straightforward version of Backstreets. It was really my first time seeing Bruce play a lot of these songs with some of the E Street Band guys, Clarence, Steven, Max and Danny. One of the funniest lines of the night came next. After Backstreets, Little Steven said, "Notice how I get to follow all the Bruce songs...G-d damn Bon Jovi". That would have worked except that Steven really stole the show all night and the next song was no exception. "If I give you my heart, would you love me forever?" and the horns exploded. Forever was one of the night's highlights for me. Living on a Prayer and Badlands followed and then Little Steven stole the show again with I Played The Fool. At the beginning, he introduced each of the Miami Horns and had them do an extended intro to the song. He was a true showman that night.

Keep The Faith and Born To Run were supposed to end the night, but everyone was having a good time, so they improvised from there. Rocking All Over The World was next and I remember JBJ having to feed Bruce the words to the second verse. JBJ took the lead for Treat Her Right and then Southside started Havin' A Party, but he was overruled. A long on stage debate ensued and they finally agreed on Thunder Road. Southside tried to help with the second verse, but he butchered the first few lines so JBJ nudged him aside and took over, "Well I'm no hero..." All of the musicians were effusive in their praise of each other at the end...thanking JBJ for putting it together...thanking Bobby for rehearsing the band. It was just an amazing night.

I said earlier that this show changed music for me. It did because in my mind, this show is what music is supposed to be. The joy on stage, the camaraderie between all of the musicians, the spontaneity, the power...it was all there that night. As great as "tours" can be, there is something about a one off show that can't be replicated night after night, no matter who it is. I have seen better versions of most of the songs performed that night, certainly the Bruce songs, but this show will always be special to me. There have been shows in the same theater, with most of the same guys, but none have approached this show. I hope that someday they all decide to do it again...the same way...like a freight train and I hope I am there with Andy again. He and I used to go to a lot of shows together, but life intervenes. I hope we will find an excuse this summer and I am looking forward to it.

One last VERY important note. Tonight is starting a new anniversary. My daughter has graduated from her bassinet and is sleeping in her crib for the first time.

That's all for today..."Stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can..."

JN