On Wednesday May 7, Bruce Springsteen played a benefit for the Count Basie Theatre, which is a 1500 seat theater in Downtown Red Bank and one of my favorite places to see a show. Joined by the E Street Band, this was possibly the best show I have ever seen. If it wasn't the best, it was in the top three.
Before I speak about the show, I need to mention my wife. I offered to take her with me, but she selflessly stepped aside, which allowed me to attend the show with my boys, Fresh and Sammy. We met at The Dublin House along with Rich, and many others for pre-show drinks and dinner. The weather was great, we sat outside, and talked about what we expected to see. There was a rumor that Bruce was going to play the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the USA albums. I was pretty unhappy with this rumor as I thought the idea was a bit hokey, and there are plenty of songs on Born in the USA that I wouldn't be that excited to hear. Well, the rumor was partially correct.
After several introductory speeches, Bruce and the band took the stage. Bruce talked about his history with the theater dating back to the 70's and how he wanted to do something special. So, the band was going to do something they have never done before and probably never do again. They were going to play the entire Darkness album and the entire BORN TO RUN album. He said that they would play Darkness first as to not send everyone home suicidal. He then went on to talk a little bit about the Darkness album. He wrote it while living on a farm in Holmdel, and was going through a pretty difficult stretch.
The band launched in to Badlands, which is the first track. Within 5 seconds, they stopped. The goofed the opening. Bruce seemed pretty amused and announced that they fucked it up already and maybe that's why they don't do this. Bruce then counted down, the band locked in, and there wasn't another bad note to my ears the rest of the night. They ripped through and the crowd in my section was singing every line. Adam Raised A Cain ripped with Bruce's guitar work in fine form. He would take every guitar solo on the Darkness material except for one, which I will mention later.
Something in the Night absolutely rocked. The primal screams by Bruce were matched by the crowds for the first of many times. Candy's Room was played with such intensity. Racing in the Street is my favorite song on the album. The last song on side one. They nailed it. While I will always miss Danny, Charlie Giordano does a great job and Roy's piano was a perfect combination of beauty and power.
The Promised Land is a sharp contrast to Racing. I am not sure if the characters in Racing believe there is a Promised Land anymore. I do though. They played Factory true to the arrangement on the album. The original clocks in at 2:20, and I think this one was pretty close. Streets of Fire is the least played song on the album, but that didn't stop them from knocking it out the park. Prove It All Night is always one of my favorites, especially when I am sitting with Fresh. Bruce and Steven trading "Yeah" back and forth...to me, it's the core of the band. For the beginning of the song, Nils was playing an acoustic guitar. On this tour, Nils has been playing the solo on this song, so it appeared to me that they were changing it up. Having not seen it on this tour, what hit me next was jaw-dropping. Nils' solo simply shredded the audience.
Finally, Darkness on the Edge of Town closed the first set. When I saw Bruce do an acoustic show in 2003, he mentioned that the line that he focuses on in Darkness is "Tonight, I'll Be..." He explained that it was his promise to his audience. I will be here, and I will give my all. Tonight, Bruce and the E Street Band gave their all.
Darkness isn't one of my favorite albums if I was ranking them, but I couldn't have enjoyed it more. Hearing the songs in sequential order brought me back to the beginning on my fandom. Before I listened to bootlegs, I listened to the albums over and over again. I listened to them on my cd player, and I definitely listened to them on the tape deck in my car. While I was already a fan when I truly discovered Darkness, I remember connecting heavily with the record during my sophomore year of college. I guess I was 19 or 20 years old and like everyone else, I felt a little disconnected, not sure where I was going and who I was going with. This album faced those same questions.
After a 15 minute break, Bruce came back out and explained a little about Born to Run. He explained that they were on the verge of being kicked off the Columbia Records label. It took him six months to write the song and another six to record it before they had it right. He then spent time writing songs that would be good enough to be on the same album. From the harmonica beginning of Thunder Road to the final sax note, they just nailed it. The "Mighty Max" horns, Eddie "Kingfish" Manion, Jerry Vivino, La Bamba, and Mark "Love Man" Pender, joined for 10th Avenue Freeze Out. Bruce jumped down in to the crowd during the intro. His interaction with Clarence on this song has lessened in the last few years, but this night, they were as connected as ever.
Night was a straight ahead freight train, with another great solo by Clarence. Backstreets is always a show stopper for me. One of the ultimate friendship songs. "We swore, forever friends...on the backstreets until the end." Many of my best friends I have either met directly because we are Bruce fans (Andy, Jeff Koko, Sammy, Rich) or the friendship has been enhanced because of it. Born to Run always blows me away. I usually spend most of the song watching the crowd reaction as at most shows, they bring the house lights up. In such a small venue, I had no choice but to watch the crowd.
She's the One was also a runaway freight train. The band just smoked. Then came one of the truly special moments of the night. Meeting Across The River is typically played with just Roy (piano) and Gary (bass). The original recording included a very subtle, very beautiful trumpet part. I had never heard the song performed live this way, but Mark Pender came out and just killed it. It was so good, I almost never want to hear the song again unless Mark is playing the trumpet part. Jungleland was the knockout punch. The best thing about Soozie Tyrell joining the E Street Band in 2002 is the violin parts of Jungleland. Steven's guitar solo, Clarence's sax solo, Roy's piano, Max pounding the drums...and Bruce's primal scream. It was everything and more.
Without even leaving the stage, the encores started with Bruce asking for the horns to come back out. He introduced a song that was left off of Darkness and gave the band some instructions regarding the second chorus. He explained that they hadn't played it in a while and that if they were going to fuck up any part of the song, that would be it. So Young and In Love is just straight forward FUN. In my opinion, it wasn't left off of the album because it was an inferior song; it just didn't fit the theme. It's way too much fun to be on Darkness. During this song, we walked down to the fourth row as security wasn't bothering people in the aisle anymore.
Before the song started, I had predicted Kitty's Back. Well, I was off my one song. During Kitty's Back, Bruce gave each of the horn players extended solo, as well as Charlie and Roy before ripping in to his own solo. At the end, he said "Kitty's Back...and someone's with her" and repeated it again. With that, he and the band launched in to Rosalita. The extra sounds created by the horn section add so much and Bruce was having a ton of fun, even kissing his wife unexpectedly at one point. The show closed with a tremendous version of Raise Your Hand and we were sufficiently blown away.
All songs performed were written in 1978 or earlier. It was a time machine experience. To see Bruce and The E Street Band play this 1970's material in a theater was very special. As I mentioned earlier, it took me back to when I was becoming a fan. I remember listening to Born to Run a million times before I had any bootlegs. I thought there was nothing better than driving in my convertible, blasting the music and signing at the top of my lungs. Last night, I sang at the top of my lungs and it felt great. I remember being a senior in high school and really connecting with the music and the lyrics. Here was a guy who was from the same place as me, and he gets it. To me, Bruce was on a road...and I wanted to be on that road too. I have grown, and luckily, so has his music. I have been able to take it with me to different places; places where I danced with my wife on our wedding night; places where I sing to my daughter; places where I can think about my hopes for the future. Last night, it was great to get back to the beginning. To scream. To dance. And most important, to do it with friends.
The blog will have a new closing line. I am retiring, "Stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive...if you can". It's not optimistic enough and doesn't fit my personality or my life. The new closing line will be...
"It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive"...
JN
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