Bruce Springsteen rocks Asbury Park

(Dan Bracaglia/For The Star-Ledger)

It's a show fans lucky to be at the sold-out Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park on Saturday night will not soon forget. Bruce Springsteen played for close to two hours with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers at part of Light of Day 12 to benefit Parkinson's Disease.

Springsteen also played with two other artists and played a magical acoustic "Incdent on 57th Street" before joining Joe Grushecky and his band. By the time, the show ended at 2:10 a.m., with the crowd singing along on an acoustic "Thunder Road," fans walked away knowing they had just witnessed a great night of music.

It was a fun, loose and determined Springsteen performing a 16-song set. He looked ready and set to begin his world tour with the E Street Band coming up in two months. Bruce's first appearance of the evening was when he joined Garland Jeffreys for "Wild in the Streets." He later joined Willie Nile for a very powerful "One Guitar."

Springsteen began his own set shortly after midnight on acoustic guitar with:  

1. Incident on 57th Street
Crowd was singing along. Very well done. Bruce left the stage and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers came on to perform "East Carson Street." Bruce then came back on stage to join the band for

2. Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce played to the crowd and was right down to the edge of the stage.

3. Never be Enough Time

A Grushecky song. Bruce and Joe traded lead vocals.

4. Adam Raised a Cain

Bruce welcome the crowd to Light of Day and then took some tequila and "blessed the crowd" up front. "I got here early and got to see a lot of good music tonight. Willie Nile, John Eddie they just get better and better," Springsteen said of two of the evening's early performers. "Then to see an acoustic Southside Johnny (Southside Johnny and the Poor Fools had played earlier). It was a shock to the system to see Southside on guitar. There's something wrong with that picture." Springsteen then introduced the next song by saying "this is something I began writing for 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' and I just finished it."

5. Save My Love


6. Talking To the King

After finishing, Bruce talked about Grushecky and the Houserockers being disappointed that their Pittsburgh Steelers were knocked out of the NFL playoffs last week. But he continued "tomorrow, there's going to be a Big Blue train! I got a feeling" referring to the Giants playing the Packers on Sunday. 

 7. Atlantic City

Bruce asked the crowd three times "Are we coming back?" during the song. First time I've ever seen him do that. With his new album reportedly being "angry" with the current state of affairs, I wonder if this is one of the themes we'll see on the upcoming tour. 

8. Johnny 99 

This was a lot of fun. Bruce was all over the stage and playing to the people up front. He jumped up next to the piano and started playing it with his foot and then his butt. He later jumped up on the drum riser and leaned back onto the drum kit. He was having a good time.

9. I'm Not Sleeping

A song he wrote with Grushecky.

10. Because the Night

Bruce brought three of the evenings earlier performers -- John Eddie, Garland Jeffreys and Willie Nile -- up to sing background. Before playing the next song, Bruce said "I'm usually it bed by now. I still got one (child) in the house and I'm making pancakes. I'm a short-order cook. In addition to the guitar, I'm still a chauffeur and a short-order cook. "And when I step off the stage, I have a red-headed woman who reminds me of that!" 

11. Waiting on a Sunny Day

Bruce jumped into the audience. He went back a couple rows and one point dove head first into the crowd and then dove backward. He later played up on the drum riser again.

12. Pumping Iron

Max Weinberg came out to play the drums for the remainder of the show starting with:

13. Light of Day 

The theme of the entire four days of shows in Asbury Park. Many of the night's musicians joined in for this. After the song, Light of Day founder Bob Benjamin of Highland Park joined Bruce onstage. Bruce asked Bob how they met and Bob said it was in Buffalo at the start of the "Darkness' tour in 1978. "I was at the hotel being a stalker," Benjamin said. Bruce said he was selling merchandise for the first time on that tour and asked Bob about what he should sell ("what did I know?"). He also remembered Bob asking him if he saw that "Elvis Costello had said something bad about him in an article." 

14. The Promised Land

Great version. A birthday cake was brought out for Benjamin and Bruce led a singalong of "Happy Birthday." Benjamin then spoke how Light of Day has grown "from a concert to a festival."

15. Twist and Shout

Always fun.

16. Thunder Road (acoustic)

This has been the way Bruce has closed the few shows that he has done the past couple of years. Will be interesting to see if he does it on the upcoming E Street Band tour. This was the ninth time (out of 12 years) that Springsteen has performed at a Light of Day show. 

Source: Stan Goldstein - Star Ledger -
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