Bruce Springsteen & The E Street BandCount Basie Theatre, Red Bank, New Jersey
May 7, 2008
One of the greatest Springsteen shows of all time!
"We're going to do something different tonight. We're going to take the Darkness and Born To Run albums and play them in sequence for you .... so that should be interesting!"
A great benefit show for the Count Basie Theatre by the Boss and his gang where they knock out some amazing classics.
Not only that but they perform a whole album from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album!
Not only that but they perform two whole albums from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album!
These being the great "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Born To Run" albums.
To top off the night nicely, Springsteen played four great encores!
Not only that but they perform a whole album from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album!
Not only that but they perform two whole albums from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album!
These being the great "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Born To Run" albums.
To top off the night nicely, Springsteen played four great encores!
A detailed review of the gig is below, thanks to Stan Goldstein;
Wednesday night's benefit show for the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, was one of those real special Bruce Springsteen performances, one that will go down in the history books as a great, great show.
For the first time, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed a whole album from start to finish, in the order the songs appear on the album.But it wasn't just one album, it was two. Fans were treated to the entire "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album, then the entire "Born To Run" album. To cap off the night, Bruce played four fun, fun encores.
Before the show started, Patti Scialfa came out to talk to the audience. She said she goes back more than 25 years with the Count Basie Theatre. She told the crowd that she grew up in Deal, just north of Asbury Park and the movie theater she remembers was the Mayfair Theater in Asbury Park. "It was so beautiful. It has this arched ceiling with the stars and the sky. And they had little love seats in the balcony that everyone got their first kiss in. Not me though!," said Scialfa.
She said how it was so sad when the tore down the Mayfair in the early 1970s and she wants to make sure what happened to the Mayfair Theater doesn't happen to the Count Basie.
Scialfa then introduced Brian Williams of NBC News. Williams, a native of Middletown and a graduate of Mater Dei High School, said he goes way back with the Jersey Shore, to the Stone Pony and to the Tradewinds. Said he spent many a night seeing the band Fresh and hitting those places after hearing rumors that Bruce might show up and play.
He talked up Jack's Music Shoppe in Red Bank, as "they sold more rolling papers than records in the 1970s."
Williams said: "I've been all over the world and there's no better place to be than right here."
Williams then introduced Bruce who came on at 8:39 p.m. "Good evening" Bruce said to the packed house. He said: "We're going to do something different tonight. We're going to take the Darkness and Born To Run albums and play them in sequence for you.
"So that should be interesting."
Bruce said he was going to play the Darkness album first, so "we don't send you home suicidal." He talked about writing the Darkness album. How in 1977 he was livining in a house on farm in Holmdel and it was a tough period in his life. " When the band broke into "Badlands" the first song from the album, things were a bit messed up and Bruce said: "We ******* it up already."
The setlist:
1. Badlands
2. Adam Raised A Cain
3. Something In The Night
4. Candy's Room
5. Racing In The Street
6. The Promised Land
7. Factory
8. Streets Of Fire
9. Prove It All Night
10. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
They took a 15-minute break and came back to play the "Born To Run" album.
Bruce talked about how it took him six months to write and record the song "Born To Run" and another six months to finish the rest of the album. He said it was make or break time for the band, as they were in danger of being dropped from Columbia Records.
11. Thunder Road
12. Tenth Ave Freezeout
They brought out a four-pience horn section for the song. Mark Pender, La Bamba, Jerry Vivino and Ed Manion played.
Bruce jumped into the crowd during the song. He jumped off the front of the stage in front of Little Steven, then walked over, past N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine, to the left side and jumped up on seats. As the crowd swarmed him, they lifted him up a bit. It was like a 1976 show again!
13. Night
14. Backstreets
15. Born To Run
16. She's The One
17. Meeting Across The River
Beautiful trumpet on this song by Mark Pender.
18. Jungleland
Encores:
19. So Young And In Love
Bruce had a lot of fun in this. He told the band to remind him that there was an instrumental part in there somewhere.
20 Kitty's Back
All the horn players did solos.
21. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
22. Raise Your Hand
Show ended at 11:14 p.m.
Bruce also jumped up on Roy Bittan's piano several times and did some dancing up there. Bruce didn't talk between songs, he just right into one song after another.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was sitting in the front row, just off center. He left during the start of the encores.
Great show, great night. One of my top Bruce Springsteen shows of all time.
To see Bruce in a 1,500-seat theater at this stage of his career is phenomenal.
A very special night.
Tracklisting
Disc One:
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Badlands
Adam Raised A Cain
Something In The Night
Candy's Room
Racing In The Street
The Promised Land
Factory
Streets Of Fire
Prove It All Night
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Disc Two:
Born to Run
Intro
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Night
Backstreets
Born To Run
She's The One
Meeting Across The River
Jungleland
Disc Three:
Encores (Outtakes)
So Young And In Love
Kitty's Back
Rosalita
Raise Your Hand
Outro
Here be Broooccee
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2 comments:
As terrific as the concept is, I wonder how many of the concert-goers were as astonished as I was to hear th crowd turn both albums into singalongs.
Springsteen has always been able to ask for--and get--quiet when the songs require a less-than-rowdy performance space. I wonder if he could have done the same thing to protect ticket-buyers who had spent their money to hear him rather than the guys in the next seats.
Thanks for the comment!
Great point!
However, it would be nigh impossible to calm the very excited crowd given the intimate nature of the gig and the very special content.
Stan Goldstein - see review - was there and either didn't experience any problems with the audience orchestra or failed to comment upon it.
Either way, I'd have fucking loved to have been there!
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