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Newark Star Ledger
May 08, 2008 1:43AM
Bruce Springsteen waves as he sings at the Count Basie Theatre Wednesday, May 7, 2008, in Red Bank, N.J., as he and the E Street Band play a benefit concert for the renovation of the Count Basie Theatre.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
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.
Patti Scialfa claps her hands as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play a benefit concert for the renovation of the Count Basie Theatre Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Red Bank, N.J.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
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."
Bruce Springsteen looks on as Clarence Clemons plays the saxophone as Springsteen and the E Street Band play a benefit concert for the renovation of the Count Basie Theatre Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Red Bank, N.J.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
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.
Bruce Springsteen sings as he and the E Street Band play a benefit concert for the renovation of the Count Basie Theatre Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Red Bank, N.J.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
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 some where.
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.
A trip down Memory Lane for Springsteen, E Street Band
By Kelly-Jane Cotter
Asbury Park Press
May 8, 2008
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band so thoroughly rocked Count Basie Theatre Wednesday night that it seemed as if the noble old venue might crumble.
The set list was a music geek's dream as Springsteen brought to life his classic 1978 album "Darkness On The Edge of Town" in sequence, track by track.
Springsteen said he had been looking at photos from the band's six-night engagement at the Red Bank theater in 1976 when it was known as the Monmouth Arts Center. He was then inspired to do "something different for this show."
The concert, the brainchild of E Street Band guitarist and Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa, was a benefit show for the Red Bank landmark. Scialfa is honorary chairwoman of the theater's capital campaign.
Fans paid at least $1,000 per ticket in an online auction. Proceeds from ticket sales and other donations raised $3 million for renovations to the theater and other programs.
A donation also paid for 37 wounded veterans to be bused to the concert from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The veterans received a standing ovation almost as lengthy as the one given the band.
The musicians put their hearts into every song, leading to many memorable moments, such as guitarist Nils Lofgren spinning in circles while playing "Prove It All Night."
Roy Bittan's elegant work on the piano also stood out, especially during "Racing In The Street" and "The Promised Land," as did drummer Max Weinberg's tension-filled opening on "Candy's Room."
Members of the Max Weinberg 7 provided brass instrumentation.
The evening also was historic because it was the band's first local performance since the April death of keyboardist Danny Federici.
The band currently is touring to promote the "Magic" album.
Patti Scialfa talks about her fondness for the the Count Basie Theatre before Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play a benefit concert for the renovation of the Count Basie Theatre Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Red Bank, N.J.
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Corzine in audience
After an uncharacteristic 10-minute intermission, the band returned and played every track on its 1975 album "Born To Run," the crowd favorite "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," and more.
That must have pleased Gov. Corzine, who attended the show.
"This is rock 'n' roll history at its best, right here" Corzine said before the concert.
He added, "I tend to like the earlier stuff, though the Sept. 11 album — "The Rising" — really affected me, too."
Also in attendance was NBC News anchor and Middletown native Brian Williams, who introduced the band and reminisced on stage about growing up in the days of the Red Bank mini-mall and "when Jack's sold more rolling papers than records."
The set for the first half of the show was "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" and "Darkness On The Edge Of Town."
The set for the second half was "Thunder Road," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out," "Night," "Backstreets," "Born To Run," "She's The One," "Meeting Across The River," "Jungleland" "So Young And In Love," "Kitty's Back," "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" and "Raise Your Hand."
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