Concert in Nj Arts Center Where Bruce Filled in for South Side Johnny

RED Banking concern - Ringo Starr famously sang that he got past "with a little assistance from my friends."

Xl years agone, an bilious Southside Johnny Lyon received a boost from friends Bruce Springsteen and Trivial Steven Van Zandt, who joined with Ronette Ronnie Spector and several E Street Ring members to fill in at three memorable shows in Red Bank.

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"It was ultimately not a concert by Southside Johnny, but for him, from his friends with love," wrote Asbury Park Press reporter Steven Lubetkin in his review of the outset of the three shows, which took place on May 12, 1977, at the Monmouth Arts Eye (now the Count Basie Theatre).

Originally, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were scheduled to play ii shows a dark – at 7:30 and 11 p.m. – with tickets priced at $6.fifty each.

The Jukes were promoting their second album, "This Time It'due south For Real." Released a month before, the album was produced by Van Zandt, who too wrote the majority of songs on the record, including two co-writes with Springsteen.

But ticket sales were initially wearisome.

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"At that place were supposed to be two shows each night, which were a lot of seats for the Jukes to fill... too many," said Billy Smith, then a senior at Neptune Loftier School, and afterwards co-owner, with Stephen Bumball, of the Asbury Park Rock and Curlicue Museum. "Sales were slow for both shows on the 12th."

And then, to make matters worse, Southside got strep throat.

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"He had a throat issue, and couldn't sing," said concert promoter Tony Pallagrosi, then a 22-year-old trumpet actor with the Asbury Jukes. "He suffered from that a lot at that time."

What to do?

Enter a few of Southside's friends.

They were billed equally the Asbury Park All-Star Revue, a super group that included Little Steven – then known every bit Miami Steve – Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band, along with the Jukes.

Van Zandt took charge of the expanded group, which was formed at the last minute as information technology became clear Southside was too ill to perform.

The 2 shows planned for May 12 were combined into one operation scheduled for midnight, and ticket holders for both concerts were invited to attend.

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"This not improbable collection of people was out to save the evening if possible," Lubetkin wrote in the Press. It seems to take worked.

For most of the night, Miami Steve fronted the Jukes, taking over lead vocals, with Springsteen, wearing a Hawaiian shirt that Pallagrosi said, "either Steven or Obie (Dziedzic) fabricated him wear."

Van Zandt took the lead on a full set of Jukes' tunes, mostly from the group's new album, including "This Fourth dimension It's For Real," "Without Love," "She Got Me Where She Wants Me," and "Love on the Wrong Side of Town."

"I loved seeing Miami Steve sing those great Jukes songs," Billy Smith said.

Smith said of the May 12 bear witness, "It turned out that this was the best show by far, with Bruce bringing out the E Street Band at the end for a four-vocal set."

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Those iv songs: "Thunder Road," "Rendezvous," "Backstreets," and "Born to Run."

And of course, there was Ronnie Spector.

"Ronnie Spector broke the two main sets with proof that she was not simply the atomic number 82 vocaliser of the Ronettes, she WAS the Ronettes," Lubetkin wrote.

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Spector'southward  sizzling set included Ronettes' classics like "Babe, I Honey You," "Walking in the Rain," and "Be My Babe," along with "Say Goodbye to Hollywood," the Billy Joel cover she had recently recorded with the E Street Band.

She also dueted with Springsteen on "You Mean And so Much to Me."

And Spector's low-cut, oftentimes see-through outfits were likewise an attraction.

"Playing with Ronnie Spector was a lot of fun," Pallagrosi said. "I loved her voice, I loved her outfits, I got to play a solo on one of her songs. It doesn't go much ameliorate than that."

My friend Stan Goldstein as a sixteen-year-sometime junior at Neptune High Schoolhouse who had tickets for the Jukes' tardily show on May 13.

"When I walked into Neptune High Schoolhouse … that Friday forenoon one of my classmates came running up to me all excited saying 'Stan! We saw Bruce Springsteen final nighttime! Southside Johnny was ill and Bruce and Miami Steve did all the lead vocals,'" Goldstein remembered.

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"She told me Bruce had done four songs, including 'Backstreets,' 'Thunder Road' and 'Born to Run' and information technology was such a nifty evidence. I think being very excited all mean solar day at school and couldn't wait to go Carmine Bank that dark," he said.

Once he arrived exterior the Monmouth Arts Heart, his friend Billy Smith filled him in, telling him Southside was still ill, and Steven and Bruce would exist performing.

Although he had seen Springsteen and the E Street Ring a yr before, it was that night in 1977, Goldstein said, that he start realized "the power Bruce had over an audience. He just took command of the stage and was the center of attention."

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During the encores of that second show, Springsteen played "Thunder Road," and Jackie Wilson's hit, "College and Higher," backed by the E Street Band.

"He kept telling us we had to sing 'higher' and nosotros certain did," Goldstein said. "I had seen Bruce the twelvemonth before for the showtime time, but this was the night I ever say I got my 'Springsteen calling.'" I became fully aware at this show that he was the best entertainer on the planet."

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In his review of the May 12 show, Lubetkin described the performance as "an Asbury Park musical masterpiece."

"Information technology is nights similar last night that demonstrate the true love that musicians have for each other," Lubetkin wrote.

In his review of the May 12 prove, Lubetkin described the performance as "an Asbury Park musical masterpiece."

"It is nights like last dark that demonstrate the truthful dear that musicians have for each other," Lubetkin wrote.

Smith said that all three shows "displayed the esprit that began at the Upstage," the Asbury Park club where musicians like Springsteen, Van Zandt and Lyon jammed every night from 1 to v a.thousand.

"The show must become on, and so permit'south all get together and play!" Smith said.

Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050, jmikle@gannettnj.com

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Source: https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/05/12/when-bruce-springsteen-and-little-steven-filled-southside-johnny/318489001/

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