Bruce plays Hope Show in Red Bank
Posted by Stan Goldstein December 23, 2008 2:04AM
Categories: Concerts
Another magical night at the Jersey Shore.
http://blog.nj.com/springsteen/2008/..._in_red_b.html
I guess you could call this Bruce Springsteen's 2008 Christmas show as he played with Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Gary U.S. Bonds and Nicole Atkins at the Hope Show at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Monday night.
Bruce as in a great mood, in great shape and really playing like he was in the middle of a tour.
Jumping around the stage, leaping with the guitar, working all sides of the stage and smiling throughout
I'll start with the Bruce stuff first, as this is what I'm sure most people want to read about and finish up with other thoughts on the show.
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Here's an excellent Youtube clip of Bruce doing 10th Avenue Freeze-out with Bon Jovi from the show.
There was very little buzz around the Jersey Shore about Bruce playing this show this year.
He did play it in 2006, did not play it last year, and most people I talked to didn't even bring it up that we would see him this year. Of course it was a possibility, but when a friend called me at 5 p.m. today and said "Bruce is playing tonight" I was genuinely surprised.
It was 10:20 p.m. when Bruce first came on stage. Bon Jovi, wearing a red T-Shirt that said "Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes" on the front and "Stone Pony 1976" on the back said to the crowd, "Do I hear that sound?" And people starting Brooocing. "It's not Santa," said Bon Jovi "It's a lot better than Santa" and out from the right -side stage came Bruce.
He was wearing a black shirt and jeans and is in great shape. Bruce came out with the electric guitar, Bon Jovi was playing an acoustic and they broke into
1. "Run, Run Rudolph."
Bruce did some amazing guitar work. There were eight horn players backing them up on the song.
Bon Jovi did the majority of the vocals and Bruce came up to the center microphone to sing the "Run Run Rudolph" part a few times.
The crowd at Count Basie was going nuts.
Bruce said "Ho, Ho, Ho" into the microphone after the song and "Thank you, Jon!"
Next up was
2. Merry Christmas Baby.
Bruce worked the stage well and Mark Pender and other horn players did solos.
3. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Bruce brought out Southside Johnny for this one. "It's the Grinch!" said Bruce
I wrote down in my notebook: "Bruce is in great spirits, he's really jumping around."
A Santa Claus did come out and Bruce even started to dance around with him. A lot of fun as it always is.
LaBamba, who was on crutches, came down to the front mic to do "Better be good for goodness sakes part."
Bruce then said to Bobby Bandiera, "what key are we in" and he said to the horn section "634-5789."
4. 634-5789
The Wilson Pickett tune which Bruce has played at the school benefit shows at the Stone Pony in past years.
During the song, a blonde woman jumped on stage and starting dancing next to Bruce. Bruce looked a bit surprised and yelled, half jokingly "Security!" She was dancing next to Bruce for about a minute or so when he finally scooped her up (just like he did with girls after they danced with him during Dancing In the Dark in the 1980s) and deposited her back in the front row.
I think Bruce was a bit upset by her being on stage and not realizing her 15 seconds of fame was up, so he took care of it himself since no security did come out to the stage to get rid of her.
Next up was:
5. 10th Avenue Freeze-out
Really great with the huge horn section. Nicole Atkins was one of the back-up singers for the song and Bon Jovi came out and sang the song with Bruce. At the start of the song, Bruce swung back from the mic stand and almost lost his balance, Bon Jovi started laughing.
Bon Jovi did most of the lead vocals and he and Bruce were really into it.
When Jon sang the part "When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band" both Bruce and Jon searched around the stage as if they were looking for the "Big Man".
Bruce and Bon Jovi were arm and arm at the end and at 10:50 p.m. they left the stage.
The fans were going nuts and wanted an encore.
Everyone, but Bon Jovi, came back out for:
6. Having A Party
Southside and Bruce did the lead vocals, Gary U.S. Bonds also. Lots of fun.
At one point, Mark Pender, Chris Anderson and one of the other horn players, went up to the front of the center balcony and started playing from there.
A real great, Jersey Shore music finale.
Show was over at 11 p.m.
Bruce was really having a lot of fun out there and makes us all excited about the 2009 tour.
As for the rest of the evening:
The show began exactly at 8 p.m. with Tim McLoone and the Shirleys doing a few Christmas songs. Tim is a Jersey Shore institution, especially at Christmas time, and they did about five songs.
There was then some speeches about how the show raised $250,000 for the Parker Family
Health Center in Red Bank.
They also announced the winner of a raffle for an autographed guitar.
Brian Fallon played next and did a couple of songs. Nice set.
Bobby Bandiera came out and talked to the crowd.
He said "It's going to be a fun show. The cats are hanging and waiting in the wings."
Bobby introduced Nicole Atkins who sang "Be My Baby" and "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree."
I would have liked to have seen Nicole do a couple more songs.
The backing band all night included Bandiera, Bob Burger, Joe Bellia, Ray Andersen, Kevin Kavanaugh, Tony Tino, Mike Mancini, Mike Mahoney and others. On backup vocals were Lisa Bouchelle, Maureen McCrink and Layonne Holmes.
There was then some 1960s songs sung including "Monday, Monday," The Doors' "Touch Me," "White Rabbit" (sung nicely by Lisa Bouchelle) and "Someone to Love."
At 9:20 p.m, Southside Johnny came out to join Bobby Bandiera on "Come On Caroline."
Ten minutes later, Gary U.S. Bonds came out and began with "Action In the Streets." Yes, the Bruce song from the 1970s. Great job by the horn section on this. Gary also did a couple other songs including "This Little Girl." Would have been nice if Bruce came out on that song.
Southside Johnny and the entire Jukes took the stage at 9:55 p.m. and started with "You Don't Know, Like I Know."
He then played a song from his new Tom Waits album, "Down, Down Down" (great with all the horns) and then did "I Don't Want to Go Home."
Bon Jovi then came out to sing "This Time It's For Real" with Southside. Jon was wearing that red Jukes T-shirt that I described earlier.
Next up was Bon Jovi who had a violin player with him. Jeff Kazee and Kevin Kavnaugh were on the keyboards.
Jon looked great also and started with "Lost Highway." He later said, "I hope you've all been good in these crazy times. But we're in for some exciting times ahead so lets say goodbye to 2008. And it's good to be home in New Jersey.
"
Jon then performed :Blue Christmas" and followed that up with "Who Says You Can't Go Home."
It was now 10:20 p.m. and Jon then introduced Bruce. I was kindof surprised Bruce came on this early. He didn't take the stage at the 2006 Hope Show til 11:20 p.m.
Overall, it was a three-hour show, but I would say the best Hope Show of the last three. Very high energy throughout and Bruce was on top of his game tonight. Maybe not the best five-six songs people wanted to hear from him, but I don't think anyone left the Count Basie Theatre disappointed tonight.
12-23-2008, 04:21 PM
