For You

Love of the Game

Sunday, September 15, 2024 Entry #106

Back the Sea.Hear.Now festival on the beach in Asbury Park, the Trey Anastasio Band finished up their set, which featured a surprise appearance by Bruce Springsteen (see Entry #105). The crowd at the Surf Stage swelled, anticipating Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming headlining set. But, with an hour before that event, there were still bands playing on the two other festival stages, One of those was The Gaslight Anthem, like Trey and The Boss, playing on home turf (the band originated in New Brunswick, NJ). Also like Trey, the members of The Gaslight Anthem are self-professed Springsteen fans. The word most often used to describe their music is “anthemic” (living up to their name), and it sounds to my ears like punked-up Springsteen. All of this got the attention of T[he Boss, and Springsteen duetted with Gaslight Anthem’s singer-guitarist Brian Fallow on the band’s 2023 single, “History Books.”

If I was waiting for any other act, I would have gladly made my way the short distance to the Park Stage to catch Gaslight Anthem’s set. But, I was more than content in this situation to hold my space near the stage, enjoy the weather and the scenery, and wait patiently for the reason I had cone all this way. Turns out, Springsteen himself was operating on an entirely different level than me. He wasn’t lazing around backstage just waiting for his star turn. At some point, I looked at a Springsteen social media site and, there was the man himself, jamming with the Gaslight Anthem up the beach a stretch.

Springsteen played guitar and sang with The Gaslight Anthem on the aforementioned “History Books” and another Gaslight Anthem tune called “American Slang” just moments before he would be performing his own always highly energetic concert. Remarkable.

There is even more to this story. The night before, at Asbury Park’s fabled Stone Pony venue (see Entry #64), there was an afterparty following the first day of Sea.Hear.Now. In a move at once both very unannounced and somehow not a total shock, just before midnight, Springsteen jumped onstage. He materialized in front of an ecstatic (and very lucky) audience at the intimate music club he made famous. Springsteen joined the Tangiers Blues Band, a group formed by the co-founder of the festival, photographer Danny Clinch (he plays a mean harmonica). Also playing with Springsteen was his E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons and blues guitarist Robert Randolph (who had performed during the day at Sea.Hear.Now). With Springsteen, the band played five rock & roll classics: “Lucille” (Little Richard), “Boom Boom” (John Lee Hooker), “Gloria” (Van Morrison’s Them), and “Down The Road Apiece” (Chuck Berry).

Where was I when this epic moment was happening on the Jersey Shore? I was in New York City, 60 miles away! Though Sea.Hear.Now was a 2-day festival (Noah Kahan was the Saturday night headliner, and he jammed at the Stone Pony a bit after Springsteen’s stint-quite an afterparty!), I purchased a Sunday-only ticket as the fact that Springsteen was playing on the second day was the sole reason the festival was on my radar at all. I even said to Amy on our flight that I half-expected Springsteen would show up at the Stone Pony or some other Asbury Park establishment during the weekend, and I mused a bit about heading straight to Jersey to scope out the scene. Instead, we went out for dinner in Manhattan with friends. When we got to our hotel, and I prepared for my early wake up so I could catch my train, I took one last look at the Springsteen sites. This is the exact post that came up first:

I had a twinge of regret, but it certainly didn’t dampen my excitement over what I was going to experience the next day. And, I was happy for the locals who were at the Stone Pony on Saturday night. I imagine that many of them have been saying “I heard Bruce might show up” for years to no avail, and now their wish has finally come true.

It’s all pretty awe-inspiring to me. A man who is one week away from his 75th birthday, a wealthy and successful person with a wonderful home life, still going out of his way to perform and tirelessly make music well beyond anybody’s expectations of him. Springsteen was about to play a 3-hour concert, part of a larger festival on the beach near his hometown, a gig that was much more a labor of love than a necessary stop on his tour. Instead of letting that feat speak for itself, he played at a bar the night before, and then pulled off two surprise guest spots on stages with lesser-known artists just before his own epic set.

I am from Chicago, and I remember when Michael Jordan signed a contract with the Bulls and insisted upon having a “love of the game” clause inserted. This meant that Jordan was allowed to play basketball any time he wanted outside of his extensive duties with his team-charity games, international exhibitions, and most importantly, good old pick-up games whenever and wherever the opportunity would arise. In this sense, rock superstar Bruce Springsteen has the exact same sensibility as basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Springsteen just loves to play music, whenever and wherever he has the opportunity. It is for himself because of what performing does for him, how it makes him feel so alive. He also does it for us, his fans. Springsteen, living up to his reputation as a “man of the people,” truly wants all of us to gain the same transformative power from rock music that he has received from it basically all of his life. This weekend is truly exhibit #1 of the truth of these assertions.

On top of all this hometown activity, Springsteen also made a video to add to the Stone Pony’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Next up will be my up close report on Bruce Springsteen’s already legendary concert on the beach in Asbury Park, New Jersey. As The Boss says in the above video, he is “back where it all began!”