Kitty’s Back
Sunday, September 15, 2024 Entry #105
I settled in to enjoy a great day of music on the beach at the Surf Stage. Here’s a look at the schedule, with one spoiler alert: We actually didn’t have to wait until 7:30 PM to see Bruce Springsteen perform.
Joy Oladokun is an extremely soulful singer-songwriter who identifies as a queer person of color, a second-generation American whose parents immigrated from Nigeria. Oladokun came onto my radar in the past year thanks to the online Springsteen community where she was praised as a performer who approached Bruce-level energy. Amy and I went to see her play at a small venue in St. Louis, and we both came away impressed. At Sea.Hear.Now, Oladokun had a strong set, complete with a stirring cover of the Beatle classic “Blackbird.” A woman next to me who had never before heard of Oladokun was totally won over. Oladokun seemed thrilled to be playing this particular festival, acknowledging at one point, “I sometimes call myself the Black Bruce Springsteen-I get to work for an hour and then see one of my idols playing in his own house!”
Although I have many friends who are Phish devotees, and despite the fact that I do love the Grateful Dead (Phish is considered by many to be one of the rightful inheritors of the Dead’s jam-band mantle), I have never been able to get into their music. So, when Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio came onstage with his eponymously named side project band, I paid only scant attention, his blazing guitar solos barely registering with me. But, when Anastasio started to speak after his third song, I quickly perked up, somehow sensing he was about to talk about Bruce Springsteen. I was correct.
“I wanna say to every person out here in the audience, I’m just as excited as you are. I grew up in New Jersey. I swam on this beach when I was a kid. And when I was 14 years old, I was allowed to go to my first concert ever, my 16-year old sister took me…and I saw Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band! So, if you’re wondering where I got the idea to play like we were just playing, the whole show was like that.”
I was so taken by that story that I almost missed what Trey said next: “We were backstage, we asked Bruce if he would come out and play one with us, and he said yes! So, this is the thrill of a lifetime for me. Ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen!” Suddenly, Bruce Springsteen appeared next to Trey Anastasio, and it was quite a thrill!
Springsteen and Anastasio jammed on Springsteen’s jazzy-blues vamp “Kitty’s Back,” from his early 1970’s second album. Here is a video I recorded of the two of them trading guitar licks. They both looked like they were having a blast.
Afterwards, Trey got off a classic line saying with awe and wonder in his voice, “I never thought I’d have to follow Bruce Springsteen on a beach in Asbury Park!” Later, on a social media, Trey expressed his gratitude, and identified “Kitty’s Back” as his “all-time favorite” Springsteen songs. How amazing for him (and for all of us lucky to be there!) that he had such a moment with The Boss
Here are a couple more Springsteen-Anastasio photos-these ones I did not take, but found on the web.
This was not Springsteen’s only surprise apparence from his triumphant Asbury Park homecoming. I’ve got news on that in my very next Spirit In The Night Substack post, so stay tuned!