{"id":803216,"date":"2020-01-19T09:16:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=940044"},"modified":"2020-01-19T09:16:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:16:14","slug":"watch-bruce-springsteens-surprise-set-at-light-of-day-in-asbury-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/watch-bruce-springsteens-surprise-set-at-light-of-day-in-asbury-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Bruce Springsteen\u2019s Surprise Set at \u2018Light of Day\u2019 in Asbury Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/10530086b.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>Up until late Saturday afternoon, the odds of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bruce-springsteen\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bruce-springsteen\" data-tag=\"bruce-springsteen\">Bruce Springsteen<\/a> showing up at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/light-of-day-bruce-springsteen-new-jersey-benefit-concerts-935693\/\">the annual Asbury Park charity concert Light of Day<\/a> seemed pretty miniscule. He was a regular (unannounced) guest at the show \u2013 which raises money to fight Parkinson\u2019s Disease \u2013 most every year from its inception in 2000 through 2015, but he missed the past four consecutive shows. This year, he was booked to host an equestrian event in Wellington, Florida 24 hours before the start of the Light of Day festivities. Making matters worse, a winter storm just happened to pound the Eastern seaboard throughout Saturday that made air travel a somewhat dicey proposition.<\/p>\n<p>But reports that Springsteen somehow made his way to Asbury Park\u2019s Paramount Theater to join a lineup that included Dramarama, Jesse Malin, the Weeklings, James Maddock, Joe D\u2019Urso, Willie Nile and Joe Grushecky started circulating on Twitter and various fan forums a little before 5 p.m. Even fans inside the building that weren\u2019t plugged into Springsteen Internet caught a glimpse of his longtime guitar tech, Kevin Buell, perched near the side of the stage during Jesse Malin\u2019s 7:50 p.m. set. There was also a second mic stand set up next to Malin for reasons that were made clear when he announced that a special guest was coming out.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- .l-article-content__pull--left --> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to bring out a guy,\u201d he said right after playing \u201cShe Don\u2019t Love Me Now\u201d from his 2015 LP <em>New York Before the War.<\/em> \u201cI don\u2019t know, some local guy\u2026\u201d He continued the speaking for the next few seconds, but his words were totally drowned out by thunderous screams of ecstasy. Can anything get a crowd going quite like Bruce Springsteen unannounced at a show in Asbury Park?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k-FNvVGPgYs?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wearing a hat pulled tightly over his eyes and a scarf wrapped around his neck, he duetted with Malin on his 2007 ballad \u201cBroken Radio\u201d (he also appears on the original recording) and joined in on guitar for his 2017 tune \u201cMeet Me at the End of the World\u201d before the curtain fell so the crew could prepare for the next act. Matt Jaffe, a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from San Francisco, had the unenviable task of playing a couple of acoustic songs during the changeover, but much of the crowd was frantically texting their friends \u201cHE\u2019S HERE!\u201d and posting distant, blurry photos of Springsteen to their social media accounts.<\/p>\n<p>And that may be one of the reasons that Springsteen has skipped out on the event these past few years, at least the ones where he didn\u2019t have a show booked somewhere else that night. It\u2019s very hard for a Jersey audience to focus on anything else when they know Springsteen is in the house. The other performers get somewhat overlooked in the mania that erupts.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a shame because the non-Springsteen portions of the show were largely fantastic. Dramarama delivered a killer 20-minute set of New Wave classics that climaxed with their 1989 classic \u201cAnything, Anything (I\u2019ll Give You),\u201d which is truly one of the great forgotten hits of the Eighties. The Weeklings, a Beatles-inspired power pop band jammed out on a psychedelic cover of \u201cI Am The Walrus.\u201d British singer-songwriter James Maddock played a tender set of original highlighted by 2011\u2019s \u201cBeautiful Now.\u201d And Joe D\u2019Urso, a man so devoted to the Light of Day cause that he\u2019s played all 20 events and serves as the treasurer for the organization, had the entire crowd on their feet for his Springsteen-inspired anthem \u201cNoisy Guitars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E5UbBacu6Ho?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Springsteen\u2019s guitar tech was milling about the stage as technicians set up for Willie Nile\u2019s set, and the extra mic stand made it pretty clear what was going to happen. But even before the not-so-surprise guest joined him, Nile had everyone joyfully singing along to \u201cHouse of a Thousand Guitars.\u201d But then Springsteen came out for \u201cOne Guitar\u201d and the place went ballistic.<\/p>\n<p>Light of Day is good at throwing curve balls, so next up was <em>Law &amp; Order<\/em> actress Jill Hennessy. She performed an acoustic rendition of \u201cNo Surrender\u201d (who knew she was a singer?) as the crew set the stage for Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers. They\u2019ve played with Springsteen countless times over the years, but the only time since 2015 was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bruce-springsteen-light-of-day-exhibit-opening-gala-892402\/\">a quick, impromptu rendition of \u201cLight of Day\u201d<\/a> at the Freehold, New Jersey launch of the <em>Springsteen: His Home Town<\/em> exhibit in September 2019.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ChZ_ZUYqJRE?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As always, their set alternated between Grushecky tunes like \u201cTalking to the King,\u201d \u201cPumping Iron\u201d and \u201cNever Enough Time\u201d and Springsteen classics like \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d \u201cAtlantic City\u201d and \u201cDarkness on the Edge of Town.\u201d It was outrageously fun and high-energy by the standards of most mortals, but not <em>quite<\/em> the frenetic blast of adrenaline from years past. Springsteen kept his hat pulled down so tight that his eyes were largely obscured and he was uncharacteristically restrained at times, though \u201cPink Cadillac\u201d (with photographer Danny Clinch on harmonica) was red hot and \u201cSavin\u2019 Up\u201d (a tune he wrote for Clarence Clemons and rarely does himself) was glorious.<\/p>\n<p>Per tradition, it ended with everyone from the night back onstage for a sloppy and spirited \u201cLight of Day.\u201d Among them was Bob Benjamin, Grushecky\u2019s former manager that was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s in 1998 and the inspiration for the entire event. He now uses a wheelchair, but seemed to be in great spirits. \u201cBob started this 20 years ago,\u201d Springsteen said. \u201cMan, that\u2019s hard to believe. It\u2019s been an incredible experience\u2026 let\u2019s do one more song.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mbMrgmnjifE?version=3&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;autohide=2&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It could only be \u201cThunder Road.\u201d It was a gentle version with Bruce on acoustic guitar joined only by Grushecky\u2019s keyboardist. Everyone in the theater sang along, even the ushers. It was the perfect New Jersey moment.<\/p>\n<p>The night pushed Light of Day to the $6 million mark, a truly incredible achievement for something that began as a little birthday party to lift Bob Benjamin\u2019s spirits 20 year ago. And if Springsteen doesn\u2019t show up next year, or never comes again for that matter, it\u2019s going to continue long into the future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-contextual-player\">\n<h3> Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/bruce-springsteen-surprise-set-light-of-day-asbury-park-940044\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Up until late Saturday afternoon, the odds of Bruce Springsteen showing up at the annual Asbury Park charity concert Light of Day seemed pretty miniscule. He was a regular (unannounced) guest at the show \u2013 which raises money to fight Parkinson\u2019s Disease \u2013 most every year from its inception in 2000 through 2015, but he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-803216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-25 08:28:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}