RIP Danny Federici

Southside Johnny on Danny... (from SouthsideJohnny.com)

That story about the speakers from the Steel Mill days is how Dan got the nickname "Phantom Dan" he disappeared into the crowd that night and at the next several shows to avoid arrest.

 

Where I grew up outside of Knoxville, he hardly cracked the the rotation of local rock radio station Rock 104-WIMZ, or in Nashville at 103 KDF (Bubba Skynyrd says "Haaaaaaay!").

All I ever heard on the radio (and this was rare) was:
Jungleland
Hungry Heart
Born to Run
Blinded by the Light
Rosalita
Trapped
Glory Days
hits off of Born in the USA

By the time I left home, my musical taste shifted away from AOR to punk and college rock. The only Springsteen album I've ever heard front to back is "Nebraska."

These guys never played any Grateful Dead, either, so that's a phenomena that's lost on me as well. The program directors were too busy dreaming up .38 Special "Perfect Album Sides" and Molly Hatchet "Two for Tuesdays" to be bothered with much else back in the 80s.

 

lame excuses. all of 'em. download the albums/cd's. then go to a show. i promise you won't regret it -- even if the shows are a shell of what they were in the '70s/'early '80s, they're still better than anything out there. and you'll get it.

it took me seeing broooce and the estreeters live to become convinced, too.

 

Sirius channel 10 is playing Federici's last full show with the E Street Band (last Dec. in Boston, IIRC) tonight at 8 p.m.

 

I'm trying to remember if he was with the band when they were here last month. I know Ms. Scialfa wasn't (something about three teenagers and not wanting the house to burn down). I believe he was.

But, BTW, love Bruce, but he jumped the shark. Started an hour late (to cover up the fact that the show was going to be so short, probably). Barely 90 minutes before the first brief encore. Too short by far. Plus, played very little of what I (and most fans) wanted to hear.

Will never go again, and I've seen him a ton of times. Our love affair is over.

I hope that's not sacreligious, today of all days. But we were pissed.

 

Good for you. Easier for the rest of us to get tickets.

For at least the last decade, Springsteen shows customarily start, almost like clockwork, 50-55 minutes after posted starting time (8:20-8:25). And everybody who's seen more than about two shows knows this.

The four shows I saw last month ranged from 2:15-2:35 in run time. Most other arena headliners these days play about 1:45-2:10.

Springsteen has about 250 songs in his repertoire. In a 2:15 show, he can play about 22-25. There are gonna be a lot of songs that don't get played.

 

Springsteen has had his moments of extreme arrogance when he was on tour by himself, from what I have heard from good friends.

If he pulled that sort of "I-ain't-here-to-play-any-of-the-songs-you-fell-in-love-with-me-for" crap on my and my $100 ticket back then, I would be mighty sore, too.

 

Point well taken, but ain't nobody paying $100 for a Springsteen ticket in 1992, that's for sure.

 

Jesus... I guess it WOULD have been about 15 years ago.


Wow..... thanks for the depression.

 

Well, anybody who would go to the "Ghost of Tom Joad," "Devils and Dust" or "Seeger Sessions" tours and get cranked off because he didn't play "Hungry Heart," "Dancing In the Dark" or "Glory Days," deserves whatever they get.

 

The River Tour
On December 9, 1980, Springsteen went ahead with a scheduled concert at The Spectrum in Philadelphia the day after John Lennon was murdered, despite initial objections from sideman Steven Van Zandt. "It's a hard world that asks you to live with a lot of things that are unlivable," Springsteen announced before starting the show, "And it's hard to come out here and play tonight, but there's nothing else to do." He opened with an especially frenzied "Born to Run" and closed with a rendition of The Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout," according to Wickipedia. The most famous of the shows on the tour is probably the New Year's Eve 1980 one at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. With a set list 38 songs strong, it is one of the longest Springsteen shows of all time and also often regarded as one of the best.

There was a rumor that Springsteen was playing the song "Point Blank" in Philadelphia the night Lennon was murdered in New York. I wonder if there is any validity to this?

The link below is "Point Blank" from the 1978 Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour, two years before it was released on The River; furthermore, I'm not saying this is the exact act that was rumored to have played in Philly.
The Lennon connection is incredibly eerry.

I was a very lucky person to be in attendance at that New Year's Eve concert at the Coliseum.

 

The setlist from the night Lennon was shot (Dec. 8, 1980)
BORN TO RUN / PROVE IT ALL NIGHT / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / FACTORY / INDEPENDENCE DAY / JACKSON CAGE / TWO HEARTS / THE PROMISED LAND / OUT IN THE STREET / THE PRICE YOU PAY / THE RIVER / BADLANDS / THUNDER ROAD / CADILLAC RANCH / SHERRY DARLING / HUNGRY HEART / FIRE / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / I WANNA MARRY YOU / GROWIN' UP / FOR YOU / STOLEN CAR / WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY / POINT BLANK / THE TIES THAT BIND / RAMROD / CRUSH ON YOU / BACKSTREETS / ROSALITA / SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN / JUNGLELAND / I'M A ROCKER / DETROIT MEDLEY

The setlist from the show the next night:
BORN TO RUN / OUT IN THE STREET / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / THE PRICE YOU PAY / INDEPENDENCE DAY / TWO HEARTS / PROVE IT ALL NIGHT / THE PROMISED LAND / RACING IN THE STREET / THE RIVER / BADLANDS / THUNDER ROAD / CADILLAC RANCH / SHERRY DARLING / HUNGRY HEART / FIRE / CANDY'S ROOM / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / 4TH JULY ASBURY PARK (SANDY) / FOR YOU / STOLEN CAR / WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY / POINT BLANK / RENDEZVOUS / RAMROD / YOU CAN LOOK / DRIVE ALL NIGHT / ROSALITA / SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN / JUNGLELAND / I'M A ROCKER / DETROIT MEDLEY / TWIST AND SHOUT

The intro to "Born to Run" on Dec.9:
I’d just like to say one thing....I appreciate it....and it’s a hard night to come out and play tonight when so much’s been lost....the first record...the first record that I ever learned was a record called ‘Twist and Shout’ (cheers).....and if it wasn’t....if it wasn’t for John Lennon, we’d all be in some place very different tonight (cheers).... it’s....it’s an unreasonable... world and you have to live with a lot of things that are just unliveable .... and....it’s a hard thing to come out and play but there’s just nothing else you can do......”

For past setlists, recording history, and more, the best Bruce reference site is Brucebase:
http://www.brucebase.org.uk/