The Boss performs for annual benefit

Home News Tribune Online
12/4/06
By CHRIS JORDAN
STAFF WRITER

SAYREVILLE — The Boss came to town Saturday night. Freehold-born rocker Bruce Springsteen performed with the bands Marah and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers Saturday night at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville in day two of this year's Light of Day Parkinson's Disease benefit concerts.

Springsteen sang lead on a cover of Eddie Floyd's soul classic, "Raise Your Hand" and played guitar on Marah's "Reservation Girl." Later with Grushecky and the Houserockers, the Boss played guitar on Grushecky's "Never Be Enough Time;" sang and played guitar on Grushecky's "Good Life;" performed his classic "Darkness on the Edge of Town;" played guitar on Grushecky's "Talking to the King;" performed his song "Johnny 99" with the band; traded vocals with Grushecky on the Springsteen-Grushecky composition, "Code of Silence;" performed his "Atlantic City" with the band and led a packed stage ensemble version "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to close the show at 2:30 a.m. yesterday morning.

The latter song was performed after a birthday cake was presented to Highland Park's Bob Benjamin, the organizer and driving force behind the Light of Day series.

"I came out to support Bob," said Springsteen before taking the stage on Saturday. "I've known him 25 years, and he's a great man."

Springsteen and Benjamin met in Buffalo before a concert in 1978, and the two have remained friends and collaborators since. Springsteen has performed in every Light of Day benefit except for last year's. Benjamin contracted Parkinson's in his 30s and started organizing his Light of Day shows in 2000.

"Bob is the quintessential music fan, and he was enthusiastic about the music back when I met him and he's still the same way today," Springsteen said.

Springsteen's performance on Saturday was heartfelt, compelling and moving. His "Darkness" resonated with a somber urgency while the fatalistic "Johnny 99" was paced by a Chuck Berry-like arrangement. The dirge-like "Atlantic City," bearing even more weight after the recent discovery of the corpses of four young females just outside the resort town, was given a transformative rendering by Springsteen, who added a mournful guitar solo to the song.

Saturday night, the Boss wore a newsboy cap with a dark cotton jacket, which he removed after several songs, for his first ever Starland performance. Before rocking, Springsteen stood at the bar to the audience's left of the Starland stage and chatted with some of the night's approximately 900 fans.

A Light of Day concert took place on Friday at the Starland Ballroom and the benefit concluded yesterday at the venue with a concert featuring the East Brunswick ska band Streetlight Manifesto.

The Boss is a Streetlight fan.

"My son (Evan) turned me onto them, and I started to follow them," Springsteen said. "They're great and (Streetlight lead singer Tomas Kalnoky's) acoustic side project (Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution) is great, too."

This year's Light of Day shows will benefit Parkinson's disease research, and Joan Dancy and People with ALS, or P.A.L.S., Inc., a Monmouth County-based assistance and service charity. Later shows are scheduled for England, Italy and Spain.