Pop Break Live: Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes with Remember Jones, and special guest Bruce Springsteen at The Stone Pony Summer Stage.
Words and Photos by Willy Mellot
Fourth of July at The Stone Pony has been home for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes for quite some. On July 6 — this year’s show — the weather forecast called for a chance of severe storms, but that did not stop droves fans from making the trek to the unofficial music capital of New Jersey.
And boy, did they get a memorable show.
The show opened up with a performance by Bruce Springsteen bassist Garry Tallent and his band, The Delevantes. This performance saw the first of two appearances from Bruce Springsteen.
Next on the stage was Remember Jones — who performed an energetic and soulful set. The 10-piece band (including Brick+Mortar‘s John Tacon) — complete with a full horn section and female back up singers — played a variety of originals and some cover songs. The set included: The Beatles’ “A Little Help From My Friends,” and Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down.” Lead singer Anthony D’Amato, dressed in a fringe jacket and was constantly moving around the stage and interacting with audience members through out their set. As the sun began to fade, their set came to a close.
Fans of Southside Johnny draped their “Asbury Jukes” t-shirts on the barricade awaiting his arrival to the stage. Longtime house promoter for The Stone Pony, Kyle Brendle, walked onto the stage to introduce the band. From the first note, there was an overall feel-good, fun atmosphere to the evening. Many veteran bands need younger backup singers to cover up the years of stress on the lead singers’ vocal cords — that’s not the case for Southside Johnny. His singing still sounds good and you could tell he was still having fun.
The Asbury Jukes also had a full horn section playing the duration of the concert. There were abundant saxophone solos and guitar solos throughout the evening which had concert goers dancing at The Summer Stage. Towards the end of the set, I noticed long time Springsteen photographer and New Jersey native Danny Clinch in the photo pit. I took that as a sign Bruce would be coming out.
Sure enough, Southside Johnny introduced his friend from Freehold and Springsteen joined him on stage. Not for just one song, but seven, including “The Fever,” “I Don’t Want To Go Home,” and “Having a Party.” Johnny and Bruce shared many smiles and laughs throughout the night and their performance brought many smiles to the audiences’ faces.
The tradition of Southside Johnny at The Stone Pony 4th of July weekend continued in the best way possible this year. Looking forward to even more good times next year.
