Bruce has been covering Little Richard’s “Lucille” in concert for decades, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing it: believe it or not, he performed it more than forty times in bar and club shows between the 35 years that separated his first two E Street Band performances.*
Here’s one of the earliest times: Bruce with Beaver Brown on stage at Big Man’s West in Red Bank in the summer of 1982.
…and video of Bruce with Cats on a Smooth Surface from 1987:
Bruce is reported to have opened his 1978 Darkness Tour show in Charlotte with “Lucille,” but no recording of it has ever surfaced. It took until the summer of 2013 for Bruce to throw the E Street Band at it again, thanks to a perfectly placed and timed request sign early in the show in Paris. Lucille’s legendary riff turned out to be a perfect showcase for the horn section and one of the highlights of the night.
By the time the E Street Band performed it in Paris, “Lucille” was already more than 45 years old. Little Richard’s 1957 original was a monster hit, one of the pioneering songs that ushered in the age of rock and roll. It reached the top of the R&B chart in the U.S and #21 on the pop chart.
So it’s no surprise to learn that Bruce covers it frequently during cover sets with other artists at bars and clubs–it’s one of those songs that every rock musician knows, a safe bet for an impromptu guest appearance.
*One could argue that Bruce actually did play “Lucille” more frequently with the E Street Band during the early years, as the song periodically turned up in encore medleys. But those performances ranged from snippets at least to abbreviated at best; full E Street performances of “Lucille” have been exceedingly rare. Here’s the first time Bruce and the band played the song as part of a medley (with “Carol“), in the summer of 1975.
Lucille
First performed: August 2, 1978 (Charlotte, NC)
Last performed: April 28, 2017 (Asbury Park, NJ)
