Editor's Note
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger is friend of the blog TJ Jones, who was one of the very few fans in attendance at a very special show: Bruce’s first and only rehearsal show with his full eleven-person 1992-93 touring band, just ten days before the tour kicked off in Stockholm.
June 5, 1992. I will always remember that date.
I was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen at a private show: the dress rehearsal show in Hollywood before the 1992-1993 tour.
I first saw Bruce in 1985, in Greensboro, NC and later that summer in Toronto. I saw him once more in 1988 in Chapel Hill. By 1992, it had been four years since I had last seen him.
When Human Touch and Lucky Town came out, I was ready for anything new from Bruce. Even without the E Street Band, I was eager for the chance to see Bruce perform again and I anticipated the tour.
I was living in Virginia Beach in 1992, and in May that year the local rock station FM99 announced a contest to be flown to L.A. to see Bruce rehearse for the tour. If there was any contest to win, this was the one.
About two weeks before the show, every day for four days, the station played a snippet of a Springsteen song. If you called in and identified it, you qualified for a drawing.
I think it was on the second day that they played about a second of “Candy’s Room.” I knew it right away, called in and got through. That Friday, they drew my name out of the four people that won that week. I could not believe it. One week later, I was on my way to California.
The morning of the show, my friend and I, along with DJ Jay Philpot, got on the plane to fly to L.A. When we got to the hotel, we received instructions to meet later that afternoon in the lobby with all of the other radio contest winners. They loaded us onto a bus and we were off to the secret location in Hollywood. It was a couple of months after the L.A. riots, and I remember passing through areas with burnt out buildings.
When we arrived at the studio, there were already a number of people outside the doors waiting to get in. After a little while, the doors opened and someone came out to announce that Bruce wanted the contest winners to come in. We made our way to the front, through the doors, and into a wide-open hall. Right away, we saw Bruce and the band on the stage and rushed right up front. So for a little while, the 30 or so contest winners with our guests were the only fans there.
I remember Bruce working through the chord changes of “Darkness on the Edge of Town” with the band. He stopped and asked several of us where we were from. Then I remember him playing an acoustic version of “Hungry Heart” and telling us that we were going to help sing the chorus.
He left the stage until showtime. There was time to get food and drinks, which were provided. There were a lot of music industry people there. I remember Little Steven walking by me to hang out with someone.
As show time neared, the contest winners were right back up front. The show was broadcast across the country. Here’s the setlist and some notes from what I can remember:
- Better Days (played as a warm-up before the broadcast)
- Born in the U.S.A.
- Local Hero
- Lucky Town
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
- If I Should Fall Behind
- 57 Channels (w/ Little Steven): This was a rocked up version similar to the SNL version, but extended with audio of news reports related to the L.A. riots, including chants of “No justice, no peace!” at the beginning, and “Prejudice hurts!” at the end.
- The Big Muddy: Primarily Bruce on electric guitar, with Roy and the band coming in during the song
- Living Poof
- My Hometown
- Leap of Faith
- Man’s Job
- Roll of the Dice (an extended version that showed off the background singers)
- Human Touch, with Patti joining to sing backup
- Glory Days, with Little Steven
- and an acoustic “Hungry Heart”
Then when the broadcast ended, he said that he was going to take a short break and come out and play some more just for those of us there.
He came back out and played five more songs for us. So much fun! He played:
- Dancing in the Dark (solo on electric guitar)
- Real World
- 99 ½ Won’t Do (a lot of fun even though I had never heard it before)
- Working on the Highway
- Bobby Jean (w/ Little Steven)
When the post-broadcast portion was over we thought that was it, but Bruce announced that he would come out and sign things for us. It seemed to me that Bruce’s people might not have been expecting this as they quickly scrambled to put up a table and chair behind a rope and had us form a line. The line of people wasn’t just the contest winners, it was a good portion of the 300 or so people there, which also included a lot of music industry people.
Bruce came out, but instead of sitting at the chair behind the table, he sat right on the table, threw the rope aside and people could go right up to him. He shook hands, hugged people, had quick chats, and signed whatever people wanted. When it was finally my turn I shook his hand, thanked him for doing this and had him sign my laminated pass. I see that pass every year when it hangs with the ornaments on the Christmas tree.
What an experience. Over time, I’ve forgotten some of the details but other parts are etched in my memory forever. I could never have dreamed of winning anything better.
What's your story?
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Thanks, TJ, what a great experience that sounds like! It’s great that Bruce wanted to be close to people and not stand behind the rope. That’s the kind of stuff he’s known for. Again, thanks for sharing!
In 1978, I was 27 and driving around NJ, listening to WNEW-FM (NY), selling medical products for a prominent company in the health care field. As I was about to call on Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, a special announcement came on the radio. They were about to announce where tickets would become available for sale for a concert in Passaic NJ at the Capitol Theater. It was for 3 shows in September of that year for The Boss, and tickets will be sold only at 2 locations. At 1 PM that afternoon, tickets will go on sale at the Capitol Theater and a record shop somewhere nearby in The Shore area. Without GPS back then, I found my way to that record store in about 10 minutes, and got in line with only about 20 people ahead of me. After a short wait, I secured 4 tickets (max) for one of those shows. The 1st time I saw Bruce. I wish I still had that ticket stub. 2 quick questions: I can’t remember the town I went to to buy the tickets (it was n’t Asbury), and what the name of that record store was. And also, what the heck did I pay back then for those 4 tickets? I wonder if I paid cash, since I can’t remember if I even had a credit card? If anyone can help me with these tiny bits of trivia, that would be awesome. The show was great, and I even found a copy of it on Utube. A little grainy, but a whole lot of memories. Thanks for listening. Alan
Alan, Thank you for the memory, My wife was the correct caller on WLLZ in Detroit. We lived near Toledo then. She thought she was winning the new cd’s (Lucky Town and Human Touch) to give me for my birthday. When she found she was also entered into a drawing for the trip, she couldn’t wait to give me the cd’s and tell me about the drawing. On that day we gathered with our sons to hear who won and it was her. Soon we were on our way to Nashville, where most of the winners connected to get to LAX. Your description of the experience was pretty much the same as ours. I had my brother in Indiana recording the broadcast for me. Once inside the studio, I learned that the broadcast was going to be longer than the half hour we planned. I went outside to the payphone, started to call him, and was stopped by security. After explaining, they let me make the call with them listening to my every word. They needed to be sure I was not giving the “secret” location away. They also explained that the buses went around the block a few times, when we arrived, to assure no one was following. I still have the cassette recording, and one of my sons found a live LP recording of the concert. I still listen to them and remember special parts of the performance – shuffling his boots as he circled the mike stand at the end of My Hometown – Beating twice on his heart acknowledging “Patti my beloved”, and so much more. After we returned home, my wife called the radio station on Monday morning, to thank them and tell them about the experience. She called for the DJ, Ken Calvert, and someone else answered the phone. He told her Ken was busy, she explained why she was calling, and he said “Well you’re someone special. Hold on one minute.” Soon Ken was on the phone, she told him our story, and he responded, “and after all that, you call into the station to tell us and Alice Cooper answered the phone”. She has since dreaded that she failed to say “I know….I’m not worthy!” (Wayne’s World) Thanks again, Paul
TJ, thank you for the memory, My wife was the correct caller on WLLZ in Detroit. We lived near Toledo then. She thought she was winning the new cd’s (Lucky Town and Human Touch) to give me for my birthday. When she found she was also entered into a drawing for the trip, she couldn’t wait to give me the cd’s and tell me about the drawing. On that day we gathered with our sons to hear who won and it was her. Soon we were on our way to Nashville, where most of the winners connected to get to LAX. Your description of the experience was pretty much the same as ours. I had my brother in Indiana recording the broadcast for me. Once inside the studio, I learned that the broadcast was going to be longer than the half hour we planned. I went outside to the payphone, started to call him, and was stopped by security. After explaining, they let me make the call with them listening to my every word. They needed to be sure I was not giving the “secret” location away. They also explained that the buses went around the block a few times, when we arrived, to assure no one was following. I still have the cassette recording, and one of my sons found a live LP recording of the concert. I still listen to them and remember special parts of the performance – shuffling his boots as he circled the mike stand at the end of My Hometown – Beating twice on his heart acknowledging “Patti my beloved”, and so much more. After we returned home, my wife called the radio station on Monday morning, to thank them and tell them about the experience. She called for the DJ, Ken Calvert, and someone else answered the phone. He told her Ken was busy, she explained why she was calling, and he said “Well you’re someone special. Hold on one minute.” Soon Ken was on the phone, she told him our story, and he responded, “and after all that, you call into the station to tell us and Alice Cooper answered the phone”. She has since dreaded that she failed to say “I know….I’m not worthy!” (Wayne’s World)