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1966: The Castiles play a show at the VFW Hall in Middletown, New Jersey.
1971: The Bruce Springsteen Band is in residence at the Student Prince in Asbury Park.
1973: Bruce and the E Street Band play their second of five nights at Oliver’s in Boston.
1975: Bruce and the E Street Band kick off a four-night/six-show stand at The Roxy Theater in West Hollywood. Thanks to Columbia Records (but unknown to Bruce), the audience is filled with industry insiders and media, resulting in a quieter-than-usual audience and at least one underwhelmed critic. Among the notables in the audience: Jackson Browne, Neil Diamond, Jim Messina, Jack Nicholson, Peter Boyle, Robert De Niro, and Carole King, to whom Bruce dedicates his debut of her song, “Goin’ Back.” It’s speculated that De Niro swiped Bruce’s “you talking to me?” routine performed at this show for his part in Taxi Driver.
1976: Bruce and the boys bring the Lawsuit Tour to The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
1980: In town for a River Tour show the next night, Bruce goes out driving and ends up in a movie theater, where he catches the new Woody Allen movie, Stardust Memories. A fan notices him, strikes up a conversation, and invites him over to his house for dinner. And this is how Bruce meets the Satanovksys and the now famous “Miss Sophie.”
The full story–as told by Steve Satanovsky himself–is too long to include here, but is well worth reading. You can find scans of his interview with fanzine The River here. (Thanks to Dari for sharing and Ward for hosting!)
1985: Steve Van Zandt releases “Sun City,” a single by Artists United Against Apartheid in protest of the South African policy, publicly and collectively declaring a boycott of the controversial resort. Bruce is one of the many, many artists appearing in the song.
1995: Bruce rehearses with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers at the Stone Pony for their upcoming mini-tour.
1996: Bruce plays “Long Time Comin’” for the very first time, nine years before its album release, at this solo acoustic show at the Paramount Theater in Denver.
2002: Bruce and the E Street Band bring the Rising Tour to Barcelona, where the show is filmed and released on DVD as Live in Barcelona. Bruce tour premieres “Spirit in the Night” on solo piano (forgetting the lyrics), and the setlist also includes a rare “Incident on 57th Street.”
2008: Bruce, Patti, Roy, Billy Joel, India.Arie, and John Legend perform at a Change Rocks benefit for presidential candidate Barack Obama in New York City. Bruce joins John Legend for “If You’re Out There” before performing “The Promised Land” and “This Hard Land” as solo acoustic numbers. Finally he, Patti, and Roy join Billy and his band for a set of combined Joel/Springsteen classics capped by a show-closing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” with the Obamas.
2012: Bruce guest-stars at Right to Rock 2012 in New York City, honoring Steve Van Zandt. Bruce salutes his best friend before joining him on stage (along with Southside Johnny, Elvis Costello, and a host of stars) for three of Steve’s songs.
2018: Springsteen on Broadway continues its theatrical run at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City. Among those in attendance tonight: Dr. Ruth, Kumail Nanjiani, and Jennifer Aniston, and Courtney Cox.
2019: Bruce, Patti, their daughter Jessica, and Bruce’s co-director Thom Zimny attend a special screening of Western Stars at the Metrograph in New York City. Following the show, Bruce and Thom are interviewed by Warner Bros chairman Toby Emmerich.
