E Street Solo Shows

Have you seen any of the band members on their own?

In the summer of 1976, I saw a couple of shows that I would describe as amazing. That word--amazing--gets thrown around way too much, but I'm allowing myself to use it here. These shows raised the bar, as far as I was concerned, as to the possibilities of the concert experience. The second of these shows was in August, Bruce at the Waterbury Palace in CT, my first Springsteen concert. The first was Nils Lofgren at the Shaboo Inn, Willimantic, CT, in July.

I'd never heard a note by the guy. My friend Joe (who turned me on to Bruce), assured me I was going to love Nils. OK, the ticket was probably $4 or something, so I took the chance. Nils knocked out a set that consisted mostly of songs from his first 2 solo LPs. His band was absolutely solid, but Nils was clearly a few steps above them. Here was someone who could play guitar solos all night without falling into sameness. You know how sometimes you find yourself wishing a long solo would end? None of that on that night. The one moment that sticks in my mind after all these years (Jesus, 44?), was when Nils did a duet with himself. Guitar and piano. He banged out I guess 8 bars on guitar and then literally jumped onto the piano stool while at the same time putting on a pair of shades and throwing the guitar onto his back. 8 bars of piano, and then he leaps up, removes the glasses, swings the guitar around and blasts away. I know, it sounds corny as hell, except the solos were GREAT, and complemented each other. And all the guitar work was in service of the best songs he'd ever write (IMO). On the way out I said to Joe, "He could have asked us audience to carry him on our shoulders to the next gig."