Springsteen Unveils New Song Amid Old Rarities

December 19 -- ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Bruce Springsteen came home to the Asbury Park boardwalk, playing back-to-back nights for local charities — and the singer had a bag full of surprises for the audience, as themes of community and renewal ran high.

Officially billed as "Bruce Springsteen with the Max Weinberg Seven and Friends," the Sunday and Monday night shows assumed the structure and vibe of an old-time revue. Springsteen was the main attraction, but he was equally comfortable singing background vocals while facing off with the Seven's guitarist, Jimmy Vivino, or leading them and members of the E Street Band through a dizzying array of rarities.

An hour before show time on the second night, Springsteen treated early arrivals to an acoustic set of two Hank Williams songs — "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" and "Hey Good Lookin'" — and Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train," with fiddler Soozie Tyrell, Southside Johnny on harmonica, Nils Lofgren on piano, and Garry Tallent on upright bass.

Springsteen set the tone early on Sunday: Seated quietly at the piano as the five-piece horn section and E Streeter Dan Federici led off with a quirky version of "Jingle Bells," Springsteen followed with a lush, rolling version of "For You." The combination of holiday songs and surprise numbers became the rule of the house for both two-and-a-half-hour shows.

After warming up with Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph," the horns took the lead, driving everyone through "Lucky Town." Afterward, Springsteen asked for quiet so the horns could "tune up," a ruse that worked perfectly: The audience hushed before the cacophonous false start of "The E Street Shuffle," which was faithful to its arrangement on Springsteen's second record, complete with the jazzy coda.

Even amid the array of older songs, the audience was stunned by "Kitty's Back," a song that had gone unperformed since the 1978 "Darkness on the Edge of Town" tour. Surprisingly, the Max Weinberg Seven — not the E Street Band — led the way, showing their chops on the complex song by nailing every nuance, twist, turn, and stop — despite only two days of rehearsal. Springsteen sang an airy, relaxed vocal and hit every note, while saxophonist Clarence Clemons entered to the biggest ovation of the night.