by Anne & Charles, Southampton, NJ

It was a summer afternoon in ‘77 while hanging with some friends, that an announcement came on the radio informing us Southside Johnny had taken ill and would not be able to perform tonight but there will be special guest stand-ins. My friend and I looked at each other, picked up our wives and headed for Red Bank.

As we’re walking to the theater, we see a lot of folks turning in their tickets and leaving. We bought four tickets and waited for the show. There were about 300 people in the audience (the place was relatively empty) when the lights dimmed and Danny Devito (an Asbury Park boy) walked on stage to share the news that Southside would not be there which was unfortunate but that ‘the show will go on’. With that, he introduced the Asbury Jukes who took the stage and began playing an instrumental.

The spotlight hit the corner of the stage and out walked Bruce.

The place went wild (all 300 of us.) After the first few Jukes songs, the E Street Band began walking on stage one at a time and joined the band. Other local folks joined the band during the evening but the most memorable of them was the introduction of Ronnie Spector.

This was and will most likely remain our most memorable musical moment!!