On Saturday night, Steven Van Zandt brought his current solo project, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul to his spiritual home state of New Jersey for a performance at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. The accomplished actor and long-time member of the E Street Band just released Soulfire, his first solo LP in 18 years, on May 19th, and the sold-out Red Bank show always promised to be a special celebration. However, the guitarist had an ace in the hole–or a “boss” in the hole, if you will.
Toward the end of the set, Van Zandt asked the audience for a favor: “Can I get my friend who’s out of work?” The out-of-work friend in question turned out to be The Boss himself–New Jersey music hero and Steven’s regular bandleader Bruce Springsteen. Bruce joined Little Steven and The Disciples for four songs in total, including Springsteen favorite “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (from Born To Run, 1975), classic Bruce/Southside Johnny duet “It’s Been A Long Time,” “I Don’t Want To Go Home (the Southside Johnny track Van Zandt revisits on Soulfire), and Marvin Gaye‘s hit 1963 single “Can I Get A Witness” (1963).
Van Zandt spoke about his approach to the new album in a recent interview with Rolling Stone: “I was thinking, ‘Who do I want to be? Who am I really?’ And the thing most identified with me, and the thing that is most unique, is that soul-meets-rock thing. So I went back to that. This record is me doing me.”
You can watch fan-shot footage of each of the songs from the show featuring Springsteen below:
“Its Been a Long Time” & “Tenth Ave Freeze Out” via YouTube user TheMagikRat:
“I Don’t Want To Go Home” (via YouTube user Mitch Slater)
“Can I Get A Witness” (via YouTube user The MagikRat)
Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul head to Denmark next week to begin an extensive run of European shows. For more information on upcoming dates, visit Little Steven’s website.
[h/t – Rolling Stone]