The 68-year-old is one-part old-time R&B shouter, one part crooner and one part straight-up rocker, and if that sounds like rowdy mix, well, it is. Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes know how to put on a show.
I hadn’t seen the then 11-piece Jukes live in 33 years — since an outdoor show at Freehold Raceway in1981 (opening acts: Hall & Oates and Willie Nile). That show was raucous and charged and the closest thing to Springsteen I’d seen at that point. There’s no accident, of course. Bruce and Johnny run in the same circles and grew upon the same bars and on the same stages. They even swapped band members.
I’ve been promising myself I’d catch him live again but, for reasons I can’t really explain even to myself, it never happened. Until Saturday.
Southside didn’t disappoint. With a set list mixing great early cuts (a good helping from This Time It’s For Real and Hearts of Stone) with later songs (“Pills and Ammo”) and covers (“Walk Away Renee, “Can I Get a Witness”), Johnny led a smaller version of the Jukes (eight members) on a two-hour romp that had the crowd singing and dancing along.
The band was tight, even with two subs (on bass and sax), and keyboardist Jeff Kazee acted a perfect foil, even taking lead vocals at one point.
My only complaint was that two hours wasn’t enough.
Hank Kalet 