Joan Jett at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, in 2001.
With this year’s Light of Day Festival now in full swing, it’s a good time to add the song “Light of Day” to the 350 Jersey Songs list. Bruce Springsteen wrote it, of course, for the 1987 movie of that name that co-starred Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox, and when Jett and Springsteen both volunteered for the post-9/11 Alliance of Neighbors benefit concerts at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Oct. 18-19, 2001, it was inevitable that they would perform the song together.
They did so, both nights, with E Streeter Garry Tallent (the event’s music director) on bass and Dennis Diken of The Smithereens on drums. And it was truly scorching. Check out the clip, below.
The shows — which also featured Jon Bon Jovi, Phoebe Snow, Felix Cavaliere, Joe Ely, Sonny Burgess, Max Weinberg, Patti Scialfa and others — raised more than $400,000 for 9/11 victims and their families.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday from Sept. 2014 to Sept. 2015. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, for almost a year — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. The complete list is here.
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