Bruce Springsteen, with drummer Max Weinberg, at the Prudential Center in Newark on May 2, 2012.
Yesterday’s entry in the 350 Jersey Songs series was Grace Potter’s “I Shall Be Released,” from the 2012 Levon Helm tribute concert held at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. Today’s is another 2012 tribute to Helm, who had died earlier that year, but it’s from another arena, the Prudential Center in Newark, and another artist, Bruce Springsteen.
At the start of the concert’s encores, Springsteen talked briefly about Helm, saying he had a “one of the greatest, greatest voices in country, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll … just staggering … while playing the drums!” and that he had a “feel on the drums that just comes out of a certain place in the past, and you can’t replicate it.”
Then he sang a slow, sad version of one of Helm’s signature songs, the gospel-flavored “The Weight.” And it felt like the whole arena was singing along with him.
This was Springsteen first full-length concert in Newark, and the first and only time he has sung “The Weight” with the E Street Band. A very special moment, for anyone lucky enough to be there.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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