Eddie Vedder with Bruce Springsteen at the Continental Airlines Arena in 2004.
As mentioned in yesterday’s 350 Jersey Songs entry, the Izod Center (formerly known as the Brendan Byrne Arena and the Continental Airlines Arena) will present its last concert on Sunday. So today we look back on another very special show there: The Vote for Change concert on Oct. 13, 2004.
The show was part of a major tour designed to rally support for presidential candidate John Kerry. There was no New Jersey date on the schedule when the tour was announced, because Kerry supposedly had New Jersey locked up, but the poll numbers changed enough later on that the Meadowlands show was added. (Kerry did end up winning New Jersey by a comfortable margin.)
The show’s lineup included Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, John Fogerty and Jackson Browne; Springsteen’s wife and E Street bandmate Patti Scialfa played a set of her own, too. Below is a clip of one of the show’s most memorable moments: Vedder and Springsteen dueting on the Pearl Jam song “Better Man,” with the E Street Band (including Clarence Clemons, who takes a fine sax solo) performing as if they do this every night.
This was the only time Springsteen and Vedder have sung this song together.
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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