Remembering David Johansen: 10 great New Jersey performances (WATCH VIDEOS)

David Johansen performs outdoors in Hoboken, in 2019.

About three weeks after going public with his need for financial assistance with medical issues, rock ‘n’ roll singer-songwriter and singular force of nature David Johansen has died, at the age of 75.

“RIP David Johansen. One of the most unique legends of our business and a very good friend. One of a kind,” posted Stevie Van Zandt on social media.

“We knew it was coming but doesn’t make it easier,” posted Palmyra Delran.

Johansen — known as the frontman of the legendary New York Dolls, as a solo singer-songwriter and as his hard-partying alter ego Buster Poindexter, as well as as an actor, painter and DJ — had a brain tumor, and also suffered a bad fall on the day after Thanksgiving 2024 that broke his back in two places.

A quintessential New York rock artist, he performed often, of course, in New Jersey. So I thought I would some videos from some of his many New Jersey appearances, throughout the years. Here are 10 of them, all from different venues, and mostly quite intimate.
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Here he is at the free, outdoor Hoboken Arts & Music Festival in 2019, billed as Buster Poindexter (though this is a New York Dolls song).

Here he is at Crossroads in Garwood in 2012, performing a wonderful version of his introspective ballad, “Wandering Spirit.”

Here he is at a “Songwriters by the Sea” concert at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, in 2014, performing The Four Seasons’ 1964 hit “Rag Doll” with Marshall Crenshaw, Allison Moorer, Joe D’Urso, Joe Rapolla and Brian Koonin.

Here he is performing the New York Dolls song “Human Being” at The Brighton Bar in Long Branch in 2013.

“Better Than You,” at The Record Collector in Bordentown in 2012.

“Frenchette,” at The Mt. Tabor Tabernacle in 2010.

“Heart of Gold” (his own song, not a Neil Young cover) at The Hamilton Stage at The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, in 2013.

“Pills” (the Bo Diddley song, also covered by New York Dolls) at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, in 2001 (audio only, unfortunately).

“Making Rain” (from the 2009 New York Dolls reunion album Cuz I Sez So) at Concerts in the Studio in Freehold, in 2012.

“Better Than You” (also from Cuz I Sez So) at a “Writers in the Raw” concert at The Count Basie Theatre (now The Count Basie Center for the Arts) in Red Bank, in 2009.

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