Ok, so we’ll cut to the chase 1:22 and it’s over. You missed some really good stuff when I was writing but there was no updating happening.
A quick thank you to Paul McCartney for hearing my request for Live and Let Die. (I know I am the only one, but if he was going to do Wings….)
Help. Blog updating issues at the end. Really?
Here we go, acoustic Blackbird (after surprise guest Diana Krall and My Valentine. It’s 1 a.m. No more surprise guests.
A little Wings, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.
I would have preferred Live and Let Die, but that’s just me. Still waiting on Dave Grohl.
McCartney opens with Helter Skelter and goes on to I’ve Got a Feeling.
Would not have been my guesses.
12:33: Jamie Foxx and Quentin Tarantino overdramatizing Breezy Point firemen. It does not need extra drama, boys.
12:30 Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl coming up and I am shutting down soon.
12:19 Chris Martin saved by Michael Stipe, doing “Losing My Religion.” Great surprise. Chris Martin’s set now moves up a bit, with this unexpected bit.
12:11 And he goes on, Only The Good Die Young. Is Paul McCartney still awake? Is he only going to do the much-rumored Nirvana with Dave Grohl? But Chris Martin is still to come too? It could end here, as far as I’m concerned.
12:03 You May Be Right has turned into a little sing-along in my tired piece of the press room.
Midnight – It is officially 12/13/12
Billy Joel is doing River of Dreams and showing those guitar gods that ruled all night that a piano man can be pretty great too.
oh, Blake Lively distracted me — New York State of Mind, “Don’t care if it’s Breezy Point or Oceanside.”
11:54 Near trampling in the press room when Blake Lively comes in for a few photos.
11:47: “Good evening New york, New Jersey and Long Island. We’re all here, we’re all OK. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4″ – Movin’ Out.
11:43: Miami 2017 with the revamped lyrics he did on the TV special in early November.
11:37 Kanye West doesn’t make my Top 5. Wondering what song Billy Joel will use to make that smooth transition.
Really? We couldn’t cut this bad comedy routine when The Who decided on songs 5, 6 and 7?
11:05 who are my top 5 at the moment – three and a half hours into this and showing no sign of stopping? The Who, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, Roger Waters with Eddie Vedder (a little off key at times, but vaulted up there by Comfortably Numb), Adam Sandler (seriously, I think his version of “Hallelujah” was great and hilarious and beats the overall Bruce set in my memories of the night.
11 p.m. and The Who just ended a seven-song set. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend can do whatever the hell they want – and the censors were not quite quick enough for them either.
Meanwhile, still much more to go – Kanye West, Billy Joel, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney. Man, I hope Sir Paul sounds better tonight than he did the last time. These are tough acts to follow. And not to offend Bruce fans, but from down here in the Garden basement with the phone bank, extra drumsets and guitars, Springsteen’s set isn’t even in my top 3 at the moment, possibly not even top 5 by the time the night ends.
10:40 Forgot to ask, did anyone else find it odd that Keys didn’t play “Empire State of Mind”?
10:35 As I am picking holes in the lineup – here are a couple of big names I miss: Elton John, U2.
10:33 Some old guys still doing their thing is a little sad, but Pete Townsend windmilling on that guitar is still just really cool.
10:28 The Who is up and I am really bummed that I didn’t get to see them at the PruCenter last week. And now, live from the basement on this great HD TV and it’s unsynced sound. I know, poor me.
Oh, and I missed writing about Alicia Keys while I was being escorted to the ladies room and listening to Richie Sambora talk about his mom’s house getting damaged. Keys, the first woman to take the stage who wasn’t one of Bruce’s back-up singers, was fantastic, amazing voice.
But we must ask ourselves, even with this incredible lineup, are there no great female rockers out there? Do they not want to help? Did they just get squeezed by these living – still playing – legends? Lady Gaga is going to show up for the Stones on Saturday. But OK, her website says she has a show in Russia today. She gets a pass. But there are no bands like this made up of women but there has to be somebody out there, where are you lady rockers or even non-rockers?
9:38 Eric Clapton is supposed to be coming our way for shows in the spring. Get tickets. This guy is good. Ok, not news, but sometimes you need a reminder. The Crossroads Guitar Festival is coming to the Garden in April.
9:36 We interrupt…well everything.. they have brought out the candy in the press room. Nobody moved this fast for the apple in the boxed lunch.
9:33 Tony Danza in the press room. Tony Danza and Springsteen in the same building, so who’s…oh never mind.
Roger Waters did talk.He got a little off topic.
“A couple of weeks ago I did Stand Up for Heroes at the Beacon and that was incredibly moving. …I think we should try to encourage our government not to send our brothers and sisters overseas to get shot up to bits.”
I was at that show, though, and he was amazing with the group of injured veteran musicians he put together, so whatever he wants to say about that is fine with me.
Eric Clapton on stage now after Jon Stewart talked about his Jersey and paid tribute to the police and fire departments of Seaside Heights.
9:15 Press room erupts in cheers as Roger Waters steps in. Just for photos? Will he talk? I don’t know but all this cheering is new. Entertainment reporters must not have the ‘no cheering in the press box’ rule that sportwriters do.
Little Steven’s arrival in the press room meant a killing of the sound and me missing the rest of Adam Sandler’s hilarious version of “Hallelujah.” I’m counting on youtube to come through for me tomorrow morning.
8:59: Bon Jovi is on and the woman next to me might be tired of my singing along. I am trying not to but it just passes the time faster while typing up Little Steven’s quotes.
What did he say:
8:36 Overheard in the press room (with Waters and Eddie Vedder playing Comfortably Numb): I smoked a lot of pot to this song.
8:31 Roger Waters is doing “Us and Them.” We lost sound for a bit to hear Susan Sarandon and so photographers could yell at famous people to take their pictures. But I hear “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Money” and I’m starting to wonder when I might get home if everybody plays 3 or 4 songs.
Phone banks don’t have the same feeling without actual, old phones. The cell phone thing doesn’t work for me.
8:08 Sound is gone, but we have an explanation — they are doing a live shot from the phone bank, which is nearby. It’s going to happen about six times, apparently. I can read what Billy Crystal is saying unless he, like Bruce, is putting his bed in the corner.
Sound is back and Crystal is speaking kindly – mostly – about Governor Chris Christie.
Billy Crystal is talking but we’ve lost sound here in the press room. It might mean someone is coming in to talk. It might not. Everybody at home have sound? Maybe they are trying to sync it for us.
They are yelling “Bathroom? Bathroom?” at the back of the media room. Apparently we are not only being escorted, we can only go when called.
Somewhere backstage, every other Hall of Fame band is looking at their watch and demanding a half-hour set too.
A kiss on the check from Jon to Bruce and I feel like this concert has started in earnest with Born to Run.
7:55 And he’s done with that mini “Jersey Girl” Now out with him on Born to Run – Jon Bon Jovi. “My great friend and neighbor,” Bruce calls him.
7:54 Hilarious closed captioned error in this version of Jersey Girl, Bruce was putting his “bed in the corner.”
7:51 Uplifting opening act, Springsteen’s third song is My City of Ruins – as all of you watching like me know. He did dedicate it as a prayer to all those in the area rebuilding. Hands are up as Springsteen sings, “I pray for strength and I pray for hope and I pray for faith, Lord.”
I guess there’s hope here. But Sandy victims and first responders — are there any out there in the crowd? I saw some firemen. Anyway, they need a night off. They need to forget for the next 5 hours or so.
7:42: It must be much more emotional and moving inside instead of under the Garden. My sister reports tears flowing at Land of Hope and Dreams.
7:39: Wrecking Ball.
Song #2.
the horns sound great. He should never leave home without those horns.
7:33 After video montage, Springsteen and the E Street Band start things off with . Man, this HD TV is nice and clear, but the sound isn’t linked to his lips. But in an event, it’s “Land of Hope and Dreams.” A giant disappointment to me, but nobody really asked, did they?
Just the fans yelling, not the man himself. Sorry.
7:30 Sharp: Bruuuuuuuuuce
7:23: Our first celebrity, Martha Stewart in the press room, talking about damage to her property – mostly trees and loss of power for many , “but that’s nothing compared” to others, she said.
Her daughter’s building is very badly damaged in downtown Manhattan, as well as the homes of many friends, she said.
And in an amazing moment, she said, ” And in expensive buildings, I’m not talking about small little houses, so it’s very widespread.”
Eric Clapton is the performer she is most looking forward to seeing.
She described her Thanksgiving bout with salmonella as “disgusting.”
7:18 Media members reliving where they were during the storm and what happened to their equipment, etc. This is good stuff. We should be interviewing each other.
According to the TV shot of the arena and stage, the people did not listen to getting into their seats at 7:15 sharp. This is NYC. Even for this unprecedented concert, they don’t do anything at 7:15. 9:15 will be lucky. And there will still be hours of amazing music to come.
7:00 Half hour til Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kick off this legendary night. According to Robin Hood Foundation Executive Director David Saltzman, Bruce asked to open on this lineup where a headliner can’t be chosen from the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famers. According to Salzman, Springsteen said, “We want to go first. We care about this community. We’re from New Jersey. This is our home. We want to show what this is all about.”
I’m all for Bruce starting things off, but he’s not the only one from here. I’m pretty sure that was Jon Bon Jovi walking from devastated house to house in Sayreville and doing an unbelievable acoustic version of “Who Said You Can’t Go Home?” and “Living on a Prayer” during the telethon in the immediate aftermath of the superstorm.
Overheard on the train as it headed across the river:
“Springsteen is on first,” said one friend to another.
“Good, get him over and out of the way.”
6:24 Don’t know if the people out there remember why we’re here, but here in the pressroom, clips of the storm, damage and aftermath are running on the TVs. There’s a lot of talk about how there will never be a concert like this again. Am I the only one who says I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, considering what it happened to bring all these people together.
6:15 getting settled in the media room at Madison Square Garden. It’s packed in here, but much less happy and excited than I’d imagine it is upstairs in the arena. Will be watching the show on TV and sending out quotes from any of the music legends or celebrities who pass through to talk about the night.
If you’ve got a ticket and you’re going to be in the arena, let me know at yoriok@northjersey.com or on Twitter @karayorio. What’s it like out there?
