Phish’s Trey Anastasio Reflects On 1st Concert & Praises Bruce Springsteen

Trey Anastasio of Phish made good on a missed opportunity 46 years later on Sunday when he brought out Bruce Springsteen to join TAB for “Kitty’s Back” at Sea.Hear.Now in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Anastasio expressed his gratitude to The Boss on social media and shared memories of his first concert, seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform on November 1, 1978 at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

“When I was 14 years old, my 16-year-old sister Kristy took me to my first-ever concert: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Jadwin Gym in Princeton. Bruce blew the roof off the place. They used to call it ‘The Jadwin Cage’—it was sweaty, explosive, and raucous,” Anastasio remembered.

“Bruce and the band played songs like ‘Rosalita,’ ‘Badlands,’ ‘Spirit in the Night,’ ‘Promised Land,’ ‘Thunder Road,’ and ‘Jungleland.’ One stone-cold killer after another. My young mind was utterly blown. I’ll never forget it as long as I live,” Anastasio wrote. Springsteen went on to play each of those songs on Sunday during his instant classic Sea.Hear.Now headlining set after performing with the Trey Anastasio Band.

The first collaboration between Anastasio and Springsteen since The Boss sat-in with Phish at Bonnaroo 2009 had extra significance to Trey. “The one song he didn’t play that night, though—my all-time favorite—was ‘Kitty’s Back’ from The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Having the opportunity to play that song with Bruce on the beach in Asbury Park last Sunday was the honor and thrill of a lifetime,” Anastasio continued.

“Thank you, Bruce, so very much. I can’t even describe how much it meant to me. Thank you!” the Phish guitarist added. The post included photos by Danny Clinch, one of the festival’s founders. “Thank you Danny and thank you to all the @seahearnow organizers and staff. What a beautiful festival.”

Danny Clinch foreshadowed the collaboration during a March interview with Rolling Stone. “Trey wants to bring his big band to Asbury Park, with a whole horn section and a percussionist. And I know that Trey loves ‘Kitty’s Back,'” Clinch responded when asked about his “dream song for Trey to come on with Bruce.”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s lone performance at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym came five months after the release of Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The Boss’ fourth studio album. Anastasio recently sat for an interview with CBC’s Tom Power. The host/journalist played an audio recording of “Rosalita” from the Jadwin Gym show for Anastasio and had him guess what he was hearing. My mind went in two directions. My first thought was, is this Bruce Springsteen? And my second thought was, is this Counting Crows?” Trey responded before Power clued him in.

Trey told Power about how his sister brought him to the Springsteen concert and explained that his parents gave him permission as long as Kristy took him to the show. He then recounted more from the “unbelieveable” performance:

“He threw the guitar and some roadie hands stuck out from the side and caught it. He slid across the stage. He did, you know, 10th Avenue Freeze Out, if I remember correctly, and all those songs. It was life changing. I was 14 years old. That was my first concert. I loved music already, but I wasn’t allowed yet to go without, you know, it wasn’t, it was cool. My parents, you know, didn’t just sent me off there with my sister. So we felt like we were. And it was, you know, 1978. I saw a number of concerts after that and I remember thinking, I thought that’s what concerts were like. That’s the main. Thing I can say. I think oh, concerts are explosive, live religious experiences where everyone in the audience is going insane and, you know, that’s what a concert is.”

Listen to an audience recording of Springsteen leading the E Street Band through “Prove It All Night” at Trey’s first show:

More memories of the night flowed from Anastasio as he spoke to the crowd at Sea.Hear.Now:

“I grew up in New Jersey. I swam at this beach as a kid. When I was 14-years-old I was allowed to go to my first concert ever. My 16-year-old sister took me. And that concert was the Jadwin Cage, November 1st, 1978 – I saw Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. So if you’re wondering where I got the idea to play like we were just playing, the whole show was like that. And I’m incredibly honored right now — we were backstage and asked Bruce if he would come out and play one with us and he said ‘yes.’ So this a dream of a lifetime for me – ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen!”

Watch video of The Boss sitting in with TAB and check out a link to officially shared audio of the Sea.Hear.Now set by scrolling below: