Back in 2008, singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo was invited on stage by longtime fan Bruce Springsteen to sing Always A Friend with the E Street Band at the packed out Toyota Center in Houston. It was a huge deal for Escovedo who might not play in front of 18,000 people in total over the course of an entire tour, let alone all in one night. Naturally he wanted to repay the favour.
So a couple of months ago, Escovedo was playing a show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey – you know where this is going – and asked The Boss come up for a tune. But this being Springsteen's home stomping ground, he wasn't going to stay for just one song. Hell no. Once he had that white Les Paul strapped on and was feeling the vibe, nobody was going to get him off that stage. So they actually wound up doing three songs together including the song Faith (which they recorded together for Escovedo's new Tony Visconti-produced Street Songs Of Love album) and a cover of the Rolling Stones' Beast Of Burden. Although the Some Girls classic is one of Escovedo's encore staples, it's the first time anyone's ever heard Bruce sing it for a paying audience (see clips below).
Since Springsteen – who was recently in Toronto for TIFF – has long since left town, we can safely assume they won't be reprising their impromptu duet performance at Escovedo's show at the Opera House tonight (Wednesday, September 29). But if Alejandro's high-energy set opening for Blue Rodeo at Molson Amphitheatre in August is any indication of what to expect, it'll be a helluva blast nonetheless.
Toronto–based music writer behind the compilation series Ready Or Not – Deep Jazz Grooves from CBC Radio Canada 1967-77 who has been known to spin records at parties and special events.
I have died and gone to heaven!
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